This is a close up of a lit energy saving lightbulb taken through 60mm of extension tubes with my 50mm lens on the end. The glass of the lens was about 3cm from the lightbulb.
I love the softness of this image. The front element’s glass looks shiny (and a little dusty) and smooth, lending a lovely soft edge. The rear two elements are lost in the incredibly shallow depth of field offered by the lens and extension tubes. The rotated angle makes it seem less formal than if it was straight up. I think the it looks almost organic – it could pass for a flower. It reminds me of the photo of the lilly I took under similar conditions earlier in the year.
I have not processed this image very much. The rotation was done in Aperture. I altered the levels a little to add a tiny bit of contrast down the glass reflections. I altered the white balance to make the light as white as possible. The image did look good with the white balance set differently so that it came out a rich, warm, yellow colour, but it was pure white that I was after on this occasion.
The one thing I learned through this exercise was not to look at the bulb through the viewfinder while the light was on. Switch the light off while setting up the shot or you will be blinded temporarily in your viewfinder eye.