Paua Abalone Shell

[Roman Kurywczak]

This was from my final shooting session of 2012 with some great friends. As usual in my photographic quests......I am striving to push my macro work not through more gear......but with looking for subjects even to the point of being abstract. I placed an order for some Nautilus shells and Abalone; http://www.conchking.com/Polished-Abalone-Shells.htm
to use in my macro workshops and only now getting to photograph them myself. The iridescence of the abalone shell really intrigued me and I spent a good amount of time playing with the lighting to get my desired effect. While maybe not everyones cup of tea......this one really caught my eye. Here's to pushing yourself and your photography in 2013!

1.6 sec. at f/29 and ISO 640. No flash but multiple daylight balanced lights and an LED flashlight. Saved at 54 quality to fit.

PS I do not post my gear as I do not support B&H or the banners. I buy from Hunt's Photo and video.

[Marina Scarr]

This is working for me, Roman, and it's always nice to see something unique. Thanks for the info on the shells. This type of shoot really sounds like fun. I checked into the twin lights you suggested but they are out of my price range for the amount of macro I do, at least at this time. What mm macro lens were you using for this shoot?

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Roman. Beautiful colors and patterns! Also, nice job with the lighting to bring out the colors, but not a lot of spectral highlights. I expect there will be a variety of opinions about this image - some will love the abstract quality and others might prefer more sharpness in the middle portion of the image - I tend to fall in the latter camp, but this is a striking image nonetheless. It will be interesting to see what others have to say. :S3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the image and I am looking more and more at it! I am wondering however at what I am perhaps misconstruing as noise, there appears to be a certain graininess in the image. I suspect I am being biased because you indicate the image was saved at 54 quality and as a consequence it is probably misleading or should I say biasing me.
We all have our preferences for Saving for Web but I do wonder if it is a little noisy?? Having said all this I bet I am wrong and the shell does indeed have a certain graininess to the surface:e3

[Roman Kurywczak]

Thanks all! It is a grain Jon that I do believe is accentuated by the polyurethane coating that is on it. Forgot to mention that I did do a bit of clean up on a few highlights as well as dead pixels!

[Valerio Tarone]

Roman, I'm perplexed: I love the amazing colors, but there's no reasonable lines,in other words, it can loook confused and confusing. Althouth this It seems an astract peinture and I can like this kind of pictures.

[Bob Miller]

HI Roman....I think the colors are amazing but i do find myself agreeing with Valerio....the image needs some structure of lines, repeating shapes etc. You might consider going even closer!