A few days ago I woke up to a fine morning with heavy dew on the plants:
This was a typical autumnal morning: some of the foliage was absolutely dripping with dew, with large amounts caught on the numerous spider webs. The above photo is a ‘contre-jour’ (against the light) view of one of our flower beds taken to highlight the dew-laden webs. I like the dark tones of this image which seems to emphasise the sparkling webs.
Not all the dew was on webs:
This is a seed pod of a sweet pea. The pods are covered with fine hairs all of which seem to have attracted the dew – it is just a mass of tiny water drops. You cannot imitate dew like this with a garden sprayer (as some photographers try to do). This image appeals to me on a couple of levels: The out-of-focus background highlighting the pod, and the wealth of detail on the surface of the pod (a great deal more can be seen on the full size original.)
From some directions I noticed light refracting through the dew on the spider webs.
This is a phenomena that I have photographed before and it is just noticeable to the eye. In this photograph I have been able to show more distinctly the pinkish and blueish colours. These have not been artificially coloured although the colours have been enhanced to enable the effect to be seen more clearly – and a dark background helps!
Finally, this is a view of a spider’s web covered in dew.
Each drop of dew is reflecting the light and glowing as if there are light bulbs on Carnival illuminations. Most of the drops appear to be of similar sizes, so I am puzzled by the larger drop at the centre of the web. Not so distinct in this image, but still noticeable is the refraction of the light giving a blue-green tint on the drops on the left and a pinkish tint on those on the right.
I would have liked to spend more time photographing this dew but as the sun rose, so did the breeze – there was too much movement to continue. I have waited two weeks since taking these photos but have not had the same weather situation reoccur.
More of these photos can be seen in the Garden Gallery.