POTD 62 of 365

Gotta cop to busting out the macro crutch this evening, but, I dig the abstract shots I'm getting out of this.

Tonight's subject is somewhat topical - I've been playing with film lately, so, I figured I'd dig up yet another dinosaur:



I'm not going to keep you in suspense. What you're looking at is a tiny portion of a record.

Setup is a little more ambitious than my normal macro shot. In addition to the worklight, I've added one of the 430EZs at full power with a Rosco Cerulean Blue gel on it.



The lens is the 18-55 kit lens, mounted backwards on the body, at f/22.

POTD 44 of 365

I've been organizing photos all day, and it's mind-numbing, tedious work. As such, I lost track of time, and had to rush this one through. Oddly enough, when I'm not fixated on a particular shot, or a particular look, the results can be kind of fun.



I love the way this looks like the sprinkle is escaping the two clusters - as happy coincidence would have it, there's even a missing space where it looks like it originated.

So, yes, another macro, lit by the worklight. Setup looks like this:



I changed the color tone in post to make the oranges look more pink-ish, to give this a little Valentine's Day twist, and, to disguise the fact that I've got candy from last October taking up space in my cupboard.

POTD 42 of 365

Tonight, I've deconstructed a previous shot. If you've been playing along at home, you'll know the shot to which I'm referring:



Two shots - one picture, and a fairly irked photographer. Sounds about par for the course, actually.

One by one...

The apple - two flashes. Key is the 580EX II at 1/16 with the grid, and the background light is the 430EZ at 1/16, 35mm, and a Storaro Green gel.

The apple is suspended from the ceiling by 4-pound monofilament (AKA - cheap fishing line) that I cleaned up in Photoshop.



The syringe is lit by the worklight, and is shot with the 50mm at f/22 and the #1 and #2 extension tubes.



Frankly, I loathe the apple, however, it looked even worse when you could see the line.

This, folks, is one of the reasons I eschew photo manipulation - I'm not creative enough to alter reality.

POTD 40 of 365

I'll admit that macro photography is becoming a bit of a crutch for me - if I'm pressed for time and/or don't have a workable idea, I bust out either the 18-55 with the reversing ring, or the 50 with the extension tubes (like tonight). I'm trying to stay somewhat disciplined about it, however, and incorporate some combination of color, composition, and lighting.

Tonight's focus (pardon the pun) was, obviously, color.



So, yeah - worklight, extension tubes, and narrow (f/22) aperture.



In other photography related news, in the wake of Canon's bevy of new product announcements (T3i, T3 (why, Canon?) two new flashes, and a buncha new lenses, I went out and got myself the 2nd oldest EOS in existence. I picked up a used EOS 620 on eBay this evening, complete with an EF 35-70 lens. I plan on getting into B+W film including my own development, and this camera looks perfect - reliable and simple.

POTD 35 of 365

I got a set of backordered extension tubes in the mail today, and wanted to try them on this evening's shot.



What you're looking at is a close-up shot of the small LED flashlight I keep in the psteudio for when I'm working in the dark.

Lighting is (once again) the worklight, placed in close.

Setup looks a little something like this - note that I used the iPhone mount I rigged up the other day to hold the flashlight.



Once I took the picture, I did put it on a black background in Photoshop. Once again, I'm finding I really like the abstract quality that macro provides.

POTD 26 of 365

Another night, another macro, and another red M.



Lighting was the worklight placed in REALLY close. Reversing ring on the 18-55, stopped down to f/22, and half a second.

I also tried a new trick with the tripod, and mounted the camera between the legs. Pretty cool stuff - can't wait to try more shots from strange angles.

Setup:



Tomorrow, we'll try something that's not candy-coated chocolate.

POTD 23 of 365

My intent for tonight's shot was to take a macro shot of a candle flame.

Do you know how mind-numbingly boring a macro shot of a candle flame can be? I wasn't aware, but, I found out, so, I snuffed the candle. Then, inspiration struck:



I setup the flash, angled it up slightly next to the candle, pulled the diffuser panel, and set it to 1/4. Took a few shots to get smoke that I liked, gave it a quick B+W and contrast boost in DPP, and Bob's your uncle.

Setup shot here:

POTD 22 of 365

More macro! Tonight, I tried the workaround for stopping down the lens, and it worked like a champ, although, another thumb would make the job easier.

What I've read says set your aperture in Aperture-Priority or Manual mode, hit the DoF Preview Button, hold it down, and disconnect the lens. Worked as described - I've got the lens stopped down to f/20, which is well past the "sweet spot" on this particular lens, but sharpness doesn't seemed to have suffered much. Perhaps my next attempt will bring it down to f/32 or so.

So, without further blather, tonight's shot:



Lighting was the worklight to camera-left, and a cheap LED flashlight to camera-right, for highlights and a touch of color.



The bolts are held together with a twist tie on the bottom, and I rotated the image 90 degrees left from where it was in-camera.

Edit 24-Jan-11: I just crunched a few numbers on this shot, and realized that what you're looking at encompasses about 8mm x 12mm worth of bolt. The APS-C sensor on the 60D is approximately 15mm x 22mm, which means that a simple $10 reversing ring and (arguably) the worst lens Canon produces (18-55 f/3.5-5.6, Mark I) are capable of delivering 2:1 image magnification. Not too shabby.

POTD 21 of 365

There are six and a half billion people on this planet, and the vast majority of them are probably better photographers than I am. One, in particular, however, inspired me recently with a shot of hers - it was a macro of a cupcake, and I had to restrain myself from licking the monitor when I saw it.

Since I'm not sure if macro is going to be a "thing" for me or not, I decided to get into the game cheaply, and pick up a reversing ring. I have the kit lens from my Rebel sitting around, so I got it with a 58mm filter size to match the lens.

This is the first shot:



What you're looking at is an inkjet printout on plain white copy paper. The font, if you're wondering, is 10pt Consolas.

The DoF on this rig is ridiculously short - but there is a workaround to stopping down the lens that I have to try.

Setup was very basic for this - I angled the worklight across the paper to try to "skim" the light across, which I felt would bring out the paper's texture.

The setup shot is here - note how close the camera had to be to the paper before I could get it in focus. What you probably can't see in the setup shot is that the paper is rotated 180 degrees to get the red text closer to the lens.



I'm still not sure how much of this I'll do, but, you can count on at least a few more macro shots as part of this project.