courtesy of Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie
The esteemed Brian is slaving away in the salt mines, busier than a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest, all because of today’s deadline: tax day. Two days later on the calendar than usual, thanks to the 15th falling on a Sunday and then D.C.’s celebration of one of Lincoln’s other infamous and divisive moves: freeing the District’s slaves.
So in honor of what tax day is all about I present to you this photo of money. It’s nicely sharp considering that it was shot at 1/40th of a second and without a flash, information you can find yourself on Flickr’s EXIF information page for the photo. The macro lens used provides the tiniest amount of depth of field; the part of the bill closest to the lens is in focus but the crinkled corner, probably less than 1/2 an inch farther away, is blurred. That’s with an aperture choice that isn’t even as fully open as it could have been.
If you want to experiment with extreme close-up yourself it doesn’t necessarily require special gear. A lot of zoom functionality has a very close focal distance; I have a zoom lens that when turned to 200mm has a focal distance of 18 inches – which is less than 5 inches off the end of the barrel when it’s fully extended like that. You can also try shooting through a $3 magnifying glass – it works better than you’d think.
Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.
