Macro

On my desk sits a handcrafted wooden box. Inside I keep small found and favorite things. The crude brass sculpture below is approximate an inch to an inch and a half in size and I found him years ago in a parking lot. He is sitting on a small chunk of Thunder Bay amethyst.

This week we are playing with macro and closeup images. Below are two macro images. I am continually amazed at the difference lighting makes. Macro works best when you keep your camera parallel to the object. The flatter the object the better the results. The three-dimensional pieces below take on an artsy look as the foreground sharpness diffuses into the background.

Close Up/Macro Challenge

If you would like to see the photographs entered in the Blogger's Community Photo Challenge, for closeup or macro images, click here.





Macro photography can be tricky. Photographing a flat surface is best. When an object is curved, challenges galore pop up while striving for sharpness and clarity. Personally I prefer close up photography using either a 70-200 or 24-70 lens. Most of the time my macro lens hides in my camera case. However, this morning it went into action.

Above is an antique saffron tea container from the 1800s. It was lathe-turned by hand. The term for this type of turned wood piece is treenware.



Next is my "miracle" ring. Years ago I decided to treat myself and purchased this gold ring from an antique shop outside Chicago. The shop owner told me the piece was handcrafted and less than five had been cast. Someday I am going to meet the person who made this ring, I thought. Now...where that thought came from is beyond me.

Time passed.

Then...one day...while visiting an old friend's shop, his clerk announced, "Harvey, she is wearing your ring."

"What?," I said. Wow! Harvey emerged from the back room his hand extended. Sure enough...there it was...on its creator's finger...my ring.