Anyone else into macro/abstract photography ?

There was probably some poor sod working on the other side of the machine.

I hated it when people tried to use the machine I was fixing... 

Depending on the bank, getting in and out in a "service situation" could be so onerous that putting a note out front was too much bother. 

When I saw this ATM display, I thought I had hit the jackpot, I didn't put my card in, I didn't want them to trace anything back to me.  I just tried the different options hoping that the machine would dispense everything it had, but nothing happened. 

I was an ATM engineer on a couple of contracts.

There used to be a way on some of the older machines for the poor (in spirit as well as cash) to score a free £180...

But it's more sensible to get organised and steal the whole machine as the criminals already know, and do, so I am really only bringing the honest & non-ATM experienced members up to speed. 

Each of the cash cassettes holds £20,000 and there are four of them per full size ATM..

I'm into all types of photography, anything that takes my fancy

Here I tried all the options but I couldn't get it to dispense all its available cash.

I will be honest, I only bought the microscope to use as a tool for identifying suspicious 1-2mm black dots to see if they were cat fleas* or not and for reading modern electronic and other laser etched component numbers.

*I don't trust systemic cat flea treatments, and I am happier to hunt for fleas then treat, using a reliable method that came to me by accident in the 1980's rather than routinely add non-natural chemicals to my cats. I've been lucky in the last twenty years we've only had one time when one of our cats has needed to be treated. I like the money saving aspect too, as well as the perceived biological advantage to my cats. It helps that I am absolutely sensitive and a MAGNET for blood suckers of all types, so I am a reliable trip wire, but most often the microscopic speck I've just plucked off myself or fished out of my bathwater and stuck under the microscope is..

I've never gone down the microscope route, interesting.  I like the shot, composition/framing, I think more lighting would bring out the detail a bit more, the focal plane is in there judging by the foreground & background, perhaps the microscope can't quite grab enough detail, not sure as never used one.

I started by doing hand held single shots with a magnifying glass taped to the end of the hood of a normal lens, then got hold of a macro lens.  without a doubt, the best results come from multiple shots, stacked together.  This means moving the camera setup through a horizontal plane, might only be a millimetre in total, but a hundred increments & a shot each time, then stack the hundred shots together.

I first platform for moving the camera was a ceramic tile cutter.  I bolted the camera to the assembly that slides on the 2 rails, which gave me a fairly steady horizontal movement, still had to move manually by slightly nudging it with my finger, but it worked, I then made my own sliding platform with a micrometre attached for better control.

I you fancy having a go with stacking, sliding platform etc I'll assist if I can, I'm far from an expert but I experiment & persevere, keeps me out of mischief.

This poor little fella appeared on my patio one day...

Taken with the 40 quid Mustek microscope, but it's kinda O.K. Natural light always helps.

Thanks, look forward to seeing some, what method/equipment/software do you use ? It's not 'my' skill level lol, it's the gear & the software, lots of trial & error, time & patience ... it was something for me to get engrossed in during the crazy lockdown period.  Sorry to hear about your accident, hope you're ok. 

Since I had this surfing accident I've been doing photography as a hobby and done a little amateur macro, nothing at your incredible skill level that's for sure! I'll upload some of my own later but it isn't nearly as good as yours.

Great photos mate. I love the details you have captured. Looks absolutely amazing.

Awesome!! What a clever and refined process that is. I don't feel quite so bad about my attempts which being spur of the moment and never subject to post processing, (If I didn't get it right in camera, I didn't get it.. is my very limited ethos) 

I own a "Mustek" microscope from ebay, which although an early model and glitchy, I feel would be a lovely first macro photography tool, although so far I've been using it as a microscope for looking at small stuff liek SMD devices, (bah!) rather than exploring it's potential as a camera.

I want to add a remote switch before I try that because the clicky button and crappy ergonomics make the "taklng" too hit and miss when really looking at the small stuff.

They might have improved the current models, of course, but there again they might have "improved" the latest model, so I'll stick with what I have whilst it does the job it was bought for..

Did half an HND, was getting decent grades, but wasn't taking the sort of pictures I liked, and could not get my end of year one project to work...

I'd like a few pointers as to how you got all that goodness in your macro stuff. I thought my house spider with the beady eyes was good, but it obviously could have looked so much better.

