WEEK 6 - February 10, 2013
This project seems to be having a desired effect... it's causing me to shoot more, knowing that I want to have a good shot for posting each week. This week I shot a variety of things. The robins were back in full force and I grabbed some shots of them swarming over the fallen crabapples in my backyard. They were ok shots, but done through the glass of my patio door handheld with a long lens and not as sharp as I would have liked.
Then it snowed again one morning and I got some shots of the tree branches, back-lit and each lined with snow. Pretty, but nothing jumped out as stunning.
Yesterday I decided to play with a new combination of things. I downloaded an app for my Nexus 7 tablet (DSLR Controller) which allows it to connect to my camera, show a live display on the tablet screen, and control all aspects of the camera. The larger display and fine focus control seemed a natural for trying some shots with a set of extension tubes loaned to me.
Extension tubes are essentially hollow metal tubes that allow your standard lens to be mounted further from the focal plane of the camera. The result is to allow ultra-close focusing and hence, macro shots. (Take a dollar bill out of your pocket and look at the same places on it as I'm showing here to appreciate how close this will focus and how much detail you can capture!)
So that's what you're seeing here. These are perhaps not as "arty” as some of the images I've posted, but show a fun technical side of my
photography. The spiky object is a seed pod from my sweetgum tree. The tree drops hundreds of these things in the fall. They are about an inch in diameter. Sure wouldn't want to step on one with bare feet!
The other close-ups are easily recognized objects, shot to show just how close and detailed you can get with this setup. I may have to try it again with flowers or some other interesting subject.
Then it snowed again one morning and I got some shots of the tree branches, back-lit and each lined with snow. Pretty, but nothing jumped out as stunning.
Yesterday I decided to play with a new combination of things. I downloaded an app for my Nexus 7 tablet (DSLR Controller) which allows it to connect to my camera, show a live display on the tablet screen, and control all aspects of the camera. The larger display and fine focus control seemed a natural for trying some shots with a set of extension tubes loaned to me.
Extension tubes are essentially hollow metal tubes that allow your standard lens to be mounted further from the focal plane of the camera. The result is to allow ultra-close focusing and hence, macro shots. (Take a dollar bill out of your pocket and look at the same places on it as I'm showing here to appreciate how close this will focus and how much detail you can capture!)
So that's what you're seeing here. These are perhaps not as "arty” as some of the images I've posted, but show a fun technical side of my
photography. The spiky object is a seed pod from my sweetgum tree. The tree drops hundreds of these things in the fall. They are about an inch in diameter. Sure wouldn't want to step on one with bare feet!
The other close-ups are easily recognized objects, shot to show just how close and detailed you can get with this setup. I may have to try it again with flowers or some other interesting subject.
Technical specs:
Camera - Canon 50D
Lens - Canon 28-135 IS with various combinations of 12mm, 20mm and 36mm extension tubes. (Dollar bill shots used all three combined for 68mm of extension)
Exposure - various (to gain more depth of field, some of these were shot at f/29 with a 10-second exposure. That gave me lots of time to use the "flashlight" feature of my cell phone to paint the object with light. A "poor-man's ringlight", yes?)
No flash
Shot as .jpg
Camera controlled by DSLR
Controller via my Nexus 7 Android tablet
Edited with Corel Paintshop Pro X4 and Topaz Adjust and DeNoise filters
Click images below to see them larger
Camera - Canon 50D
Lens - Canon 28-135 IS with various combinations of 12mm, 20mm and 36mm extension tubes. (Dollar bill shots used all three combined for 68mm of extension)
Exposure - various (to gain more depth of field, some of these were shot at f/29 with a 10-second exposure. That gave me lots of time to use the "flashlight" feature of my cell phone to paint the object with light. A "poor-man's ringlight", yes?)
No flash
Shot as .jpg
Camera controlled by DSLR
Controller via my Nexus 7 Android tablet
Edited with Corel Paintshop Pro X4 and Topaz Adjust and DeNoise filters
Click images below to see them larger