[MarkJerling]

Good one, Mark. Yes, focus is tough at high magnification with a dark viewfinder.

Indeed! Even worse as my eyes are not as good as they used to be!

[mtngal]

This is such a fun thread! Lots of ideas.

Not sure either one of these is unusual enough - both are common everyday items. But people don't usually take macros or near macros of them. This first one has been done one way or another by lots of people, but the colors always fascinate me. No two pictures are quite alike.



This next one is less of a cliche. But how many people really look at this part? Of course, it helps to have a larger than normal one.



Both of these pictures were taken with the K-S1 and DA 35 macro.

[schnitzer79]

[RollsUp]

Condensation

[vagabond79]

This is such a fun thread! Lots of ideas.

Not sure either one of these is unusual enough - both are common everyday items. But people don't usually take macros or near macros of them. This first one has been done one way or another by lots of people, but the colors always fascinate me. No two pictures are quite alike.
This next one is less of a cliche. But how many people really look at this part? Of course, it helps to have a larger than normal one.
Both of these pictures were taken with the K-S1 and DA 35 macro.

Very cool! I'm not even sure what the second one is... I guess I really don't look at "that part"!

You are really making me itch for that 35mm macro. All I hear are good things and it's so versatile. But really, how many macro lenses do I need?

[mtngal]

My second one is a part of a stapler. The staples in it are almost an inch long, so the stapler gets used for very large stacks of paper. The stapler can hold a number of different lengths of staples, and the guide on the left can tell you which one is loaded in it. On the right are the staples, so you can see if you've run out or have a jam. Very ingenious, them folks who design such things. But it does help if you actually look at that part - I can't tell you how many people grab that stapler and try to staple 40 sheets - it makes a mess of the staple.

I keep telling myself the same thing about not needing another macro lens. I bought the DA35 because I got a good deal from a camera store on one that was unsold old stock. I really wanted the FA31, and continued to want it for another year. I figured that I would leave the macro lens in a drawer once I got the 31, but somehow it keeps getting put back into my camera bag for one reason or another. And the fact the 35 a competent, small, light-weight, useful lens doesn't stop me from wanting the DFA 100 WR lens. But what I do need with another 100 macro - I also have the Vivitar Series One 105 macro. I mean, since weight is such an issue for me at the moment, I really NEED the lighter DFA 100. And then there's always the times when I want to shoot macro in the rain and snow. So I really NEED WR. Let's not mention that my primary camera right now is the non-sealed K-S1.

Condensation

Love water drop photos - these are cool!

This one has it's faults, but I thought it was interesting. I shot it hand-held with the DA35 macro, indoors. The DOF is too small and I'd like it to be a bit sharper. I think I'll try to take my tripod and macro rails into work and re-shoot it, maybe add the TC to see if I can't get closer (this was 1:1 and cropped some). I wonder if there's any draftsmen here who might have used this media sometime in the past. The texture is interesting when looking at it this close.

[jacamar]

Plant sprayer

[mtngal]

Drove over to RRS to get a tripod plate for my new camera. Whenever I drive that direction, I make a point of stopping at Pismo. Here's a sea shell and grains of sand, taken with the DA35 macro.

[baro-nite]

Drove over to RRS to get a tripod plate for my new camera. Whenever I drive that direction, I make a point of stopping at Pismo. Here's a sea shell and grains of sand, taken with the DA35 macro.

Nice one, strong pattern and conveys the essence of the subject.

I'm very glad I'm not within an easy drive of RRS -- I buy too much from them already.

[mtngal]

Nice one, strong pattern and conveys the essence of the subject.

I'm very glad I'm not within an easy drive of RRS -- I buy too much from them already.

LOL! Like RRS macro rails? Very nice, I have them.

It's really bad for me, not only can I drive to RRS, but I can also drive to Acratech. I've spent more than I should with both companies, but that's because both companies have great products.

In case you were wondering, RRS macro rails work very nicely with Acratech's tripod head and QR clamp.

[mtngal]

Bored at work:

When do you know you have too much time on your hands? When you go around looking for silly things to photograph:



Not exactly something you commonly associate with offices, but it was by the coffee pot.

I posted a picture earlier that needs explanation and further examples. Here's what I was photographing - it's an old floor plan. Not exactly all that interesting except for the fact that it was made before the days of CAD and has obviously been updated a number of times:



When you look a little closer, it suddenly becomes more interesting than just a piece of paper with some marks on it. You start to get an idea that it might not be what it first appears to be along with when it was first drawn.



Shot at 1:1 (uncropped, just resized) it is obvious that it's not paper at all. And it's not drawn in dark pencil or printed on it in some way.



Cropped tighter and you can see that it's woven linen, not paper at all. And it's drawn in ink. I'm constantly amazed that anyone could have the skill to draw in ink on linen, hard to make changes that way and architectural plans had to be exact. No computer to assist you. No program to automatically change the perspective.



I was using a K-S1 and DA35 macro for the close-ups, the first plan was taken with the K 24f2.8 lens on a tripod and not using any type of lighting other than the office fluorescent lights.

Then I decided to see what would happen if I added light from a small LED flashlight. Here's with the flashlight held to the side:



I thought it was interesting that the side lighting gives more of a feeling of depth, that the ink is on top of the linen.

Back in the 1930's there weren't large format printers to make copies. They had a process that used an original of lines on a media that allowed light to pass through it (paper was not a good choice, it doesn't allow all that much light to pass through), exposed it to paper that was treated with a light-sensitive material using some type of light, then used a chemical to show the lines (not exposed to the light) against a different colored background. That's the process behind blueprints and blue lines. The originals would be made out of linen (very durable), vellum, drafting paper (like tissue paper), etc. Knowing this I was curious to see what my linen original would look like if I put the flashlight under the drawing, which gives it a completely different texture.



Just some trivia and experimenting for an otherwise quiet, boring day at work.

[Nakedgun]

Just now saw this thread for the first time.

How about this one:

[Al_Kahollick]

Just some trivia and experimenting for an otherwise quiet, boring day at work.

Awesome shots!! Also an excellent illustration of how light angles affect the look of your subject, as well as a great narrative on the history of blueprints! Very interesting and informative! Thanks for sharing.

[Nakedgun]

Something else:

[MarkJerling]

What is that? Looks like one of the Apollo lunar modules!