The final selection and other pictures

The following images are my final selection for the end of course assessment. The theme here is "reflections". I've also included some images that did not quite make the final cut. The most frustrating aspect of the course for me has been the lack of control in printing the final images. On the PC screen or on the tablet they look fine. However, once in the hands of the automated photo printing machine at Tesco or at the mercy of a specialised photo reprographics shop in Northampton they rarely end up as framed on the screen. I purposely resized all the following images at 10" × 8" in photoshop to make the job easier. However, the final images produced by the shop in Northampton have been trimmed and the overall composition compromised in a few cases!  Not a happy bunny! Ho hum!

Sunrise through condensation on our bedroom window

Sywell reservoir contre jour

Growing spoons in the garden

Reflection in a barber shop window

Sunset with wing mirror

Spoons 2

Rainy puddle with trees

Henley in Thames. This image mostly ruined when printed as the bottom half was severely cropped!

Spoons close up

Studio spoons 2

Studio spoons 3

Home studio set up

Extension tubes macro madness

I now have my final pictures for the course! These are in the process of being processed into enormous 8" × 10" prints by some photographic laboratory in Northampton. All I need to do then is to stick these on foam board and write a description on how I managed to take them. All before Thursday 27th March!
In the meantime, I've been playing with a couple of extension tubes I recently bought via Amazon. These are lenseless tubes that screw onto the camera and shorten the focal length of any attached lens. The two tubes differ in width so you can vary by how much you shorten the focal length. With both attached plus my 14 - 42mm lens I can actually focus onto the inside of my daylight filter! These are not Panasonic lens tubes but they do have electronic connectors which comminicate successfully with the camera body allowing it to manage all the clever stuff like auto focus, metering etc. For micro four thirds readers here's the link. This is a far cheaper method of getting some macro close ups compared with buying a bespoke macro lens. These tubes also provide a greater range of focus than compared with the add on lenses. I'll do a comparison of extension tubes versus add on lenses so you can judge for yourselves!

Here are pictures using extension tubes. The wider angle shots use the narrower tube (10mm) , closer shots use the 16mm tube and the extreme close ups use both (26mm).

A slug slimed primrose .. this seems to have been flowering all winter!

The tubes do limit the depth of field considerably! F9 at 1/250. ISO 160. An image at f11 would probably be in full focus.

Same primrose, focus on far petals. F8 at 1/320. ISO 160.

Slug eaten primrose

The 16mm tube view

26mm combined tube view.

Suggestive stamen

Here is the add on macro lens for comparison.

This has an odd colour cast at the edges which can be a problem with add on lenses. I took this at f11 for greater depth of field. 

With an extension tube plus a narrow aperture (f22) ...

A rather slug eaten flower well passed its best!

Studio 2

Low Key

I really like low key lighting. This is partly because it allows the use of that wonderful word "Chiaroscuro". This word describes the effect produced by a strong contrast of dark and light created using very select lighting against a dark background. Here are a few of my attempts.

Originally had a blue cast through a poor choice of white balance

High key = lots of light with light backdrop

A bit on the blurred side ... but I like the overall effect

A bit reminiscent of school photographs