The Invented Eye

Water of Life

2011-11-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

a tiny drop of water on our Plum tree. It hadnt been raining, it was just condensation after the fog we'd had earlier in the day.

Sluggin it out

2011-11-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

A young snail in the garden at night, species probably Helix aspersa.
Anyone know what young snails are called?

Joseph's Coat

2011-10-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

A close up of a flower head on my Spiraea bush in the garden last night.

30D + 100mm macro lens, 270EX flashgun on c-bracket

Light and shadow abstract

2011-10-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Shadows and light playing on a cupboard door.
Canon 30D + Vivitar 19-35 zoom

3 from the Sea

2011-09-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

My daughter brought a collection of shells from her visit to Scarborough-here's 3 of them.

Jupiter fly-by

2011-09-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

We're in the middle of decorating and we have this step ladder covered in old paint and dirt. It spoke to me, it told me to get my camera out!

Canon 30D + 100mm macro lens

Never Too Old

2011-09-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

I spotted this in the town while waiting for the bus home, shot from the hip on the Panasonic compact.

If you look closely you can see my reflection!

Matthew's new wheels ;)

2011-08-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Matt recently acquired this sexy little number, a palm sized Jaguar XK Coupe, and I photographed it outside with the 50mm lens on my Canon.

Incredible colour photos from the early 1900s!

2011-08-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

I just came across this site from a poster on Facebook. Truly amazing, clear colour photos from 1910 and earlier, using a process of taking three exposures one after another, each with a coloured filter (red green and blue), later combining them to form a full colour image.

A small example:

Click Here to see more

A guitar for David!

2011-07-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

My 12 year step-son likes to strum on the kids' guitar, but its a bit small for him. I asked him if we got a guitar for him he would want me to teach him and he said yes, so we decided to look for a full sized classical.
Yesterday we found this Taygus in a second-hand shop. It needed a restring and I got some cool looking silver/black strings for it. Its just settling in now-will take a while before it stays in tune but it sounds great! Only cost us £20 too (about $40?)
Brand new it costs about £60 ($120) so was a bit of a bargain!

Just hope he still wants to learn....

Taken with the Canon 30D and 19-35mm zoom out in the garden.

Four Fingers, Six Strings photo

2011-07-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

This is a banner I made from a photo of my guitar. It was made for my new guitar blog:
Four Fingers, Six Strings blog
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

(Click to see it all as blogger cuts part of it off for some reason)

A Spider's Skin

2011-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Testing out the new flash bracket, (a C bracket made by Boling that we found on Ebay for £13) I stumbled upon this old spider skin in the shed.

Just walking the dogs....

2011-05-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

I spotted this little scene the other day-and after some cropping to concentrate just on the legs I realised it reminded me of the work of Elliot Irwitt, who liked to capture just the legs of people and dogs.

London Pride!

2011-05-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

A close up of a popular plant growing in many gardens, known as London Pride, showing a single flower. The plant is a kind of cultivated Saxifrage with small flowers which from afar have a whispy look. Its only up close we see the details!
I used the new flashgun through a piece of polystyrene with a black tshirt as background, camera on manual so no light reached the shirt.

Chasing a Weevil

2011-05-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

This tiny chap was spotted climbing amongst some low nettles, and I had to get on my knees with my macro lens. Took a few attempts to get one decent shot but it was worth it in the end!

...and then there was light....

2011-05-04T04:09:00.000-07:00

New flashgun arrives, a Canon 270 EX, with, surprisingly for such a small unit, bounce and zoom!

Once again I am without a flashgun!

2011-04-26T03:37:00.000-07:00

Strangely the Jessops unit stopped working for some reason so I took it back for a full refund. Luckily I got all the money back so now I'm going to put some more money together and get the Canon 270EX unit that is in Argos.

Backlit Leaf macro

2011-04-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

This is a 1:1 shot of a leaf from the garden (Greater celandine)
I used off camera flash to backlight it, balancing it with the ambient light so as to keep some detail on the front surface.
Theres also a spider web behind the leaf too, which I did'nt notice before!

Dandelion a la Blossfeldt

2011-04-19T04:37:00.000-07:00

This is an unopened Dandelion flower, photographed against a plain background (kitchen door) and using available light. I was emulating the style of legendary nature photographer Karl Blossfeldt,(1856-1932) an early pioneer in the world of close-up photography.
Full size image here

Finally got a flashgun!

