Last week in my Understanding Exposure course, our challenge was close up photography.  The goal was to understand specular highlights that are revealed at smaller apertures and to introduce the world of macro photography.  For the task, I purchased a Canon 50mm macro lens and a 25mm extension tube.  The nice thing about the extension tube is it also provides an EF-S mount, allowing me to use the 18-55mm lens that comes with the Canon EOS Digital Rebel.

Sensual Rose © 2004 Kevin W. Hammond All Rights Reserved

I bought some orange (salmon?) and yellow roses at Jewel and brought them home to fly through my assignment.  I figured I'd spend 15 minutes in the back yard “just getting it done.“  Turns out it was too windy to get crisp shots and I moved inside, using my southern exposed window to provide natural light.  I found myself engulfed in this exercise!  Two hours and 109 pictures later, I have some stellar shots of this rose in a number of different compositions.

The picture, Sensual Rose, posted here was taken with my 28-135mm lens at 135mm and a 25mm extension tube.  I used f/22 for maximum depth of field and adjusted my camera's meter until a shutter speed of 1/6s indicated a correct exposure.  With the extension tube on my everyday lens, I was able to get in close - less than an inch - for this shot.