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stephbgI have an interesting piece of rock possibly called Botswana agate, but I call it eyeball agate. It's rounded and shiny and has interesting things going on inside. It responded very well to an outdoor shot with lots of lovely sunshine. Mostly.
I was very impressed with the detail:
Pity about the blinding patch of light:
So I've been doing various experiments in a jerry-rigged light box (a plastic bucket lined with cheap sketch paper) with artificial light (one rather elderly desk lamp with a new halogen globe) and a polarising filter (held against the camera).
The verdict: need more light before I can really take advantage of the filter, but I can see where it will help. This was taken without the filter and you can see the reflection of the camera:
Getting there, but lord, So. Many. Variables. I've learned just enough to make my brain jibber at the prospect of all that I don't know.
I've bought new lights and plan to build a Bigger Better light box now that the proof of concept has proven itself. The filter requires more infrastructure support, and I really need to clean the fingerprints off it. In the meantime I'm getting a little tired of my eyeball. It's a good test pattern, but I think I need to purge my folder of experiments and start from scratch with proper annotations.
So folks, how long do you reckon before I cave and beg, borrow, or steal a proper DSLR with a real macro lens? I have just bought a digital microscope and camera on the cheap (again thank you ebay), which will help with other things. I've always wanted a microscope, so prepare yourself for TMI shots of toenails and such.
I was very impressed with the detail:
Pity about the blinding patch of light:
So I've been doing various experiments in a jerry-rigged light box (a plastic bucket lined with cheap sketch paper) with artificial light (one rather elderly desk lamp with a new halogen globe) and a polarising filter (held against the camera).
The verdict: need more light before I can really take advantage of the filter, but I can see where it will help. This was taken without the filter and you can see the reflection of the camera:
Getting there, but lord, So. Many. Variables. I've learned just enough to make my brain jibber at the prospect of all that I don't know.
I've bought new lights and plan to build a Bigger Better light box now that the proof of concept has proven itself. The filter requires more infrastructure support, and I really need to clean the fingerprints off it. In the meantime I'm getting a little tired of my eyeball. It's a good test pattern, but I think I need to purge my folder of experiments and start from scratch with proper annotations.
So folks, how long do you reckon before I cave and beg, borrow, or steal a proper DSLR with a real macro lens? I have just bought a digital microscope and camera on the cheap (again thank you ebay), which will help with other things. I've always wanted a microscope, so prepare yourself for TMI shots of toenails and such.
