After using some of the bulbs, I didn't throw them away, but brought them home. I had one of my
flash guns on a tripod in the living room and I put one of the used bulbs in it. The little blisters and
pock marks looked neat in the reflector. I kept looking at them and after several days it dawned on
me, "If I can see this I can photograph it." And thus began an exploration of the bulbs and their
reflections. How to photograph them, where to photograph them, how to light them, what to use
as backgrounds were all challenges to be overcome.
The images shown here are a part of the result. Eventually, I printed 39 images, the ones shown here were selected for both quality and variety. The egg shaped bulbs are all used #5's, the ones shaped like a light bulb are new and used #22's, the ones with the blisters used #22b's (blue).
The photographs were all made with a 4x5 view camera, most with a Rodenstock 180mm Apo Macro Sironar lens. Depth of field when working this close posed real problems, but the answer lay in using a Rodenstock depth of field calculator. Most images were made at an effective f128.
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