Travels With Linda
postcards from the road of life
  • Home
  • Weekly Photo
  • Road Trips
    • Road Trip 2012 >
      • Route Map 2012
    • Road Trip 2011 >
      • Route Map 2011
    • Road Trip 2010 >
      • Route Map 2010
  • Route Map 2015
  • About Us
  • Where We've Been
  • Black & White Gallery
  • Map Test
  • Zephyr Write-Up
  • ExtraPics

Sometimes You Just Have to Think Small

5/27/2017

7 Comments

 
Picture
Not being able to get out much this past winter and spring caused me to shift some of my photography thinking - there is, after all, only so much Price is Right, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune one can watch. To put it simply, if I can't go out to take some photos, then I have to find a way to find interesting subject matter inside. Hence, thinking small.

By getting up "close and personal" with very small things, it is possible to bring the camera inside. And it gives a whole new perspective to how these things are seen.

Look at the photo of the needle from Linda's sewing basket, or more accurately the eye of the needle. You can see that even the strands of the thread are really made up of many threads and the needle is no where near as smooth as you probably have thought a needle is. For this picture, the needle was magnified about eight times in the camera. In other words, what you see in the photo is exactly what I saw in the camera's viewfinder.

Below is a photo of the other end of the needle. You probably thought a needle was, well . . . needle sharp. But looking at it from a slightly different perspective - through a different lens, as it were - it seems that the tip is sort of rounded. Just don't try to tell that to your finger after you pricked it.
Picture
How Is This Done?
You actually have to think big to take pictures of small things. The technique is known as macro photography. It typically requires some special lenses or unique lens combinations to magnify tiny subjects. And magnifying the subject also means that any camera movement is also magnified, so it is important that everything be kept as still as possible. And adjustments for focus can be almost microscopic. In other words, you just can't pick up the camera and do this. You might say, the smaller the subject, the bigger the obstacles. 

The photo below shows the setup I put together for my macros. The camera and the subject stage are mounted on a common base to keep them from moving. Both the camera and the subject are mounted on rails and can be adjusted forward-backward and left-right using fine screw adjustments. The subject stage can also be adjusted vertically. Currently three LED lamps are used for lighting the subject.

​If you look right in front of the lens in the photo below, you can see the needle from the pictures above. It is stuck in a ball of clay which holds it in position on the small 
laboratory jack that is used for up-down adjustments. Also, notice how close the lights are to the needle.
Picture
In macro photography you not only magnify the subject, but you also magnify your problems. In particular, when the very front of the subject is in focus, the rest of the subject will be out of focus. That is because the depth-of-field of a macro photo is razor thin. To combat this, multiple photos are taken with the focus slightly different in each one. Then all of these photos are combined together into what is called a "stack" to create one sharp, in focus image. The needle photos above are stacks of about 35 - 40 photos each. 

This is all a lot of fun, so you can expect to see more photos of small things in the future.
7 Comments
Judith Stimson
5/29/2017 01:00:12 pm

You are amazing! I look forward to all of your posts. Love, Judy

Reply
April Haag
5/29/2017 02:46:15 pm

This is amazing! Glad you've found a way to keep your hand in. I wish we lived closer so the boys could come 'bother' it.

Reply
Va
5/29/2017 04:05:42 pm

Fascinating! But much too much work for me. Keep up the good work, it's all good stuff!
Love, Va

Reply
Wes and Betty
5/29/2017 04:34:30 pm

Looks like Rube Goldberg was there.

Reply
Don
5/29/2017 06:23:24 pm

Rube has been known to visit.

Reply
Jeri
5/29/2017 04:44:59 pm

Now this is uber cool. Fascinating how you figured it out and interesting to learn how you did it. I can't wait to see the next installment.

Reply
Gretchen Rogers
8/30/2017 03:20:39 pm

Almost glad you had to be inside! Great and fascinating

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Two septuagenarians and a 35 foot motorhome towing a car – what could possibly go wrong?

    Picture
    You and I have memories
    Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
    ---
    McCartney & Lennon

    Picture
    RVing America...
    one state at a time

    "On the road again,

    Goin' places that we've never been,


    Seein' things that we may never see again,


    And we can't wait to get on the road again."

    ---
    Written & Performed by
    Willie Nelson

    Categories

    All
    Alaska 2014
    Happenings
    Quick Trips
    Road Trip 2015

    Archives

    May 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013

    Previous Posts

    RSS Feed

COPYRIGHT 2007 - 2018
TRAVELS WITH LINDA
Iter est perpetua celebratione in saecula
DON & LINDA SIMMONS