Etched Bearing
Today I have for you an etched ball bearing about 1 cm diameter that I photographed with a rented Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens. To find out more about the lens, which I rented, look at the first of these posts.
These range in magnification from 5x to 1x. The ball bearing also lives in a button tin, but really because it is the size of a smallish button where else would one keep it and not lose it? It has been with us for decades, and it’s origins are no longer remembered.
I like the way changing the focus brings the windows into play as the subject, or the etching in the bearing as the focus point. The window reflections remind me of the glass paper weights I featured in this post a few months ago, though with the etching it looks much less celestial than the glass weights did. A strong fill light and focus on the bearing also makes the surface of the steel show its minute flaws. A fun object to photograph, a strange thing to possess, and to create.
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Canon 5Dii, Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x Macro Lens, ISO100, f-8, ranging from 1/5th to 1/40th seconds
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burnt embers 
The change of focus is amazing. I love how the reflected windows and etching play separately from each other. Like Ken said, great subject.
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Hi Ryan – thanks for commenting. It is interesting how smooth the steel looks in the first shot – and that is the way it seems when holding the ball. I think we must focus on the reflections when holding something so shiny, and that smooths out the surface the way it has in the first shot (as compared to the second one).
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Oh, I loved the combination of etching pattern and reflection on the next to last image. Are you going to buy the lens?
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Hi Lynn – thanks! I like that reflection too. I have no plans to buy the lens, it is too specialised. And expensive. If I were spending that kind of money there are other every-day lenses I would get first. But, I do love it. And I sure have got my 25$ rental out of it this time around. I will rent it again.
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These are beautiful, Ephem.
I particularly like the two bottom ones, the way they are reflected and how they sit in the compositions. Wonderful!
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Thanks Karen – I like those too. I nearly led with one of them – for the same reasons you like them. But, in the end I led with the window reflection because it makes me look at those French doors differently.
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Interesting subject for macro shots. We don’t normally pay attention to the amazing detail there is in everyday object that cross our paths. This is really pretty fascinating.
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Hi Ken, I think there is more to be got from this little sphere – for one thing I did not rotate it and try to get the best reflections (I only noticed how they change on the computer screen) and the pattern shown in different directions might work too. For me this is not an every day object. I can’t recall the last time I saw it – several decades ago. I don’t normally rummage in that button box. I agree that it is fascinating to look so closely at the texture of the steel and things like that which one never really sees.
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Interesting.
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Welcome to Burnt Embers Sonali and thanks for commenting. I like your lawnchairs against a black background. Strangely reminiscent of this series.
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Thanks!
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