Important messages can come in small packages

Adjust monitor to show 16 distinct gray steps:

You are free to use these pictures in a non-commercial manner as long as you ask first and give proper attribution. I have 2K to 3K pixel scans on my hard drive if you want something larger.

This page is for my super-macro pictures, where a single penny more than fills an entire frame of film. If you have a camera with a removable lens, take the lens off and hold it on backwards. At this point, it's zoom becomes the inverse: The longer the telephoto, the less macro you will get. Thus, the most amazing closeup will come from a 28 or 24mm lens. A tele-extender lens can be put on the right way first for a still greater closeup. I find that the reversed lens can be held in place acceptably by 4 or 5 stiff rubber bands. After that, it's a matter of making sure everything is perfectly still and getting the face of the subject into the focal plane.

Exposure can be easy or a PITA depending on what your camera does. If you have a Minolta X-700 like me, the TTL meter will make everything OK - Just set the ISO and shoot. This works because not having the lens connect normally makes the camera think it's two stops further open than normal, compensating for the light lost due to macroing effects. If your camera doesn't do TTL metering, you'll need to slow down 1 or 2 stops to compensate. Be ready to sacrifice a roll of film figuring out what to do.

I imagine this would make a good Fark photoshop contest: "This guy's portrait has been getting beat up for 69 years. Repair it." (If you submit this and it gets accepted and I get DDOSed, I will hunt you down without mercy). This is a picture of Lincoln on a very old penny I found when I was sifting through my change, a 1937 wheat penny. Taken on Pan-F, the exposure was between 1/2 and 1/4. I'm not entirely sure what the F-stop was, I believe it was equal to F/22 or F/16. The depth-of-field is so narrow that it might as well be non-existant.

All of these pictures exhibit a considerable loss of image quality near the edges of the picture. It may or may not be visible here, but it is clearly visible in the original prints and the hi-res scans on my HDD.

The Capitol Building on the back of a beat-up 1964 penny. I believe I took this one with the tele extender attached to the camera, which (along with a 28mm lens) will make your pinky fingernail fill the frame. I find that the highlights and shadows combine to screw with my brain - sometimes, it can't decide whether the building looks like it's popping out of or sinking into the surface.

I certainly hope this picture's worth more than it says. The back of the 1937 wheat penny, taken with reversed 28mm lens (no doubler).

More macro photos are coming - Especally the 'Liberty' behind Lincoln's shoulder.

Back -- Next to go to gallery 11.