47. Needle - May 4-10, 2014
Paul-
For “Needle” my original intent was to shoot something (or someone) at the tattoo parlor about a block from where I work. I’ve never been in that kind of an establishment. It seemed like a good idea. But I started thinking—which all of you know by now is something I’m not terribly good at—and decided to try something different. Here is the result.
First things first, you are not looking at thread. This is “floss.” (And no, not the dental kind.) It is used in needlepoint. When I started thinking about this image I realized I’d never get the number of threads I had in mind through the eye of a “standard” needle, so I opted for one which is used in needlepoint. The eye size (which is about a medium) worked out about right, as did the colors I selected.
I spent more time on this theme than any other since I was abducted several months ago in Minnetonka and forced to labor with a gang of miscreants on something called the WPOTM project. First, I had to build a scaffold that would hold the assembled elements you see, as well as the dark cloth in the background. Then I had to “triple-up” the floss so each strand would be thick enough to show up nicely in the photograph. Next was threading the needle with all the different strands in reverse-ROYGBIVB order. All this was pretty easy.
As pretty easy as pretty parts usually are.
If you had latent obsessive compulsive tendencies—and I’m not saying I do mind you, I’m just saying “If” maybe someone else did—the rest of this is would be a minor nightmare. The collective weight of the strands probably equaled that of the needle so I had to use a clamp and attach it to the tip…which, by the way, needlepoint devotees prefer to call “the pointy end.” This would place weight on the strands and give an impression of tautness. But then came “tuning” the whole damn assembly. If I tightened or loosened one color strand too much, a different strand (or strands) would be affected. So I spent a lot of time trying to position everything just right. And in the end I came close...but certainly no cigar. I noticed after the fact, when I was editing the picture, that the green strand on the right side was positioned at an angle that was nowhere close to the opposing strand. When I went back to try and fix that one small part, everything else started going wonky. (What Yiddish needlepoint devotees prefer to call “schlecht.”) Blue went limp. Lilac started getting kinks on one side. Orange got too tight and pulled everything else out of joint.
I muttered a word I do not use very often. One of my eyelids started twitching.
I decided I was done with this week’s theme.
Our Story So Far… Claude was a mountain climber’s mountain climber…a man who knew the breaking point of any karabinerhaken, ice axe, or granite handhold…a man who could summit any peak and find a sure footing where a mere mortal would swear even a bird could not…but even his formidable courage frayed like a badly tended rope when, on the treacherous western slope of K2 he yelled out (with manly hubris) his name...but only heard back as an echo: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm telephoto lens at 45mm focal length; 1/5 sec. at f5.6; ISO 100; a lens-mounted Digi-Slave Ring Light set at about “medium” provides the illumination, the camera is on a tripod.”
For “Needle” my original intent was to shoot something (or someone) at the tattoo parlor about a block from where I work. I’ve never been in that kind of an establishment. It seemed like a good idea. But I started thinking—which all of you know by now is something I’m not terribly good at—and decided to try something different. Here is the result.
First things first, you are not looking at thread. This is “floss.” (And no, not the dental kind.) It is used in needlepoint. When I started thinking about this image I realized I’d never get the number of threads I had in mind through the eye of a “standard” needle, so I opted for one which is used in needlepoint. The eye size (which is about a medium) worked out about right, as did the colors I selected.
I spent more time on this theme than any other since I was abducted several months ago in Minnetonka and forced to labor with a gang of miscreants on something called the WPOTM project. First, I had to build a scaffold that would hold the assembled elements you see, as well as the dark cloth in the background. Then I had to “triple-up” the floss so each strand would be thick enough to show up nicely in the photograph. Next was threading the needle with all the different strands in reverse-ROYGBIVB order. All this was pretty easy.
As pretty easy as pretty parts usually are.
If you had latent obsessive compulsive tendencies—and I’m not saying I do mind you, I’m just saying “If” maybe someone else did—the rest of this is would be a minor nightmare. The collective weight of the strands probably equaled that of the needle so I had to use a clamp and attach it to the tip…which, by the way, needlepoint devotees prefer to call “the pointy end.” This would place weight on the strands and give an impression of tautness. But then came “tuning” the whole damn assembly. If I tightened or loosened one color strand too much, a different strand (or strands) would be affected. So I spent a lot of time trying to position everything just right. And in the end I came close...but certainly no cigar. I noticed after the fact, when I was editing the picture, that the green strand on the right side was positioned at an angle that was nowhere close to the opposing strand. When I went back to try and fix that one small part, everything else started going wonky. (What Yiddish needlepoint devotees prefer to call “schlecht.”) Blue went limp. Lilac started getting kinks on one side. Orange got too tight and pulled everything else out of joint.
