Photography Contest Mark XVI

[mr_charisma]

If I don't get around to taking any more photos, here is an entry from me:

Focus Shot
Taken with my 500D, using a 50mm f1.8 lens with extension tubes to make it act like a macro lens. Like my Lego entry from a while back, I had to 'trick' the lens to stop down to either f10 or f16 in order to get enough depth of field. The shot is illuminated with a 430ex2 pointing straight at the subject. Due to the fact that this is sitting in a dark brown wooden cabinet, it completely threw off the white balance, which was corrected in LightRoom (hooray for shooting RAW).

Context Shot
Also taken with the 500D and 50mm f1.8, but no extension tubes. Shot at f3.5 to get the right DoF. For this shot, I had the 430ex2 bouncing off the ceiling, rather than pointing straight at the subject. This resulted in much softer lighting, and no ridiculously harsh reflections. The fact that there is another shelf above the subject, just out of shot, gave a natural gradient to the background.

[Mr3d_PHD]

Wow, killer entry MrC! Now I have something to work towards. I actually just got some extension tubes for Christmas that I haven't had a chance to use yet. Here's my chance! =D

[Jamianne]

Oh wow mr_charisma...that is a fantastic shot! Your DoF is amazing and the lighting really brings out your subjects! I'm going to have to really think hard to match that shot!

[mr_charisma]

Thanks guys!

Regarding the lighting, I was actually pretty lucky. The light bouncing off the frame of the cabinet really warmed it up a bit. Normally when I use this camera in RAW I need to bump things up a bit later, but I didn't have to touch it here. I have a slightly different version of the context shot on Flickr, where I cloned out the dust, and added a bit of a vignette. But alas, that is against the rules, next time I'll have to dust the house first!

As for the extension tubes, they aren't really necessary. I could have got something similar by zooming right in with my 55-250, but I wouldn't have got the shallow depth of field. Besides, I'm always looking for reasons to use the 50mm. Out of curiosity, do yours have electronics passthrough so autofocus and aperture setting works Mr3D?

[Mr3d_PHD]

You know, I'm actually not sure if they do or not. I have yet to even take them out of the box. I'll let you know as soon as I have a chance to play with them. They're pretty heavy though so I'm assuming they do. Do yours?

[elevating]

wow Mr Charisma that is an excellent shot there and little intimidating as well don't think I can compete against that but it won't stop me from at least trying

[mr_charisma]

Mr3D: Mine cost $8 from eBay. They are just metal tubes, with no electronics contacts. Means you only get manual focus, and can't adjust the aperture unless you have a manual aperture ring on an older lens, or you do the trick I mentioned earlier.

[Clone3d]

So I took all my photos, and when I load them onto the computer, I find that 90% of them are slightly out of focus... Guess I'll have to set it all up again... I knew I should have shot tethered on this one!

Oh, and on your wb issues. You could do what I do. Take a white sheet of paper and photograph it under the lighting you are using, and set your camera to use that as custom wb.

[mr_charisma]

BUMP!

C'mon people! Post something!

(dee-fault! dee-fault!)

[Clone3d]

Working on it! Need to get rid of my roommate first, as he's occupied my "studio" space. Hopefully I'll be able to post something during the weekend! But yeah, more entries people! I'm looking at you Mr3d_PHD!