Vacant fruit

When we see these seeds/fruits in spring, they usually have a wasp in residence. This one was vacant, making it a candidate for an indoor portrait. I used three Canon 600EX-RT (radio controlled flash units that can be positioned almost anywhere) to highlight as much texture as I could, as well as showing the microscopic fibers around the stem.

In the first shot, I allowed a slight depression in the front to drop into shadow.

In the second version, I went for a graphic look, using high contrast and an angle that made the most of a two dimensional shape.

For variety, here's a monochrome version, with a fingertip for scale.

The final image is a focus stack of six shots. When magnification is high, it isn't possible to get much depth of field. Flat objects like postage stamps are relatively easy to render with fine detail, but something with depth comparable to lateral dimensions is not likely to be manageable with a single shot. I focused first on the nearest point, then gradually focused farther out for successive images. I then opened the six shots in Photoshop CS6 and allowed the program to blend them, using the sharpest portions of each.

By the way, the background was a very high tech piece of equipment: a black sweatshirt.

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