2:30am and I’m in the office, alone. Instead of attempting to go home after a long day and pretend I’ll be able to make it in time for a first-thing meeting, I figured it was easier to stay in. Friday is going to be an easy day anyway, I tell myself.
While drinking a “coffee” (an espresso with the rest of the normal-sized cup filled with milk. As I do.), my eyes fall upon the dim light found in the tubes of the Little Dot 1+ Amplifier. I start wonder if I could capture that light, the way I see it now.
Moments later, Lightroom is booted up, the USB cable yanked from my DAC and is plugged into my trusty old Canon d400, proudly standing on its three Gorillapod-provided legs. Attached are a tube extender, lens adapter and Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens, closely aimed at the Little Dot. After 5 or so photos of “too dark”s and “yikes, focus!”..s, the first shot (seen above) comes dripping into Lightroom, my work MacBook Air frantically parsing the RAW data to provide me with a 100% view to confirm that, yes, it’s in focus. I think. Sort of.
A faint whisper of light close to the tip of the tube, the tiniest dot hinting at its humble warmth.
A few more shots follow, and more parts are added to the tube extender. Just a little closer then, what does that part look like? The near microscopic beauty of hardware, you can almost see the music fly through the connectors and tubes. The future, certainly, is here, as it has been for many years now.
Youn-hee’s mom playing with a tube extender. Which I guess is the only explanation as to why she’s *inside* my drink..
Tiny remains of Incense left on the desk. Looking closely, it’s almost another planet altogether.
Canon 550d w/ tube extender and Nikon 50mm f/1.4.
Last night I received my lens adapter from China, allowing me to use my Nikon lenses on my Canon dSLR. I was mostly looking foward to this so I could use my Nikon 28mm f/2.8 on the 550d, which with its cropped sensor should mean the end result is sort of like a 50mm. And on the other end, together with the cheap tube extender I bought sometime last year I figured it’ll get a bit easier to make macro photos, since the Nikon lenses have aperture control on them. This is one of the first photos I made, using YoungDoo’s office plant for the subject.
A quick “behind the scenes” shot, the whole setup looks kind of funny. Especially with my 35-105mm lens attached, it’s a bloody big thing combined with the tube extender..
B-sides:
One of my first “themed” photo collections, I think.
And yes, I set the little bugger free after his/her photo-shoot. She enjoyed my home for a while, I had a model for my theme. Fair trade, methinks.
Little Jimmy Rushing And The Big Brass, in case you were wondering. Nice record.
From the camera connector part of Joby’s GorillaPod.
A part that I’ll use in another camera mod, as soon as the other parts arrive. Stay tuned ;-).
Parts of the logic board of an old iMac iSight webcam. To put this in perspective, here’s the entire part:
A 500 Won coin surrounded by a few 100 Won coins and a 10 won coin in the top right. It’s crazy how much detail you miss in day to day life.
Just take a look at the side of the 10 won coin. Basically considered valueless (10 Won is $0.009), it’s sides tell a thousand and one stories of the adventures it had. Beautiful.
One step closer.
I always knew cat noses were wet, but until now have never seen what it actually looks like. Mesmerizing.
Until you realize you’re basically staring at minuscule cat boogers, of course.
It’s *very* difficult to focus on a cat’s eye when you’re practically inside his brain, so close. The focus is not perfect (far from it, actually), but I just had to post this one. I’m going to enjoy these extension tubes quite a bit.
Today I’m working from home. Around lunch time, a delivery guy delivered one of the packages I’ve been waiting for; a macro extension tube for my camera. For those that don’t know, you connect the tube to your camera and attach your lens to the tube, increasing the distance between the camera’s sensor and the lens. This, in turn, allows you to get much closer to your subject, like those overly expensive macro lenses. The quality is of course not the same, but it’s pretty darn good.
When making a peanut butter/jelly jam sandwich I found out my jam had gone bad. I could not resist giving the tube a quick try because it looked so pretty, so I further ignored my now roaring stomach, set up the tripod, and clicked away. I still have to practice a lot more (you can only use manual focus with this tube), but I’m loving the new possibilities I have with this $8 piece. Expect a few more macro shots on my blog in the foreseeable future ;-)