365: Eccentric Strands

Settings: f/2.8, 1/50, ISO 400, 50mm Pentacon M42, 17mm extension, tungsten light. Slight lighting and tone curve adjustments, noise reduction and slight sharpen.

364: Blossoming Lemon

Settings: f/11 (approx,) 1/8, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44-2 M42, 33mm extension, fluorescent lamp, black velvet, cable release, tripod. Slight tone curve / colour adjustments and crop.

363: Old Metal Parts

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 49mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) white card, tripod. Tone curve adjustment, sharpen, slight rotate and crop.

362: Presenting A Cake

Settings: f/11, 1/180, ISO 100, P-FA 50mm, 1/4 flash (bounced,) white polystyrene, black velvet, tripod. JPEG straight from camera, cropped to 5:4.

361: The Luminous Tree

Settings: f/1.4, 1/1.7, ISO 100, P-FA 50mm.

360: White Evening View

Settings: f/4, 1/6, ISO 400, DA 16-45 (30mm.) White balance and tone curve adjustments.

359: Gold Sparkle

Settings: f/2.8, 1/180, ISO 200, 50mm Pentacon M42, 1mm extension (by adapter,) 1/4 flash (bounced.)

358: Cabbage Leaf Network

Settings: f/2.8, 1/10, ISO 800, 50mm Pentacon M42, 20mm extension. JPEG straight from camera.

357: Old-Fashioned Toast

Settings: f/1.8, 1/30, ISO 800, 50mm Pentacon M42.

356: Fairy-O-Lights

Settings: f/1.8, 1/5, ISO 800, 50mm Pentacon M42, 17mm extension.

355: Domino

Settings: f/1.4, 1/25, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm. Tone curve adjustment, rotated 90° left, slight crop.

354: Frozen Field

Settings: f/8, 1/50, ISO 200, DA 16-45 (16mm.) Tone curves adjustment, slight distortion correction and sharpen.

353: CW-24 Test at f/16

This one is the f/16 version in a series of seven test photos I took for evaluating an old Tamron CW-24 24mm lens.

Settings: f/16, 1/2, ISO 100, 1mm extension (PK adapter,) fluorescent table lamp, black velvet, white card, cable release, tripod. Slight exposure adjustment to even out across the range of photos, sharpening set to 0.

352: Sponge Foam Structure

Settings: f/11, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 88mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) cable release, tripod. Colour and tone curve adjustments, 100% centre crop.

351: DAIRY

Settings: f/11, 1/4, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 19mm extension, LED torch, black velvet, cable release, tripod. Colour and tone curve adjustments, slight crop.

350: Misted Floret

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 51mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) tripod.

349: Rainbow Sprout

Settings: f/11, 1/180, ISO 100, 51mm extension, 1/4 flash, white card, tripod. Colour and tone curve adjustments, slight crop.

348: Hedge Pylon

Settings: f/8, 1/250, ISO 200, DA 16-45 (29mm.) Tone curves adjustment, crop to 4:3.

347: Purple Peel

Close up, banana peel shows some tiny starchy clumps, but without a bit of adjustment it can look very flat and boring. Blue-Purple-Pink really seems to bring out its textures better.

Settings: f/16, 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44-2 M42, 76mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) foil reflector, tripod. Colour and tone curve adjustments, crop to square.

346: Sticky Cupcake

Settings: f/8 (approx,) 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44-2 M42, 19mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) cardboard, tripod. Tone curve adjustments, crop to 16:9.

345: Apparitional Gauze

Settings: f/4, 1/15, ISO 800, DA 16-45 (16mm)

344: Red Rows

Settings: f/2, 1/6, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm. Small colour and curves adjustments, slight crop.

343: SXPXXACWPSW

Yeah, exactly. It made some kind of sense if you were there.

Settings: f/1.4, 1/40, ISO 800, P-FA 50mm. White balance, colour and curves adjustments, crop to square.

342: The Gateway

Shooting a film in freezing conditions is not always easy. Add low light levels, an inadequate sound recording set-up and a general lack of preparedness, and it becomes what I'd call challenging.
It was fun, though! Didn't finish shooting, of course. Being put off for a warmer weekend, I presume.

Settings: f/14, 1/80, ISO 800, P-FA 50mm. Monochrome and curves adjustments.

