We have this great azalea bush right outside of my office sliding doors, and there was one dandelion in pretty good shape. So, this morning, I slipped out to grab some shots. It's pretty cool when a great situation is so close.....(I was working in pj's). After trying several lens combinations (200mm macro with extension, 105mm with extension, and 300mm with extension), the 300mm f/4 lens w/ 27mm of extension gave me the completely detail-less background. I was able to stop down to f/8 to get good sharpness in the middle of the subject, yet maintain the completely soft, colorful background. The pink is a solid block of azaleas in open shade and the green is grass in bright sun. The distance of the green to the pink created a quasi color gradient. I thought of adding a texture, but felt that the pristine, clean, bright, and colorful nature of this image was good as it was.
ok......on second thought.....I dropped in AlienSkin's Snap Art impasto filter and painted the effect out of the sharp spores in the center of the subject.......sorry....I couldn't resist