Tom Pickering, APSA  


Fiber Macro by Tom Pickering, APSA

December 2020 - Fiber Macro

December 2020 - Tom Pickering, APSA

Original

About the Image(s)

Specs: D5000, Tamron 60mm Macro, F45, 1.5s, ISO 200, Platypod

We have a new Internet provider in town to compete with the cable company, and they are using fiber optics to provide connectivity. By comparison, cable company was charging me over $125/mo for 60Mib service through cable, while this new company charges me $60/mo for nearly 3 times that. So, in honor of that, my entry today is a 1:1 image of the fiber (on the right), a cat hair (on the left), and my daily aspirin. The aspirin is 8mm in diameter, while the fiber is about 100 microns (0.1mm, yes, that small). Image is SOOC.

I've also included a shot of the new macro setup I used to capture this. It consists of a 2” x 6” x 13” block of wood, to which I attached a Platypod Ultra, upon which is a Dolica ball head, my $10 focus rail, and my DSLR. There are also a pair of CeSunlight clip-on LED lights held on by the Platypod and an INTLLAB lift table. The ball head and focus rail I already had, so my new rig cost just under $100. It provides an accessible and rock-solid tabletop macro/closeup station. Suggestions?


This round’s discussion is now closed!
14 comments posted




Carol Sheppard   Carol Sheppard
Hmmm. Very disparate elements and I can't get a sense of any cohesiveness to know where I should be looking. That, combined with a bit of softness on the hair and the cable, plus the spots on the blue background and a piece of something on the aspirin, make it very difficult for me as a viewer. This will appeal to a very specific type of viewer, I think?   Posted: 12/04/2020 23:49:22
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
(Groups 0 & 53)
Disparate elements indeed, Carol. In a real sense, this was more about testing my rig and getting the 3 elements in decent focus at the center of the tableau. Of interest to anyone? Surely not I'm thinking. This was more a proof of concept. Had I shot any of the objects alone, there would have been no sense of scale. Yes, I should have spent some time in basic cleanup, too. Guess I failed all the way round. d:¬{(   Posted: 12/05/2020 00:09:49
Carol Sheppard   Carol Sheppard
I think I just misunderstood what your intent was! When I read what you wrote to go with your image, I thought it was intentional but I didn't grasp that it was a perspective study.   Posted: 12/05/2020 21:31:43



Barbara Asacker   Barbara Asacker
(Group 65)
Hi Tom,
I see positive aspects in your image. First, you have the subject on top of a triangle, which is an important part of still life composition. Second, your lighting is good. I like the shadow on the left. It accents the subject. Third, I am able to see the texture in the aspirin. Fourth, the blue background works well with the white subjects. Overall, your new setup seems to work.
Barbara   Posted: 12/05/2020 09:26:24



Stuart Ord   Stuart Ord
An interesting picture, Tom. A sense of scale is important, I think, as most people wouldn't know what an optical fibre is like.

I worked on a project for some time on optical fibres about 20 years ago, trying to help Cornel Glass with better coating techniques at their plant near here. The fibre is mainly a protective polymer coating (applied onto the fibre (as it is made) as a liquid, then cured by UV light). The glass itself is a high refractive index core with a lower refractive index disk outside the core. The core is only a few microns in diameter. The signal, laser light, goes down the core and is kept in the core by total internal reflection. ie if it tries to escape, the changing refractive index acts like a mirror and reflects it back into the core. It's amazing to me how much faster these are than copper cables. We live in the countryside and can get 80MB/sec via optic fibres to a nearby hub and then by copper to our house. We choose a slower service which seems enough, about 40MB/sec, and pay £40/month ($50/month).

Your setup works well. I use a mixture of my DIY LED lights and Adaptalux. Whatever works! My Adaptalux was more expensive, about £400 I think, but I do have 5 lighting arms.

That f45 always makes me jealous!
  Posted: 12/05/2020 15:43:05
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
(Groups 0 & 53)
Thanks for the explanation of how the fiber works. Quite fascinating, actually.

