Whatizit?

Periodically I will change the featured photograph of this post and ask viewers to guess what it is – please use the Comment form below or the Contact Us form to submit your guess. Later the image and the answer will be added to the post and the photo gallery.

Prior Whatizit? Photographs

8/9/24 – Crimp of Metal Medicine Tube
7/10/24 – Cork from red wine bottle
6/10/24 – Center of a Magnolia blossom
5/8/24 – Dry Sunflower Seed Head
4/12/24 – Dry Plant Stem
3/7/24 – Red Wine Bubbles
2/6/24 – Tangerine Skin
1/7/24 – Sawtooth Oak Acorn Cap
12/10/23 – Mold on the inside of a peanut butter jar lid
11/11/23 – Ice Cube
10/18/23 – Orange Slice
9/9/23 – Candy Box Tray
8/3/23 – Cutco Serrated Knife Blade
7/3/23 – Osage Orange

Please click the gallery below to view the prior Whatizit? photographs and details about the images.

Technical Information

In addition to the camera, lens, and exposure information, I have included a brief description of each subject and how each photograph was taken.

Crimp of Metal Medicine Tube

This image is a closeup of the crimp at the end of a metal tube of medicine.

• Date: 9/9/21
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro + 1.4x Sigma Teleconverter
• Settings:
  • Lens: 147 mm, f/11
  • ISO: 400
  • Shutter: 1/625 sec
• Cropped image is 4359 x 2906 px

Cork from red wine bottle

This image is a closeup of the end of a cork from a bottle of red wine.

• Date: 5/28/24
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
• Settings:
  • Lens: 105 mm, f/11
  • ISO: 1600
  • Shutter: 1/60 sec
• Uncropped image is 6000 x 4000 px

Center of a Magnolia blossom

The top of the image shows the stigmas which collected pollen from the stamens, which were attached at the red region before they fell off after releasing their pollen. This image was created from six separate images, each of which was focused at a different point of the subject, which were combined using Focus Stacking software. For more information about Focus Stacking, please see the Definitions, Software, & Apps page.

Additional Information:

https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/magnolia-flowers-fall-apart-beautifully

• Date: 6/30/22
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
• Settings:
  • Lens: 105 mm, f/8
  • ISO: 200
  • Shutter: 1/100 sec
• Cropped image is 3690 x 5535 px

Dry Sunflower Seed Head

This dry sunflower seed head was in our garden from the previous year and I was attracted to the pattern formed where the seeds had been previously. This image was created from 17 separate images, each of which was focused at a different point of the subject, which were combined using Focus Stacking software. For more information about Focus Stacking, please see the Definitions, Software, & Apps page.

• Date: 8/7/2021
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
• Settings:
  • Lens: 105 mm, f/11
  • ISO: 200
  • Shutter: 1/50 sec
• Cropped image is 5064 x 3385 px

Dry Plant Stem

We found a small piece of dry plant stem on our sunroom floor which probably came into the house stuck to clothing or shoes when we were working in the garden. When I looked at it, I could see some very fine textures at the end of the stem so I photographed it using the highest macro magnification so I could to see the details. The stem was about 3/32” diameter and I was astonished at the ultra fine details within the stem.
This image consists of six separate photographs focused at different parts of the stem which were combined into one image with focus stacking software. For more information about Focus Stacking, please see the Definitions, Software, & Apps page.

• Date: 11/25/2023
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro + 68 mm Extension Tubes + 1.4x Teleconverter – effective focal length: 242 mm
• Settings:
  • Lens: 242 mm, f/22
  • ISO: 1600
  • Shutter: 1/6 sec
• Cropped image is 3570 x 2380 px

Red Wine Bubbles

This image is of bubbles formed by pouring red wine into a wine glass. I had to set-up the camera on a tripod positioned to allow the wine to be poured directly in front of the lens. It was difficult to capture the area where the bubbles formed and get the focus correct since the bubbles dissipated rapidly after the wine was poured. The final cropped image was edited to remove noise and to sharpen it.

• Date: 12/22/2023
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
• Settings:
  • Lens: 105 mm, f/16
  • ISO: 3200
  • Shutter: 1/30 sec
• Cropped image is 4302 x 2868 px

Tangerine

This image is a closeup of the skin of a tangerine. This image was made from four separate images focused at different points and focus stacked with Helicon Focus. Please see the Definitions, Software, & Apps page for additional information about this technique.

The gallery above also shows a photograph of the setup I used to take the photograph. I used two LED light panels with a piece of white foam board over the LED light panels to reflect the LED light panels onto the tangerine. The image was cropped to eliminate the reflections of the LED light panels on the tangerine skin.

• Date: 9/12/2023
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro with 68mm extension tubes
• Settings:
  • Lens: 173mm, f/11
  • ISO: 800
  • Shutter: 0.5 sec
• Cropped image is 3910 x 2610 px

Acorn Cap

This image is the cap of an acorn from a Sawtooth Oak that Beverly found on JMU’s campus; it was made from 12 separate photographs: there were three photos taken at different exposures to create HDR images for each of four focus locations using Aurora HDR. The HDR images were then focus stacked with Helicon Focus. (Please see the Definitions, Software, & Apps page for additional information about these techniques.) The merged image was then edited in Photoshop to remove the background. The gallery above also shows an acorn with its cap taken from a tree.

• Date: 10/17/2023
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
• Settings:
  • Lens: 105mm, f/8
  • ISO: 1600
  • Shutter: 1/60 sec
• Image is 5986 x 3988 px

Mold

This image is mold on the inside of a peanut butter jar lid that Beverly was using to store fat from cooking prior to disposal. This image was made from 10 separate images focused at different points and focus stacked with Helicon Focus. Please see the Definitions, Software, & Apps page for additional information about this technique.

The gallery above also shows a photograph of the setup I used to take the photograph. I used two LED light panels with orange filters; the white panel over the LED light panels was used to minimize and diffuse the overhead while light.

• Date: 3/25/2023
• Camera: Canon EOS 77D
• Lens: Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
• Settings:
  • Lens: 105mm, f/8
  • ISO: 400
  • Shutter: 1/100 sec
• Cropped image is 4876 x 3251 px

Ice Cube

Orange Slice

Candy Box Tray

Cutco Serrated Knife Blade