Cherry Coke + Reversed-Lens Macro

After getting back from a day-trip to the States, among our prized pickups was a case of Cherry Coke. I really don't know why this has never been offered in Canada (shrugging shoulders), but an empty can made a good subject to try some "reversed lens macro" photos.




I'm not sure if this is the original flickr site where I got the idea a few months ago, but you can take it pretty far by purchasing a special adapter to mount 2 lenses together (one reversed). For my simple test, I just reversed my 50mm 1.4 and held it in front of the camera body. It's kind of like using a heavier, slippery version of a lensbaby. It's obviously not the same as using a proper macro lens, but in a pinch, it does a pretty awesome job of giving you a larger-than-life-size playground. Because the lens is not coupled to the camera, everything is manual. Experiment first to find the right exposure, then move back & forth to put the focus where you want it. Only the center area is in focus, the sides get progessively softer the further from the center you get. It reminds me of some of the beautiful tilt/shift effects you can get by messing with the plane of focus. The shots below are all hand-held, but the area of focus is so thin you'll definitely want to use a tripod. For comparison, the first shot above is as close as the 50mm 1.4 will focus when mounted normally.