Miniature rose

MINIATURE ROSE, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, MARCH 8, 2014

Pentax K-01
Pentax 100mm Bellows-Takumar f4
10 sec. f22
ISO 100

I captured this dime-sized rose in a tabletop bouquet while experimenting with a 1970s-era screw-mount Bellows-Takumar lens in a Pentax Bellows K. The source of light was a dining-room lamp directly overhead. The ancient kit does a decent job although modern macro lenses probably would outdo its image quality in a direct comparison.

Miniature rose

MINIATURE ROSE, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER 20, 2013

Pentax K-01

90mm Tamron f2.8 macro

1/8 sec. f22

ISO 400

Trader Joe's takes a dim view of customers setting up tripods in its flower department, so I had to buy a bunch of miniature roses to take home and photograph with my dining-table macro equipage. The illumination is from a Neewer LED ringlight attached to the business end of the lens.

Hydrangea "Peppermint Twist"

HYDRANGEA "PEPPERMINT TWIST," EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 25, 2012

Pentax K-01
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
1/6 sec. f11 with LED ring light
ISO 100

One of Debby's Christmas gifts was a natural subject for the kit of K-01 camera, Tamron lens, LED ring light and lightweight tripod I've put together for macrophotography. This variety of hydrangea indeed looks as pepperminty as its name. Each bloom is about the size of a quarter.

White poinsettia

WHITE POINSETTIA, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 24, 2012

Pentax K-01
Tamron 90mm macro with LED ring light
1/100 sec. f8
ISO 1600

Just in time for the holidays, the Botanic Garden put up displays of poinsettias of several kinds, including this curly-leafed white variety, in its tropical greenhouse. A low-powered LED ring light helped the modeling of the white leaves under a dark gray overcast sky.

Carnations

CARNATIONS, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 16, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Tamron SP AF 90mm DI Macro
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 1600
Manipulated with Lightroom and Photoshop Elements

I felt experimental today, so took a quick hand-held high-ISO macro shot of a bouquet of carnations from the supermarket on the dinner table, then tweaked the shot with Photoshop Elements' distortion filters to give the image a painterly quality. Nobody would mistake it for an Old Master, but it's not bad for a rank amateur, is it now?

Oak leaf brooch

SILVER OAK LEAF BROOCH ON JEWELER'S VELVET, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
90mm Tamron SP AF f2.8 macro
1/4 sec. f11
ISO 400

While teaching myself the ropes of Lightroom 3.0, the latest version of the Adobe photo post processor, I rediscovered a photo that I'd taken with a new macro lens last fall. The original shot was OK, but a little encouragement with Lightroom's new features enhanced the color, contrast and sharpness, bringing out the artist's careful veining of the leaf.

Geep

EMD GP7 (ATLAS N SCALE), EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER 21, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Tamron 90mm f2.8 DI macro
1/4 sec. f27
ISO 400

Another locomotive from my old N scale model railroad that served as a model for learning tabletop macrophotography, this is a replica of the 1,500 horsepower Electro-Motive Division GP7, a pioneer road switcher built from 1949 to 1954. A few "Geeps" of this vintage, rebuilt many times over the years, still can be seen at work on short lines around the country.

Yard goats

EMD SW900/SW1600 (LIFE-LIKE TRAINS N SCALE), EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER 21, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Tamron 90mm f2.8 DI macro
Both 1/6 sec. f16
ISO 400

Two more from the tabletop photo studio: A pair of locomotives from my old model railroad, both N scale replicas of Electro-Motive Division 1200 horsepower SW9/SW1200 yard switchers, the first built from 1950 to 1953 and the second 1954 to 1966. As is obvious, I ran out of canned air before blasting the dust off the Burlington engine.

2,000 horses on the hoof

EMD GP20 (LIFE-LIKE TRAINS N SCALE), EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER 21, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Tamron 90mm f2.8 DI macro
1/10 sec. f16
ISO 400

Another locomotive from my old model railroad brought out of storage for a self-guided course in tabletop photography, this is a 1:160 scale replica of the GP20, a 2,000-horsepower road switcher built between 1959 and 1962 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. It is painted for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (now Burlington Northern Santa Fe).

Red rocket

ALCO RS-3 (LIFE-LIKE TRAINS N SCALE), EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER 21, 2009

Pentax *ist DS
Tamron 90mm f2.8 DI macro
1/6 sec. f16
ISO 400

Here's the first fruit of my new tabletop photography outfit: a 90mm macro lens, a collapsible light tent and two photo lamps to illuminate the subject. That is a 2 3/4-inch-long N scale model of the Alco RS-3, a 1,600-horsepower diesel locomotive built between 1950 and 1956. It's a leftover from a model railroad I built into a coffee table many years ago.