341: Offshoot Curves

Very late update...
Another of a Jerusalem artichoke - but this is one of the new crop. This one was stored for a couple of days, and its skin now looks slightly shrivelled, while the tips of its branched-off new roots are starting to droop.
The added red tint was a post-processing afterthought, one that I simply considered fitting.

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44-2 M42, 45mm extension, 1/4 flash, black velvet, cable release, tripod. Colour and levels adjustments, slight crop.

340: Space-Time Ice Bubbles

I brought a plastic jug full of ice indoors from the garden. (As you do.) It was full of tiny frozen bubbles, in many shapes and sizes. I took various angles, with different lighting (lamp and flash,) and chose this shot because I thought it had simply the most interesting bubbles. The droplets contrast nicely with the streaks, suggesting a sense of movement.

Settings: f/8 (approx,) 1/8, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 25mm extension, fluorescent lamp, black velvet, foil reflector, cable release, tripod. Colour and levels adjustment, square crop.

339: Ring Spine

Settings: f/10 (approx,) 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44-2 M42, 9mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) black velvet, cable release, tripod. Slight curves and colour adjustment, crop to 16:9.

338: Oven-Fresh Biscuits

Settings: f/4, 1/5, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44-2 M42, 9mm extension, tungsten light, cable release, tripod. Slight curves adjustment and colour correction.

337: Future Compost

Settings: f/8, 1s, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 17mm extension, tungsten light, cable release, tripod.

336: Winter's Root

The biggest parsnip I've pulled from the garden so far. A source of modest pride, it was very tasty when roasted.
I adjusted this photo quite a lot, as I wanted to make my cold fingers look even pinker at the tips, while bleaching some of the other colour and giving a Chiaroscuro effect to the image.
The result is certainly unusual, but so is the original capture.

Settings: f/2, 1/60, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm. Colour and curves adjustment, slight crop.

335: Mints on Pink

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 19mm extension, 1/4 flash, foil reflector, green paper, tripod. Colour & levels adjustments, crop.

334: Sugar Cavities

Not the dental sort, but featuring here on something liable to induce such problems if abused.
As expected, I couldn't resist seeing what the bubbles in this orange lollipop looked like close up. I stuck all the extension tubes I had (minus the loose one,) on a 50mm lens and propped the sticky lolly in front of a desk lamp.
The first couple of attempts were plagued by flare, so I cut a small hole in a piece of cardboard and stuck it behind the lolly to cut down on peripheral illumination. This way the only light I really needed was shining through the lolly.
The image looked a great deal more orange out of the camera; while I still liked this, I found that pulling the white balance nearly all the way down made for more varied, acid yellow-greenish tones. While unrealistic, I just find them more pleasing.

Settings: f/9.5, 1/1.7, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 81mm extension, fluorescent lamp, card, tripod. Colour and levels adjustments.

333: Coconut Moon

333 Seems like an auspicious number; not sure why, apart from the repetition.
The coconut simply looked interesting close up, and as with things I find interesting, I often consider the possibility of a photographic record.
Plus it looks rather like the moon.

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 51mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) white card, tripod.

332: The Speed Selector

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 51mm extension, 1/4 flash, metal bowl, black velvet, tripod.

331: Winter Street Lights

A quick snap taken from the middle of King Richards Road. Snowy and very cold.
The only significant hint of snowfall shown here is the lower right patch. The snow cover generally cast a lot of ambient reflections around the street, and the scene would have had much less shadow detail without it.

Settings: f/1.4, 1/50, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm. Colour and levels adjustments, crop to 16:9.

330: Trickly Peace

Settings: f/5.6, 1/100, ISO 400, DA 16-45 (16mm.)

329: Juice, Pith & Skin

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 68mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced,) tripod.

328: Pepper Juice Purses

Not seaweed, but capsicum. The firm pockets of juice on the inner walls of this yellow pepper are very shiny, and are highlighted very effectively by lighting sideways on.

Settings: f/8, 1/4, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 68mm extension, 1/4 flash, tripod. Colour and levels adjustment, slight sharpen and crop.

327: Pillars of Frost

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44M M42, 21mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced.)

326: Berries, Frost & Leaves

Settings: f/11, 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44M M42, 21mm extension, 1/4 flash (bounced.)

325: Broccolilies

Flowers are not just for unusual salads - One bite of broccoli (calabrese) contains hundreds of these delicate, tiny green buds.