2011-04-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

Bought this unit from Jessops yesterday for £79. It has a GN of 38, a bounce head that also swivels thru 180 degrees, as well as auto or manual zoom. It has 4 power setings down to 1/16 power, and a LCD screen with backlight if needed.
All I need now is a bracket so I can use it off the camera and a good diffuser.
For now I have something that works ;)

Street 'togs

2011-04-13T04:11:00.000-07:00

A photographer and his mate spotted in the town and snapped with my phone. Cropped and adjusted slightly in PSE.

Locked Out

2011-04-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

Playing around with using in-camera mono settings-so far it seems useable, especially when you can adjust contrast and sharpness for a different look depending on the scene!

Man I love this camera ;)

First shot with 30D

2011-04-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

The underside of a Peppermill at roughly lifesize.

Camera upgrade!

2011-03-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Having saved all the pennies that fell down the back of the sofa all year I finally had enough to get a 'new' camera. Well I say new but its secondhand-the 30D is no longer made but its very recent, and it came from ebay in excellent condition!
It also came with 3 batteries, 3 memory cards, Canon strap, unopened, charger and all the paperwork and CD ROMs! all for 250 quid!

Its a little bit lighter than the 10D, and tiny bit smaller, but has a bigger rear screen, the pop up flash raises up higher (should help for impromptu macro work), 2 more Mega pixies and better noise control at high ISOs!

I think I'm in love ;)

A bobby on his bike

2011-03-21T09:37:00.001-07:00

This was a lucky shot from the hip, in bright sunshine. I couldnt see what I'd captured other than someone on a bike. It was only when I viewed the pics on the laptop that I saw it was a police officer! I decided to convert to b/w but I left word 'Police' on his jacket blue.

Panasonic FZ7

Cells

2011-03-16T08:50:00.001-07:00

This is a pocket in my lowepro camera case, lit with the pop up flash and impromptu diffuser.

Canon 10D + 100mm macro lens at about 1:1

I Cast a Tall Shadow

2011-03-12T05:44:00.000-08:00

An extreme close up of the side of a matchbox.

Canon 10D, 100mm macro with 50mm lens reversed for about 2X lifesize.

Inside an icon of Spring!

2011-03-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

My partner Helen brought some daffs home for young Katie and I thought, ooh, photo ops!
And so.....

I thought I'd get a close look at those inner parts, and so I reverse mounted a 50mm lens onto the macro lens to get me to 2X (ish).
In this shot the petals were touching the rear lens mount of the 50, so that set my close limit!

Canon 10D
Vivitar/Cosina 100mm macro lens
Pentax SMC 50mm f1.7 reversed

A medical sample?

2010-10-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

Not quite! Its actually a paper and plastic CD slip case photographed at 40X. Because of the minimal depth of field when shotting thru a microscope I couldnt get both the surface, with the bubbles on, and the fibrous part below both in focus, so I took two photographs at different focus points and combined them as layers in Photoshop. The two layers overlapped slightly due to focus shift but I left the borders in.

Canon A470 on the microscope
Optics, 10X eyepiece and 4X Meiji flat field objective.

Go!

2010-10-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is the word go as displayed on my book reader (Sony PRS 300), and viewed through my microscope at 40X.

Photographed with the Blackberry.

A household abstract!

2010-10-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

Just saw this one day while laying down and looking up!

Canon 10D + Vivitar 19-35mm at 35mm

A little Ray of Sunshine...

2010-09-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

...on a cloudy (and very windy!) day.
Had to get down really low and point the camera up-a dirty knee shot!

Click to enlarge

Canon EOS 10D
Vivitar Series '1' 19-35mm zoom
Polarizer filter

A fabulous cloud formation

2010-09-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

Took this earlier this summer with the 19-35 zoom at 19mm for full effect.

Click to enlarge

Canon EOS 300
Vivitar Series '1' 19-35mm zoom
Kodak Gold 200 ISO film

The SV Tenacious at Hartlepool

2010-08-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Tenacious was launched in 2000 and is the largest wooden tall ship to be built in the UK for over 100 years!
I saw her moored at Hartlepool as part of the 2010 Tall Ships races-quite a sight!

Info here: SV Tenacious on facebook where you can help celebrate her upcomingh 10th birthday, and here Jubilee Sailing Trust

An Alfa at Night

2010-07-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Spotted this lovely car while walking the dog and got off a quick shot with my Blackberry

In the Town

2010-07-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

Just a quick grab shot of some people in the town yesterday, taken with the Panasonic.

