And how have you spent your morning?

     I bet you haven't been trying to photograph a pair of ammonite cufflinks, have you?

The manual for our camera turned up the other day in a pile of equally obscure technical documents when we were trying to haul the computer back from the brink of death. Thanks to the ministrations of PC World, the machine lives to go wrong again another day, and thanks to finding the camera booklet I've been trying to be clever!

All I wanted to do was get a decent close-up shot of a small object, but the instructions don't make much sense to me - why can't they write them in simple steps like a recipe or a knitting pattern? I think I'll have to go back to my old "turn it on and press the button" method as the fancy stuff hasn't got me very far.

So, no claims of success here as I don't know my Spot AF from my Program Auto Shooting Mode,

but how have you spent your morning? (And if anyone can tell me how to get these cufflinks right, I'd be most grateful!)

Comments

[The Bookling]

I am by no means a photography expert but I find with my point and click camera that using the macro setting (usually a flower symbol) and a steady base for the camera works OK in general. A mini-tripod (like the joby gorilla pod) really helps with close-up photos as there's no shake and a bright light on the object can help and budget version of a light reflector (try tin foil!) can also help improve the image.

This may sound daft but with a small depth of field object try scanning it (with a white cloth over the top). I've tried this with flowers with intersting results.

[rosie]

My camera "skills" hardly merit thta description, so no help for you on that score, I'm afraid. I've spent the morning renewing my subcription to Yarn Forward, and reskeining some yarn I handpainted on Thursday. You've just reminded me that I need to take some photos of my latest batch of scarves whilst there is still enough light.

p.s.Those cufflinks are wonderful!

[Peter the flautist]

Dark Puss, who is moderately proud of his photographic skills, will provide any advice/assistance you need!

This morning he has, as usual, been exposing his less than stellar flute playing ability to the critical ears of his wonderful teacher Katie M. Actually there were a few bars rated "excellent" and we played through the Andante from Mozart #2 with Katie sight-reading the piano part which was fun. However I need to work hard on keeping my right-hand still and I can tell you that the exercises in Trevor Wye's Book 6 "Advanced Practice" are absolutely no fun at all. Still it is my choice, so as the photographer "Lady M..." says "Don't talk about what you are going to do, just do it..."

[Margaret Powling]

Lovely cufflinks! Who'd have thought that something as old as those would've ended up in double cuffs!
What have we been doing? As it was such a glorious morning we drove to Torquay, parked near the sea front and walked around the Bay to the harbour, passing en route the marina. The tide was out and the golden sands of Torre Abbey looked fresh and clean, and people were walking their dogs (which aren't allowed on the beach in summer), children were building sand castles, and some elderly intrepids were towelling themselves dry after their dip in the sea!
At the harbour we stopped for coffee at a favourite harbourside cafe, sitting outside in the sunshine and looking at the boats bobbing at anchor in the inner harbour (always filled with water thanks to sluice gates) and then we made our way back to the car, via Torre Abbey Gardens (which are adjacent to the sea front), in which bright yellow crocus are in bloom (but the daffs are not yet fully out.) The sea and sky were a brilliant blue, the sun was shining and it really did feel as if spring was almost here.

[Peter the flautist]

The gold/silver/platinum in more conventional cufflinks might be said to be rather older than the ammonites!

[Avice]

The cuff links are beautiful and the photography better than I can manage on most days! Sorry not to be able to chime in with any wisdom. The spiraling form of the ammonite is entrancing. I have a quite small one, still embedded in a sandy-colored bit of rock, that I dug out from a stream bed. It is a talisman of a happy day and moves with me where ever I go... As for my morning, it was devoted to wrestling with a recalcitrant sock...

[Peter the flautist]

Ah-ha! I see an opportunity for some mathematics here. What is the connection between the ammonite shell shape and the famous Fibonacci sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 ... (at least approximately)?

From memory you CAN find the answer somewhere on Cornflower's weblog.

[daphne sayed]

i think the cufflinks are wonderful. what do you think wrong with the photo'. you have taken them so artistically.

[Margaret Powling]

I should not look at your weblog quite so regularly! I have now ordered the book you are currently reading (as well as another recommended by Yarnstorm, and a DVD of a film a little too old to be available to rent from my local shop) as the subject matter is department stores and shopping, and this is something I've been researching for a while (I even have a very small section in my 'library' devoted to the history of shopping). I will be interested to hear your (eventual) views on this novel by Zola.

[natalie]

Did you know there is a Yarnographers section on ravelry?
They might have some ideas.

n

[Curzon Tussaud]

Your camera may also have a "double macro" facility for increased magnification....on mine you click the macro 'flower' twice. Just take a photo on single click and then see what two will do. You can of course delete them if they are no good.

[Cheryl]

Well, as you've asked...

For focus, I only have the macro option on my little camera so don't know how yours would work. But I do use the other options for varying the shutter speed.

As for reducing glare, my photo-oriented-husband taught me to sometimes take the photo from the opposite direction, upside down, as it were, and then re-orienting the image right side up on the computer.

And speaking of computer image wrangling, I would highly recommend a Mac with iPhoto...yep, sorry, I'm one of those dedicated Mac users!

Very lovely cufflinks and worthy of photographing...