My Place on the Web
RGB
Todays image is a first effort with my recent MP-E65 lens acquisition I’m afraid. Apologies if it mages your eyes go weird or gives you a headache.
This is a 3x magnification image of my laptop screen, that has been rotated and cropped.
This clearly shows the red, green and blue (RGB) elements of each pixel, hence the title.
I’ve been lusting over a macro set-up thats been for sale in the Weymouth branch of Wessex Photographic since before Christmas. The set-up consisted of a Canon MT-24EX twin flash and a MP-e65mm f/2.8 1-5x macro lens.
I finally gave in to temptation on Friday and treated myself to the MT-24EX as a birthday present, and sat thinking about the MP-e65 lens for a while.
Well, today, I went back and got that too. After checking the price of the lens on the internet, including eBay, I realised that I got the entire set-up for less than the lens would cost new.
The flash was in absolutely mint condition, whilst the lens was clean, but missing the tripod collar. This initially put me off, as the genuine Canon article is about £150, a complete rip-off for a piece of metal, but I found an eBay knock off for about £10, so thought I’d give it a go.
Having said that, I’ve had a play with this lens with stationary subjects, and with the flash have managed to get sharp handheld shots up to about 3x magnification. I’m not entirely sure how often I’ll use 4-5x magnification, as that will most definitely require a focussing rail.
This lens is going to be FUN and I can’t wait for the weather to improve so that the bugs come out to play!
Glitzy Threads
I’ve been getting into my macro work again recently, and thought that I’d try another macro one for today. Todays subject is an almost 1:1 shot of the silver threads in a Pashmina that my significant other owns.
Shot with my EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro and a Speedlite MT-24EX.
Roe Deer in Afternoon Sunlight
Today, a friend and myself travelled up to Cranborne and did a 10 mile walk around the surrounding area.
After failing to capture an image of a Brown Hare, a group of Roe Deer came running across the field towards us, having been disturbed by shooting by in nearby woods.
I particularly like the way that the deer are silhouetted by the bright afternoon light on the field, and the way that the tractor tracks create a strong diagonal leading your eye towards the deer.
The Road to God is Never Closed
This church in Weymouth quite often has witty signs outside to try and tempt new worshippers in, and given the traffic chaos that is Weymouth and the proximity of this church to the chaos that was the junction at the bottom of Boot Hill, this sign seemed to be particularly appropriate.
A Slightly Different View of Pulpit Rock
Today, as the weather decided to be nice, I thought that I’d venture down to Portland to take a few photos.
Something I’ve never really done is to have a good look around Pulpit Rock for an alternative to the view that you see reproduced again and again (including by myself), so I had a bit of a wander.
Whilst I was scrabbling around the rocks, I found this large Ammonite impression, and decided that this might make a good alternative viewpoint.
I got down low, set the lens to 17mm and stopped down to about f/16 to give some sharpness to the background so that you could tell tell that it was Pulpit Rock in the background.
Unfortunately there wasn’t much interest in the sky, as Mother Nature wasn’t so co-operative as to provide nice clouds as well ;o)
What do you think, does this viewpoint work?
Pondering over the Puzzle
I have to admit that I was struggling for inspiration for todays image, until I opened the local rag. Its not exactly The Times crossword, but it served a purpose.
Image was lit using a single flash bounced off the ceiling.
I’ve just had the news that I’ve got a second interview tomorrow, so fingers crossed that I get somewhere this time, as financially things are getting pretty tight and I’m actually considering auctioning off internal organs ;o)
Metal Drops
Todays image is a close-up of water droplets on a brushed steel pedal bin lit by natural light from a large net covered window.
An aperture of f/16 was chosen for maximum depth of field and minimum diffraction (which causes softening).
As the image was pretty much monochrome, it was converted to B&W and I preferred the look of the blue channel.
An unsharp mask was also applied in GIMP, and a little cloning was carried out to remove some of the more distracting air bubbles contained within the water drops.
I really love the texture of the metal showing through the drops, and I particularly like the way that this makes the drops look like they are made of brushed metal.
Looking After The Pennies
Todays shot was inspired by something that I’m not very good at.
Taken using my Canon 100mm Macro lens and lit by a Speedlite 430EX bounced off a White Reflector positioned at a low angle to create some shadows and reveal the texture of the pennies.