I muttered a word I do not use very often. One of my eyelids started twitching.
I decided I was done with this week’s theme.
Our Story So Far… Claude was a mountain climber’s mountain climber…a man who knew the breaking point of any karabinerhaken, ice axe, or granite handhold…a man who could summit any peak and find a sure footing where a mere mortal would swear even a bird could not…but even his formidable courage frayed like a badly tended rope when, on the treacherous western slope of K2 he yelled out (with manly hubris) his name...but only heard back as an echo: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm telephoto lens at 45mm focal length; 1/5 sec. at f5.6; ISO 100; a lens-mounted Digi-Slave Ring Light set at about “medium” provides the illumination, the camera is on a tripod.”
Kevin-
Oh, so many possibilities. Knitting needles, pine needles needles in haystacks, needles on record players. I briefly toyed with the idea of photographing someone with a hypodermic needle injecting a drug, but since I don't actually know any smack addicts I quickly abandoned that thought.
Ultimately I decided to do a studio shot of a needle and thread. Byron had loaned me his 55mm Micro-Nikkor lens, which I first thought I might use to photograph fallen leaves last week when our theme was Ansel Adam(ish), but I knew it would work well for this small arrangement.
Plus, I had many of the props around already.
The lighting was just a small softbox from above. Nikon D4s, tripod mounted, with the 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens (manual focus). ISO 100, f/8 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync speed). It's okay, but looking back, I think it might have been better if I had turned down the brightness of the flash to shoot the image at f/5.6, or even f/4 instead.
Oh, so many possibilities. Knitting needles, pine needles needles in haystacks, needles on record players. I briefly toyed with the idea of photographing someone with a hypodermic needle injecting a drug, but since I don't actually know any smack addicts I quickly abandoned that thought.
Ultimately I decided to do a studio shot of a needle and thread. Byron had loaned me his 55mm Micro-Nikkor lens, which I first thought I might use to photograph fallen leaves last week when our theme was Ansel Adam(ish), but I knew it would work well for this small arrangement.
Plus, I had many of the props around already.
The lighting was just a small softbox from above. Nikon D4s, tripod mounted, with the 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens (manual focus). ISO 100, f/8 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync speed). It's okay, but looking back, I think it might have been better if I had turned down the brightness of the flash to shoot the image at f/5.6, or even f/4 instead.
Byron-
The needle I use most is the type used to inflate Basketballs and Footballs. I tried to capture the moment just before needle meets ball. Imagine if sportsballs weren't inflated, it would look like a Harlem Globetrotters routine. I positioned the ball in my Kitchen under the North facing window. I put a piece of blue foam in the background. The needle was held in place by a contraption made of 2 bowls, a plate, a miniature plunger and 2 drinking straws. It looked like a Rube Goldberg contraption but it worked.
The needle I use most is the type used to inflate Basketballs and Footballs. I tried to capture the moment just before needle meets ball. Imagine if sportsballs weren't inflated, it would look like a Harlem Globetrotters routine. I positioned the ball in my Kitchen under the North facing window. I put a piece of blue foam in the background. The needle was held in place by a contraption made of 2 bowls, a plate, a miniature plunger and 2 drinking straws. It looked like a Rube Goldberg contraption but it worked.
Deron-
Not my best or favorite submission. Had some other ideas that didn't pan out, but all in all it's OK.
'Green Eye of the Needle'
First, I took a picture of my own eye, then sent it to my iPad. From there, I stuck a needle into a candle and placed it in front of the iPad. Nothing special with the lighting... I moved the 'set' to different locations around the house to find the look I liked the best.
Not my best or favorite submission. Had some other ideas that didn't pan out, but all in all it's OK.
'Green Eye of the Needle'
First, I took a picture of my own eye, then sent it to my iPad. From there, I stuck a needle into a candle and placed it in front of the iPad. Nothing special with the lighting... I moved the 'set' to different locations around the house to find the look I liked the best.