The anthers on these broccoli flowers look slightly like those of lilies - a big generalisation, but it led conveniently onto the title.

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 51mm extension, 1.4 flash, black velvet, tripod.

324: Teddies

This man cuts an imposing silhouette over the stall. I noticed this immediately as I glanced his way. There was also a stall keeper behind him, but I waited until her body was obscured by his.
I originally converted it to monochrome; but looked back and brought the colour up a little to bring back some of the reds, and I think it seems to have more emotion as an image. A pity about the slightly clipped highlights, but they [only just] don't ruin the image.

Settings: f/2.8, 1/40, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm. Colour and levels adjustments, highlight recovery, slight crop.

323: Amazon

Last night was a foggy one, and I ventured into the cold to grab some shots of buildings and lights in the foggy night air. Only on starting back home did I notice the fair had come to town, and I noticed this dramatic angle of a large ride with a floodlight behind the sign.

Settings: f/8, 6s, ISO 100, DA 14-45 (45mm,) tripod. Levels & colour adjustments, cleanup.

322: Oak Leaf Channels

From a bunch of half-dried oak leaves, I chose this one because of its varied blotchy patterns. It was then taped to a lamp and copied slide-style.
It was focused to be sharp in the centre, but its general unevenness caused a great deal of softness in areas that fell outside the [thin] field of focus. Note the top corners in particular. I don't mind this, I was expecting it anyway.
It's rather topological, almost like a false-colour aerial view of a stream or a network of highways - and in a way, it is directly analogous, the veins once being transporters of water and nutrients within the organism.

Settings: f/8, 1/13, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 19mm extension, fluorescent lamp, tripod. Levels adjustment, slight sharpen and crop.

321: Bad Apple, Raw Shark

Prior to the inevitable removal of moth larva-eaten areas before consumption, this apple inspired me when cut in half. I was already expecting the damage, due to the tell-tale hole in the skin, but this pattern interested me.

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 19mm extension, 1/4 flash, white card, tripod. Levels & colour adjustments, slight sharpen, crop to 4:3.

320: Confection Racket

I drop the M&Ms and try to trigger the camera at the right: Not easy to do, especially when you consider that all digital cameras have a slight delay between pressing the button and the shutter opening. Okay, DSLRs are pretty damn quick, but the delay is nonetheless there. Out of about fifteen tries, I got two-thirds fairly well timed, but I really could have done with more M&Ms to fill the frame. Like a whole bowl next time!

Set up with a large mirror on a table, black velvet cloth hung over from behind at a slight angle, and a barrier of upended VHS cassettes around the perimeter.

Settings: f/7.1, 1/180, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm, 1/4 flash, mirror, black velvet, tripod. Levels adjustment and crop to vertical 16:9.

319: Twig Corals

Discovered in local woodland on Sunday, this rotten twig sports many tiny, coral-like fungal growths. I knew I wasn't going to get a decently lit and well-considered shot out in the cold woods, so it had to come home; and here we have it.
The twig was about 25mm(1 inch) wide, and measures about 2200px on the full 3888px wide image. This makes it about 13mm wide on the sensor, so the magnification ratio is around 1:2.

Settings: f/9, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 29mm extension, 1/4 flash, white cards, foil, black velvet, tripod. Slight levels adjustment and very light sharpening.

318: Bridge-Train-Tree

A spur of the moment shot, as a train and I both approached a bridge.
Interesting how the tree on the left is visible through a gaping hole in the engine vehicle.

Settings: f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 400, P-FA 50mm. Levels adjustment and crop.

317: Scratch & Shine

A detail from a metal spoon directly under a halogen light, shot very close up. Quite a soft image, but with a ton of tubes and a wide-open lens, it's almost a certainty; also hand-holding the camera doesn't help much.

Settings: f/1.8, 1/8, ISO 200, 50mm Cosinon M42, 83mm extension. Colour adjustment and crop.

316: Between the Pixels

Guess the game: PC (DOS), Psygnosis, 1994. I must have been half my current age when I last played this...
It's run in DosBox here, and scaled up to a much higher resolution, so the pixels use up a lot more scanlines on the CRT monitor.
All I did here was bung some tubes on a 50mm M42 lens and squash it against the screen - it's shot at an angle here, so cue the inevitable focus field blur.

Settings: f/2, 1/6, ISO 400, 58mm Helios-44M M42, 51mm extension.