350: Misted Floret

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

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.

292: Scorpionion

Settings: f/5.6, 1/180, ISO 100, 58mm Helios-44M M42, 1/4 flash, white card, black velvet, tripod.

275: Saxophony

Settings: f/1.4, 1/30, ISO 800, P-FA 50mm.

148: Chive Flower

Lit from underneath.
Settings: f/2.8, 1/4, ISO 100, 1/4 flash, white & black cards, tripod.

074: Turnip Top Crisps

While not completely dessiccated, these bits of turnip are suitably dry and shrivelled to count as crisps in this picture.
What I like the most is how the complementary green and purples, though not very bright, have lost very little of their original colour. There are also some crazy textures going on down there, from the crinkle of the re-growth to the rings and scabby patches on the root skin.

Settings: f/8, 1/180, ISO 200, 50mm M42, 10mm extension, low flash, white reflectors.

060: Spring Is Here

Today I decided that Spring had arrived; the profusion of emerging crocuses with the mild, sunny weather convinced me. But while these beautiful flowers bloom early and quickly, they wither just as quickly.
Today's lesson: Enjoy such evanescent things while you can!

Settings: f/2.8, 1/1000 sec, ISO 100, SMC P-FA 50mm.

It would be great to make a time-lapse video of these flowers, as they open and close in response to the sunlight. Maybe next year.

039: Dried Flowers

Another example from the order of dried things from the windowsill, this one a good year or so older than the wheat ear.
These curious purplish flowerheads have retained much of their original shape and vibrancy. I don't know what they're called, but I find them quite impressive because of this simple ability. I wonder if they'll still be standing on the windowsill in a couple more years' time.

022: Bright Paint Pots

A colourful collection of small paint pots lie in a drawer, waiting for their crusty lids to be prized off again one day. Some of them may now be too dried up to be of use again, but their bright tops still attract my eye when I open the drawer.
Shown here are a collection of the more vivid ones, most of the others being dark, fleshy or earthy military-type tones. (I'm sure some of them are getting on for fifteen years old.) I took several tries at this photo before I was satisfied, the reasons ranging from the exposure to the position of the pots. I quite like the result, although I would have preferred to have a better selection of bright colours to use. But that's my fault for not buying them, I guess.
f/8, 1/180 sec. ISO 100, low power flash, 50mm M42 & 8mm extension ring.