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.

307: Watery Lens

Noticed on my spectacles after coming in from walking in the drizzle; this light distribution of droplets form a pleasing contrast when the lens they lie on forms two distinct bright and dark tones underneath.

Settings: f/5.6, 1/10, ISO 800, 35mm Photax-Paragon M42, 30mm extension. Hand-held in front of a CRT monitor. Square crop,monochrome conversion, sharpening, levels adjustment.

289: Frosted Chard

The frost is here again.
While I don't really like the cold, I appreciate how it creates pretty crystals of ice on things in the morning.

Settings: f/3.2, 1/100, ISO 200, P-FA 50mm. Monochrome conversion, curves adjustment and slight cropping.

287: Diagonal Chrome

Settings: f/4, 1/25, ISO 800, DA 16-45 (16mm.)

251: Twists & Barbs

Settings: f/1.4, 1/100, ISO 200, P-FA 50mm.

248: Ash Fragments

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 26mm extension, 1/4 flash, white paper, tripod.

238: Calendula Seed Head

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 35mm Photax-Paragon M42, 9mm extension, 1/4 flash, white cards, tripod.

236: Wrapped Straws

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 100, 50mm Cosinon M42, 16mm extension, 1/4 flash, foil reflector, tripod.

214: Courgette Cross-Section

Settings: f/8, 1/4, ISO 100, 50mm Pentacon M42, 9mm extension, glass, 1/4 flash, white paper & cards, tripod. Monochrome conversion, cropping.

183: The Crossing Point

So we've just crossed the halfway point of 2010. Where did all the time go?
The past, of course.
I think this project is going well, despite some distinct difficulties with finding good subjects that cause me to hunt around for small things to shoot tiny details of. Note to self: Please try not to macro-scavenge so often.
There's just no substitute for breaking from familiar ways and trying something new, but some days things just don't go so well, and I end up posting three images a couple of days later to catch up.

Doubt, lazyness and insularity are the inglorious trifecta of bad ways I must fight against if I want to see this year-long project through to its end.

The EOS D30 has a definite problem with white balance in some RAW files. Loaded up in some editors they look distinctly green, and when I corrected the white balance, the blown-out sky in this shot went very purple. So monochrome was a good option here. JPEGs are usually fine - if only it had the contemporary-style option to shoot both.

Settings: f/8, 1/160, ISO 200, EOS D30, 35mm Photax-Paragon M42. Some sharpening, curves adjustment and cropping.

150: Elder Buds

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, Photax-Paragon 35mm M42, 10mm extension, 1/4 flash, white card and reflector, tripod.

117: Spooky Street Lamp

Settings: f/2.8, 1/50, ISO 400, 28mm M42, EOS D30.

107: Muddy Stones

This pile of muddy stones in the garden was nothing special, but I felt it was a good subject to play around with in post-processing. It had plenty of detail and not much colour, so I reckoned it best to make it black & white and give it an S-shaped luminance curve to bring out the texture.
I had a busy weekend of film shoots and meetings away from home, so not much time to take photos and post them. This one was taken one day late [and posted two days late,] but sequentially it's in order.

Settings: f/5, 1/800, ISO 100, P-FA 50mm.
Alterations: monochrome, cropping, sharpening & luminance curves.

053: Cabbage Contours

Purple then, grey now; simply for the emphasis on tone and texture. I hd to turn the contrast up a fair bit for the look I wanted.
I tried some shots of the cabbage's cut face straight on flat, but they seemed little better than if had put the cabbage on a scanner, albeit with slightly better lighting. I also tried a couple at an angle, this is the final one I tried.
Settings were f/5.6, 1/180 sec, ISO 100, my usual 50mm M42 lens, this time with a 10mm extension. The orientation was originally landscape, but I cropped it to 2:3 at 100% height, as I decided that I preferred it after I looked at the best photo on a large screen.

Cabbages are rather like clouds in how you can imagine fairly abstract resemblances to other recognisable objects.
I think I can see the shape of an ear in there.