Ah I just looked and you do give the goodies.Interesting choice of camera. I eschewed the D700 and went straight to D3s but found it less likely to get the shot I wanted than my trusty D70s in aggregate, so it went back on ebay when I needed some money after a few years. When I next go into FX It will most likely be with a D700, although I'll confess, I'd LOVE to try a DF. 

I'm hoping that the D700 is like a full frame version of my dependable D70s and NOT like a full frame D70, which for some reason I found ridiculously hard to take a decent picture with, and was fortunate enough to have stolen...  

Any idea why their 80-400VR is such a consistently crappy lens? (It obviously is not liked by many, based on the ebay depreciation and surplus of good second hand examples).. 

Agree 100%

You can call me Carl Nikon 

No - I do not post tangible / identifiable things about my existence.

I have shared much of myself in this place.  I speak openly and honestly about myself and my feelings regarding my autistic reality and how I think and feel about everything.  I feel VERY exposed in this public forum because of that.  Accordingly, I am especially careful (some might say paranoid) about people who know me being able to link "Number" to my physical self.

It does sadden me to some extent that I find myself so guarded here and unable to share salient facts, photographs and features of my life with you all......but I think that, on balance, this is a satisfactory sacrifice because it enables me to speak VERY openly about the (arguably) more important autistic stuff.

As time has gone on, I have been able to share more with people in this place via the private message function......but I need to have seen you around for a while, and read what you have so say, before I feel comfortable to open up with, by definition, strangers!

Thanks, have you posted any of your pics online ?

I joined this site a couple of days ago, after a search (fed up of the isolation)  I like it so far & very grateful for the interest & kind responses to a forum newbie.  I've had a quick mooch around the forum & there's lots of interesting & thought provoking posts & I hope I can make a positive contribution on here, it should be beneficial to me also.

Anything Techie, Photo, Science/Nature, DIY, Self Reliance, Music etc will be interesting.

Also, I'll help/assist people if I can, I guess that's part of having a forum such as this.

Yes, I'm sure we'll bump into each other on here 

Very interesting - thank you for elucidating.

I have a simple rule with photographers.......if they don't talk about "hundreds of shots" then they aren't really a photographer !

An acquaintance of mine has a Hasselblad and they are supremely proud of it - they think they are a photographer.........they are not !!

My camera is metaphorically made of lego and broken bottles..........but I do take a lot of photographs.  I have had the same model of camera for circa 12 years now - knowing your kit & knowing the importance of lighting + "you can never take too few" = results that are often complimented.

I hope to run into you again soon on the pages.

Regards

Number.

I'm Carl Nikon lol ... I started off with a magnifying glass taped to the end of the lens hood on a Minolta camera, had to manually move to & fro to get in focus & take one shot.

30 years later the setup/method is very different.

Nikon D700 & macro lens, several flash units.  The camera is mounted on a DIY sliding table with a micrometre driving the very small movements ie 0.01 millimetre or less sometimes.

At such magnification the focal plane is so shallow, very little is in focus, I take one shot at a time & moving the camera forward using the micrometre, say starting at the end a forward protruding hair on the wasps head, then moving forward with the focal plane through the rest of the wasp, taking a shot each movement.  Maybe one or two hundred (or more) shots will be taken then some clever software will stitch all the 'in focus' aspects from each shot to create one photo, tech helps.

Hope I've cobbled together something understandable.

The wee beasties were found already dead, ie windowsill, washed & cleaned, even a little blow dry lol.

Those are incredible. Such intricate detail that we never get to see in the everyday 

You captured some beautiful shots.  My fav is the wasp-like character with its legs crossed....it looks almost like a dog pose?!

Very good.  I don't suppose your surname is Zeiss by any chance lol.

Nice one, thanks, by the terms you've used I guess you already know a bit on the topic ?

I was going to jump in and say, "I've had a bit of success with that" but fortunately I went and looked at your work first...

Lighting, awesome

D.O.F. awesome

focus, awesome

perspective, really interesting

And how the (lots of asterisks) did you get that lovely saturation?

It's easy to admire and appreciate other peoples pictures, but I think I envy yours...

Top drawer stuff.

Go, on take it to the next level. Do some germs... ;c)