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.

359: Gold Sparkle

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.