365.6 The Match Head Nebula

I’m not entirely satisfied with this, but oh well. It’s going to be hard to get into a shooting mode after 9 hours at work and traffic, but I will find a way!

Macro, again (though I did take the 50mm outside and wandered around for a bit, with no usable results). And again with the 75-150 f/3.5 E Series, reversed, on 49mm Extension Tubes. ISO400, 1/4 Second, f/8.

If you were wondering, the depth of field is influenced by the extension tubes and the focus distance (I shot a ruler with and without the tubes at all available apertures f/3.5 – f/32, and will post pictures when I get around to it). The smaller the aperture, the deeper the depth of field, as usual. Without the extension tubes, I could get most of the frame in focus at f/32. With the tubes, only about 80% was in focus at the same aperture. I might have more to say on this if my eyes weren’t all droopy from staring at a monitor all day.

365.5 Selfy 2012.01.02

D7000, 50mm 1.8 – ISO 100, f/ 1.8, 1/160. Lit with minimal ambient light and my new toy, a hacked-together soft box-type-thing. Fun times.

Had I turned my head a bit more, or had the box aimed more at my face, I would’ve gotten some nice reflections in my glasses. This is something to keep in mind for future uses of this flimsy, poorly-constructed, but very pretty little lightbox.

DIY SoftBox-ish type thing

Warning! Poor craftsmanship ahead.

After seeing this video about using household lighting in cinematic work, I decided it was time to build a soft box (or something like it).

So I went down to the local hardware shop, and picked up two things.

  • a 3″ long 1/4 threaded carriage bolt ($0.29)
  • two 1/4 nuts ($0.10 each)
  • the cheapest box of white holiday lights I could find ($3.49)

I had a box I was planning to use (one that my printer came in, and that’s been sitting in the back of the closet since September 2009), but when I pulled into the parking lot, I saw this sitting by the dumpster:

DIY SoftBox-ish type thing

 

Nice! Some lucky meat eater got some steaks or something. Good for them; bad for the environment; good for me (and I’ll be the one to recycle it when if falls apart after a few months of use and I make something similar out of cardboard and paint as intended).

So I brought it inside, and gave it a bath.

I cut a big hole into the bottom, and stuffed the quarter inch carriage bolt through the side near the hole I cut.

DIY SoftBox-ish type thing

I tried to think of a way to attach the lights. Tape won’t stick; super glue is too permanent; staples won’t hold very long.

What to do?

So I just poked the bulbs into the walls of the cooler, and tried to space them out evenly.

DIY SoftBox-ish type thing

I pulled the cold shoe and mounting stud out of the top of an umbrella bracket, and used the bolt to attach the whole, hacked-together rig to a light stand, and ended up with this:

DIY SoftBox-ish type thing

(After I took this picture, I tucked that protruding bit up into the box… I didn’t get another picture. And, anyway, I already warned you about my craftsmanship.)

So how does it work?

Well, not bad! It doesn’t feel too warm on the face, and gives a nice, soft glow. This was shot with with very little ambient light, f/1.8, ISO 100, for 1/160th:

DIY SoftBox-ish type thing

If I had turned a bit more, there would’ve been some nice reflections in my glasses… Something to keep in mind for the 365, methinks, though this image will likely be today’s entry…

I don’t know how long this thing will last, or how much use it will see. And while it gives of fairly pleasant light, storage will be a pain.

And it sheds little bits of styrofoam like crazy.

Still. It was a good, cheap way to make pleasant light for not much money, so GoGo.

 

365.4 The Jewel of Safety

Happy New Year!

I couldn’t decide which of these should be today’s pic for the 365, so I give you two instead.

As with previous entries, these were made with the 75-150mm f/3.5 E Series, reversed, with 49mm worth of extension tubes, ISO 100 for 0.6 seconds. Unlike earlier entries, I know these were shot at f/11, but I don’t know why the depth of field is so flipping thin: this is something I’ll need to investigate. Also, these were lit with the usual desk lamp, plus a cheap Knog led bicycle light that will likely see more action in the macro world.

I fully intend to shoot more than just macro for this project. In fact, I went out early this morning to try to catch the sunrise over downtown. Alas, I drove around looking for a good spot for quite awhile, and finally settled on a place where there was a good view of about half of downtown, obscured by some lamps and trees. Needless to say, the shots were uninspired and uninspiring. I’ll try again soon, and scout some good vantage points in the mean time.

365.3 Macro Bullet Bill

I found this spent .25 bullet in the courtyard a couple of weeks or a month ago. I looked down, and it was just laying there, perhaps left over from July 4th celebrations in the neighborhood, though how it escaped leaf blowers, vacuum cleaners, and my keen vision I’ll never know… Anyways, I thought it might make a good Macro subject.

I used (again) the 75-150 f/3.5 E Series, reversed, on 49mm worth of extension tubes, and shot at (if I recall) f/8 (though it looks like the focus is a bit off… either that or I was at 3.5…), iso 100, for 1 second. Lighting provided by the same desk lamp seen in earlier shots, with a small mirror strategically placed to bounce a bit of light back on it.

365.2 Macro Effervescence

I was feeling a bit off after work today, so I decided to plop some Airborne and shoot the bubbles right quick.

I’m still playing with the extension tubes and macro reverse ring on the 75-150. Good times.

I need to stop down the aperture quite a bit: this was shot at 3.5, and the depth of field is a bit too narrow. The trick is going to be stopping down and still having enough light to focus by…

Also, the Series E suffers from an outrageous case of zoom creep (even with a double layer of packing tape on the zoom barrel), and since focusing only works by moving the lens back and forth (zooming in and out, with very fine adjustments seemingly possible via the usual focus adjustment), and with the fairly long exposures required, it’s going to be tricky.

Good thing I have 363 days left in the project, huh!

365.1 Macro Mini Coconut Cream Pie

And so begins the 365 Project.

I received a set of extension tubes and a macro reverse ring in the mail today, so what better time to start the 365?

For this image, I used the 75-150mm f/3.5 E Series, reversed, and attached to 49mm worth of extension tubes. The subject is a set of three delicious miniature coconut cream pies that a neighbor made too many of. I’m glad she did, because 1) they were YUM and 2) they gave me something to try the macro reverse ring out on.

No flash, ISO 400, lit by an old desk lamp at 1/60 of a second. I’m not sure what millimeter I was at here, because I have no idea how all that stuff works when the lens is reversed.

I think it turned out fairly well, considering I had no real clue what I was doing!