Close Up and Personal - Day 16

Two Different Light Sources, Two Different Colors  

Daylight and Incandescent, Blue and Orange  

- Colors blending and colors clashing     

You might not pick it up on the first glance, but there are two different colors of light illuminating this scene, the cold bluish tone of daylight from a window, and the warm orange tone of incandescent light, from a tungsten bulb. The camera is set to detect automatically the "White Balance" it is operating in, and to compensate for color shifts, but I think we have gotten the camera confused, and it has forgotten to override one of these!
But that doesn't matter to the candy in the dish - it is ready to be eaten, any time!

Close Up and Personal - Day 15

More Toys and New Tricks    

A Styrofoam Cup Light Tent for Close-Up Photography of Jewelry  

-   and other very small things  

With the fun of making a new photography toy yesterday, I decided to try again today with a different camera and a real challenge - to photograph a piece of jewelry or a coin as if I were going to sell it online.
I had a point-and-shoot camera with macro capabilities, a goose neck lamp, a lapel pin, and a styrofoam cup upended and with its base cut off. The initial idea came from this blog post. Thanks, Strobist! It me took a bit of time to convince the camera that I knew what I was doing, but in the end it allowed me to do a manual focus macro shot. The cup doubled as a handy tripod for the shoot.
I'll be looking for other sizes in opaque cups to allow for zooming in on the subject, but on the whole, this experiment turned out well.
 

Close Up and Personal - Day 14

Old Stuff, New Tricks    

A Juice Jug Light Tent for Close-Up Photography of Shiny Items  

-   recycling in a useful way  

I've been checking out ways to photograph jewelry, and ways to set up the camera to do it. Jewelry is tricky to shoot, because it's usually small and shiny and requires lighting that shows off its best features.
Well yes, there are commercial light diffusers available to buy, but there are some pretty ingenious homemade solutions, as well. So this morning, I cut the bottom out of a juice jug, and set it up next to a window, with a goose neck lamp sitting next to the jug. Then I set a small point-and-shoot camera lens down into the neck of the jug. Details are here. Thanks Camera Jim! I had to add to the jug's height to allow the camera to focus, and a measured length of paper towel tube did the trick.
I'm pleased with the results, and I'm going to try it again, and see where this can take me.