314: Green Dome Matrix

The rubber keyboard dome: A nice example of cost-cutting industrial design. Glued directly to the membrane, these things not only save weight, cost and complexity over older individually-switched designs, but are also quieter to press.
I'm even using examples of these as I type this post...

Cheap rubbish! Where is my good old clicky keyboard!?

Settings: f/4, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 33mm extension, 1/4 flash, white card, tripod. White balance, colour & levels adjustments, slight cropping.

021: Steel Screws

Continuing on my current theme of high-magnification photography, I decided to get close up on some small steel screws of the type that secure computer components in a case. The base surface is a recycled car tyre mouse mat. This has a good grip that the upside-down screws hold well to, and also an interesting fine texture that's somewhat like extremely fine asphalt.
Exposure settings are f/5.6 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low-power flash. Again it's full manual with the same lens as before. This is another image that I managed to get right first time, so I'm pleased with that too. I simply shot it and uploaded the JPEG straight from the memory card.
The only thing I'm not keen on in this photo is the out-of-focus highlights at the top left. They are a little harsh and clearly hexagonal, but they don't distract too much and I like hexagons anyway.
Expect to see more hexagons of various types...

012: Latex Gromit

Gromit is looking much the worse for wear.
It was found in the same squashed and twisted state last year, being stored away in less than favourable conditions. I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of the hideous thing - I put it down to an innate curiosity for the morbid and strange. It still stands on a shelf, proudly flaunting its decrepit freakyness.
Of Spanish make by "Lanco," it is good old natural latex. When found, it was still slightly gooey in places where it had deteriorated. It's generally dried up now, and is quite brittle all over. A close inspection of the face reveals many cracks and some mysterious coloured spots.

I used a black velvet backdrop and some polystyrene-reflected flash light for this shot. The result is a quite a detailed account of [one side] of its right-angled deformity. Quite a touching, if morbid portrait of a neglected object.