I saw your rig and it looks EXPENSIVE!!! I must have a wee bit of Scot in my DNA as I tend to be fairly cheap. I'd love to be able to justify an Adaptalux setup - I watch their videos all the time and try and figure out a way to do it on a more DIY basis.   Posted: 12/05/2020 16:05:20
Stuart Ord   Stuart Ord
Actually, Ord is a Scottish name, and Yorkshire people give Scots a run for their money in being "canny", or so they say. I deny it absolutely!

I'm much of a DIYer too, but I liked these young chaps developing a business by crowdfunding and so helped, after deciding not to buy an Olympus macro flash. I'm awaiting a couple of their flash arms which have been on "order" for nearly a year, Covid has put their release way back. The current arms aren't perfect, but are good. My biggest criticism is that the arms aren't as bendy as I would like, and the lights are not as bright as I'd like (even the superbright ones).   Posted: 12/05/2020 16:56:43
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
(Groups 0 & 53)
The nice thing about the lights I'm using is the ability to adjust the "color" of the light and the intensity. What I like about the Adaptalux arms is the modifiers that you can add magnetically - just too pricey for my blood.   Posted: 12/05/2020 17:46:09
Stuart Ord   Stuart Ord
The magnetic filter heads are very neat, and not very expensive considering how well made they are, but you get little control, just primary colours really, plus diffusers which come in several grades and my two, bought as different, seem to be identical! Unless they goofed with the packaging, they have no "grade" marked on them. The arm heads can't vary in colour temperature. I've test used some studio lights with variable temperature, but failed to see what benefit that has. I never use anything but auto white balance, I can corrct any perceived errors in post. What benefit do you find?   Posted: 12/06/2020 02:40:59
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
(Groups 0 & 53)
I've only varied the color once to see how it brought out certain color detail in a subject, but haven't tried to do much more. I'm so used to adjusting things in post, I guess. What can I say? d;¬{D   Posted: 12/16/2020 00:10:30
Stuart Ord   Stuart Ord
There are often several ways of skinning a cat (sorry if any cat lovers read this!) and there's no harm in having more than one way as some might be better in some situations than others. Colour is definitely not my strong point, I often fail to see slight colour casts that friends notice immediately, so I'm quite happy to be told there's something I'm missing. Thinking about it now, I guess varying the colour of the light might be useful when photographing with a mono photo in mind as altering the colour balance of incoming light will alter the way the mono conversion will go when doing that. Sounds like an area for experimentation sometime!   Posted: 12/16/2020 01:40:00
Bob Crocker   Bob Crocker
(Group 57)
Hi guys, enjoying your conversation, thought I add in my experience with Adaptalux. I was intrigued by the concept, so I bought one Pod and 2 white light arms. When the Pod arrived, it did not work correctly (no variation in light), had to send it back to England, at my expense. Then, when removing one of the lighting arms from the Pod, the magnetic head separated from the rest of the arm. Had to get it replaced, took 6 weeks. So I'm using the system but am a little concerned about their Quality Control. Will be interested to see how your new flash arms work.   Posted: 12/18/2020 14:06:31
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
(Groups 0 & 53)
Wow, Bob! At the prices they charge for these devices, that's very concerning. I think I'll be sticking with my cheap lighting solution for the foreseeable future. d:¬{0   Posted: 12/18/2020 14:12:40
Stuart Ord   Stuart Ord
I think we need to remember that they are (or seem to be) a 2-man band doing a fairly professional job for a couple of young people. I've no idea what support they have. My kit has been reliable so far (now a year or so old). They have had supply issues due to the pandemic, and the flash arms were originally due out before now, but I don't have a date for them yet. I'll email them and ask. However faults on delivery should not have to be returned at your cost in my view - they should have refunded that.

Now I've looked at their emails, they announced a while ago to schedule the launch of the flash units on 1st March 21   Posted: 12/18/2020 15:07:37