Sunflower Dew Drop, McKee-Bashers Wildlife Management Area, Montgomery County, Maryland

Every year the state of Maryland plants several acres worth of sunflowers at the McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area.  The sunflowers usually reach their peak bloom in mid-July.  Just to be sure, I usually start checking on them the last week in June.

While landscape images of the sunflower blooms can be quite spectacular, there are also great macro images to be had.  Note the dew drop in the image above.  That drop acts like a lens, reflecting the sunflowers behind this one bloom.  In essence, the dew drop presents a macro image of a landscape!

I did not use a macro lens here.  I used my standard 18-200mm lens zoomed in to 200mm.  I set my tripod so that the lens was just beyond it’s minimum focusing distance while focused on the dew drop (a focusing rail would have been most helpful!).  The image, exposed for 0.5 seconds at f/36, has a shallow depth of field because of the very short camera to subject distance.  I think the micro image of the sunflower field captured by the dew drop adds a subtle detail that draws the viewers eye, especially after they realize what it is.