Pierre Williot
April 2026 - Macrophotography of a piece of Pottery
Original
About the Image(s)
I was walking on the shores of Lake Erie and found a piece of fired brick or ceramic morsel that washed on the beach. I liked its textured surface.
Here I used my mounted Canon R5, a Canon EF to RF adaptor, and a Canon MP-E 65mm (1X to 5X) macro lens at 2X magnification to collect a stack of images. I used the Platypod system as my mount system, a Nissi Focus stacking rail, and Light cubes.
To collect the 10 slices I used the following settings: 1/2 sec, f/16, ISO 800 per slice, using the focusing rail and pin-point focus on key area using “live view”.
I included an image of the overview of the set-up and the final image.
7 comments posted
Hi Pierre; Do not use Canon so have not used this 65mm macro lens. From what I read this is a challenging lens to use successfully for several reasons and requires a lot of patience.
At 2X magnification depth of field is extremely shallow, however you have good even sharpness from side to side using f/16 and 10 slices.
It would be interesting to know the age of the piece of ceramic you found along the beach. Posted: 04/09/2026 23:10:52
At 2X magnification depth of field is extremely shallow, however you have good even sharpness from side to side using f/16 and 10 slices.
It would be interesting to know the age of the piece of ceramic you found along the beach. Posted: 04/09/2026 23:10:52
Hi Murphy,
I agree with your comments. I would also like to know how old this specimen is. On the north shores of Lake Erie, close to the Old Fort Erie, the beach is rich with old specimens coming from old shipwrecks. Posted: 04/12/2026 01:03:44
I agree with your comments. I would also like to know how old this specimen is. On the north shores of Lake Erie, close to the Old Fort Erie, the beach is rich with old specimens coming from old shipwrecks. Posted: 04/12/2026 01:03:44
What a fun magnification shot. Kudos for seeing this as a photographic opportunity. Also, I like that you provided us with a glimpse of the set-up employed to capture the image.
Regarding the image itself, it does appear to be a bit washed out (perhaps due to the direct lighting), with some of the detail and color in the piece being lost. Here I might suggest adding contrast and darkening the piece a bit using a curves layer to rectify this. Boosting the colors a bit might also be beneficial. I also might consider darkening the uppermost layer to match that of the lower dark layer to add a bit of balance to the presentation. I have included a version of the image in which these suggestions were applied, to illustrate my thoughts here.
The Canon MP-E 65mm (1X to 5X) macro lens is a manual focus macro lens that is quite effective in generating large magnifications. It is difficult to use since one needs to work at finding the appropriate focus place. Due to the high magnification this lens can achieve, the apparent depth-of-field is also very small. But if one can work past these issues, it's a very effective macro lens.
Posted: 04/10/2026 17:42:49
Regarding the image itself, it does appear to be a bit washed out (perhaps due to the direct lighting), with some of the detail and color in the piece being lost. Here I might suggest adding contrast and darkening the piece a bit using a curves layer to rectify this. Boosting the colors a bit might also be beneficial. I also might consider darkening the uppermost layer to match that of the lower dark layer to add a bit of balance to the presentation. I have included a version of the image in which these suggestions were applied, to illustrate my thoughts here.
The Canon MP-E 65mm (1X to 5X) macro lens is a manual focus macro lens that is quite effective in generating large magnifications. It is difficult to use since one needs to work at finding the appropriate focus place. Due to the high magnification this lens can achieve, the apparent depth-of-field is also very small. But if one can work past these issues, it's a very effective macro lens.
Posted: 04/10/2026 17:42:49
Hi Charles,
Thanks you for these kind comments and suggestions. Posted: 04/12/2026 01:05:18
Thanks you for these kind comments and suggestions. Posted: 04/12/2026 01:05:18
Hi Pierre
I think you gone OTT with is set up try taking it at the lens sweet spot ( f5.6 Or f8)
And use defused lighting @ 100 iso with a remote release .
Sorry Pierre I know that lens is a difficult piece gear I use a LOMO microscope objective
which cost me $30 will show it in the not so distant future .
Posted: 04/14/2026 14:25:54
I think you gone OTT with is set up try taking it at the lens sweet spot ( f5.6 Or f8)
And use defused lighting @ 100 iso with a remote release .
Sorry Pierre I know that lens is a difficult piece gear I use a LOMO microscope objective
which cost me $30 will show it in the not so distant future .
Posted: 04/14/2026 14:25:54
An interesting piece of pottery. I also would up the contrast a little to bring out the orange color.
Thanks for sharing. Posted: 04/14/2026 18:31:55
Thanks for sharing. Posted: 04/14/2026 18:31:55
Pierre, thank you for including your set-up for photographing this most interesting object you found on the beach. By chance did you try photographing the piece on the diagonal? Posted: 04/14/2026 21:01:03