pixelens photography

Eye macro

The shot for my threesixtyfive project today consisted of a macro of my eye. I wanted to see how close I could really get so I used +1/+2/+4 Optex close-up filters stacked, and then attached my Raynox DCR-250 Super Macro Conversion Lens to the 50mm f/1.8 lens. Took a few shots, but got a couple more or less centered and detailed shots. Made some adjustments in Photoshop to achieve the final result.

Have had a few people asking about my process so here goes.

Shot this with my 50mm. Stacked +1, +2, and +4 close-up filters and used my Raynox DCR-250 Super Macro Conversion Lens on top of those. Took about 20 shots, 2 or 3 were this detailed, this one was closest to centered. Opened RAW file in Photoshop, adjusted white balance and increased clarity. In Photoshop cropped to about 90% so this is pretty close to how it was framed in camera. Duplicated the background layer, set it to screen mode. Reduced opacity of screen layer to 50%, and masked out everything except the iris and pupil. Added a B&W adjustment layer and reduced opacity to about 70%. Added a vignette based on the main background layer. I then added a curves adjustment layer, and then added a brightness/contrast adjustment layer above all the layers and adjusted the contrast a bit. And voila… so layer order from top to bottom was:

• Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer
• Curves layer
• Background layer set to screen mode with all but iris/pupil masked out
• Black & White adjustment layer
• Vignette layer
• Background layer (original image)

Tags: closeup, eye, macro, raynox, threesixtyfive