2010-06-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

First flower to open on a Pelargonium which I created by crossing two others.
Canon 10D + 50mm lens

These Streets

2010-06-25T05:02:00.000-07:00

A photo of a nearby street, taken with my G1 phone and converted to gritty B/W

Hot looking Aloe

2010-06-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

One of my Aloes began flowering. The stem is a whopper compared to the baseball-sized plant!

Ants!!

2010-06-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

Spotted these atop a branch on an apple tree in my garden and got in close with the macro lens, camera on the monopod.

Hedgehog in the garden

2010-05-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well I say in the garden, he was actually near the back door step! I let the dog out and wondered why she was hesitating. I went to get her and came across this big pig!
First time I've ever been able to get a good hedgepig shot!
Click to enlarge

Wood Avens

2010-05-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Also known as Herb Bennet, this is a wild flower in the Rose family that seems to like my garden! Its a sprawling low growing plant with these tiny yellow flowers that are less than the size of a penny. These are follwed by seedheads that are like burrs that catch on your socks as you walk through the grass.
Click to enlarge:

Approaching Fairyland

2010-05-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is a very close up shot of a Dandelion clock, taken in the garden earlier on a cold dull day. I set the widest aperture to give an extra soft look.
10D +100mm macro lens at f3.5
Click to enlarge;

My daughter, the photographer

2010-05-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

This is 6 year old Katie taking my photo with her new camera, a Canon A470.
She has developed an interest in photography and has had a cheap digi for a while with which she took great photos of trees and flowers, but we thought it was time she got something better.

A Bee's head up close

2010-05-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

I found this dead bee in the bath and set out to photograph it. (I took other photos at much lower magnification - theyre RAW files and need processing.)
I then set the camera to jpeg Large and stepped up the magnification by reversing a Pentax 50mm f1.7 onto my 100mm macro lens to got a head shot which was fabulous to see on the preview screen!
I'm so glad I kept that Pentax lens!!
10D + 100mm macro +50 reversed, mag approx 2X (2:1)
Lit by wind up LED light
Focusiing was difficult and I tried to get most of the important features in focus but I had to be quick because the wind up light fades quickly.
Click to enlarge

Down amongst the Dandelions

2010-05-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Pretty much a guessed shot in my garden earlier. Not strictly macro but I was pretty close to those Dandelion clocks!

I just held the Panasonic FZ7 down low so it would be looking upwards through the dandelions and fired off a shot.

1/400 at f5.6
ISO 80
Click to Enlarge:

Yellow doesnt want to play today!

2010-05-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

This is a line of kiddies paint pots,leftovers from a paint project of my daughter's. They were due to be thrown out but I gave them a new life.
I liked how the yellow pot's lid was still down-it appealed to me somehow!
Taken with the Canon 50mm lens-I've found that the 50mm really comes into its own in such still life settings!
Click to enlarge

Salutations for the Cactus World!

2010-05-14T04:28:00.000-07:00

This is a 1:1 shot of new stems on my Schlumbergera 'Christmas Cactus'. Each stem is a mere half inch long!
10D + 100mm macro lens at 1:1
Lit using a wind up LED torch (long exposure)
Click to enlarge

Smells as good as it looks!

2010-05-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

A close up of Lilac (Syringa) on a dull windy day. Flowers just starting to open.

Veronica!

2010-05-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Also known as Speedwell, this is a very common low growing plant with very small blue flowers. Each flower is about half inch across-the bud there is about the size of a match head. It is currently carpeting lawns everywhere and it seems a shame to cut it!

Fly

2010-05-05T05:20:00.001-07:00

Found this little one on our kitchen window yesterday, and managed to get really close with the macro lens for a handheld shot.
I've just discovered this is a species of Empis, and a female at that, thanks to Paul on diptera.info!

A sign of Spring!

2010-05-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

I thought of the guys on the BBC Wildlife Forum when I saw these new Oak leaves emerging! I had to wait for the sun to come back out-it has been doing a disappearing act all day!

Moss!

2010-05-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

A close up of the moss found in a pot in my garden-I was reminded of the film Avatar!
10D + 100mm macro lens

3 tiny parasols!

2010-05-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

I came across these in a farmer's field while out on a walk with the kids recently and had to get on my knees to capture it!.
Taken with the canon 10D + the 19-35 zoom

Pine cone-mono

2010-05-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

A close up of a cone from a Scots Pine (I think), taken with the macro lens and converted to mono with a slight warm tone.

Reaching for the Light

2010-05-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

This is a close up of one of my house plants (a Peperomia), handheld with my Canon 10D + 100mm macro lens.