Glass Button Details

Today I have antique glass buttons shot through a Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens that I rented. To find out more about the lens, which I rented, look at the first of these posts.

These glass buttons are all shot at 5x magnification. They live in a button tin that is full of all kinds of small gems of manufacturing. occasionally a button is pressed into service for some special sewing project. It is interesting to look at them closely, though some of them seem pretty grubby even though they don’t come across that way life-size. Some of the dust and hair like bits are actually encased in the glass from the looks of it, suggesting interesting things about the manufacturing environment of 100 years ago, or however old these buttons are.

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Canon 5Dii, Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x Macro Lens, ISO100, f-8 (except top image which is f-11), ranging from 1/2 to 2 seconds

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24 thoughts on “Glass Button Details”

  1. Pingback: Crazed Macro Bokeh « burnt embers

    • Hi Karen – it was one of those accidental ideas that I barely feel I can take credit for. Looking for subjects to put under the lens, and they were in a little basket on the table, amongs some sewing things. I could as easily have done the fine sewing scissors, but did not think of it, and now wish I had….

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  5. Pingback: Buttons « Sarah takes pictures.

    • Otherworldly is the word that occured to me too, as in my comment reply to Ryan below. But, it is a good word. I really like the hollow-eyed look of that third picture, it kind of sets the tone for the others. You will see that some of the upcoming mother of pearl buttons are reminiscent of small water eroded landscapes, but not perhaps of this world either.

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  7. Amazing. They are like looking at a whole different world. I love the bits you can see embedded in the glass. These images are beautiful. They might be my favorite from the lens (so far). Although the flower petals were pretty awesome too.

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    • Hi Ryan – I agree, otherworldly for sure. Those bits in the glass probably contain all kinds of stories of their own if we could loose the right kind of CSI team upon htem. I am glad you like these ones so much. The glass buttons are really fun to photograph since the lighting makes so much difference. I was lighting these from the adjacent window (visible as a reflection in some of the buttons) and the adding reflected light from a shiny card. The last three pictures are actually the same button. I have some other button pictures coming up. I hope people are not bored yet with these extreme closeups. And even if they are, too bad, because I am not 🙂

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  8. Awesome pictures. I love old buttons myself — my mom has a big tin of them somewhere and I liked to sort them out by color back in the day. Maybe I’ll have to dig it out.

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    • Hi there — I got those buttons out today and got some pictures (not as wonderfully detailed as yours, though!). Would it be alright if I mentioned and linked to this post as my inspiration?

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      • It would be totally fine. You don’t need to ask me about linking to my blog, though I do like to be asked for reblogging purposes. Which in this case I would have said yes to as well. I look forward to your post.
        And, thanks for asking 🙂

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      • Sarah – that button post is really nice, I like the way you looked at them from down low at an angle. Great colours too.

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