066: The Year We Make Potatoes

Not the year 066, I mean 2010. As far as I know, we haven't made contact yet, or built a great big spacecraft to travel to Saturn to check out all the weird happenings there...
Crap Sci-Fi film title reference aside, we can at least grow potatoes. Check out the super furry shoots on this one - coming along nicely.
A maincrop potato like this "Desiree" variety doesn't benefit much from chitting before planting, but it's not like I have a choice; they'll just start anyway. So they're kept in the light, where they go green, short and furry instead of in the dark where the shoots go long, pale and stringy.

Settings: f/11, 1/180 sec, ISO 200, same lens as yesterday but with black background.

065: Russian-Style Pen Top

Today I felt that I should take a pictue of the wooden pen on my desk, as I do quite like the top of it.
A plain background didn't look like it would work, and I just happened to have an interesting patterned coin purse nearby, so that got put behind it. It seems to work quite well as the styles of both objects used are both relevant and fit together; but I keep wondering if the background might have worked better if it were blurrier. The wooden doll-top is sharp and clear, but it doesn't 'pop' out as much as it could. The similarity of colours is probably to blame as well.
But all in all, it's a worthwhile picture.

Settings: f/8, 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 50mm M42, 29mm extension, low flash, white reflectors.

064: Frost on a Crocus

A similar crocus plant as before, a bit further down the garden. This morning saw some frost, so there was a relatively rare opportunity to get some shots of frosty spring blooms.
Here is one of the better shots, cropped to 5:4 to neaten the composition.
Settings: f/4, 1/50 sec. ISO 200, 50mm M42, 29mm extension.

063: Rust and Holes

Settings: f/6.7, 1/180 sec, ISO 100, lens and flash settings as yesterday; just foil, no reflectors.
Reduced saturation and increased contrast and sharpness. Cropped from original larger shot, as I though the crusty rust parts benefitted from a further close-up.

062: Lavender Buds

I've been sticking a lot of small objects onto blocks of plasticine this week. Tonight here is a collection of short, dried lavender stalks from last year.
I tried a much wider (but still close-up) shot before this one, but I didn't get good results from any flash lighting I tried, so I went for this closer shot. This turned out more detailed and contrasty, showing the fuzzy parts of the buds nicely.

Settings: f/8, 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 50mm M42, 29mm extension, low flash, foil reflector, white background.

061: Coriander Root

I kept his root from a large coriander plant I grew in 2008. It smelt quite strong, and I thought it might be useful in cooking. It didn't keep its aroma though, and just hangs around now because it looks quite interesting. It would have been nicer to have had more than one of these on show, but it's still good singly.

Settings: f/11, 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 50mm M42, 19mm extension, low flash, foil reflector, grey foam background and white paper under front of subject.

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.