"Treasures"... a DPS Weekly Assignment

Thoughts
Throughout time, man had always treasured this shiny yellow metal... some swear by it, others will kill for it and many wars were fought because of it.

With the on-going debasement of the US Dollar as well as other fiat currencies, it had once again roused man's attention and interest. It may very well be the only safe store of value in these turbulent economic times and definitely a much loved treasure to those who understand money.


Getting The Shot
For the shot, I so happened to have this small one gram bar and some loose peridot stones and thus decided to use them. Macro was the concept and I wanted the tiny bar to fill the frame thus added the Raynox DCR-250 for the added magnification.

Used a cloth to wipe the bar clean of finger-prints and nested it gently into the peridot pile. A ruler was used to position the bar as well as the peridot stones at the base of the bar so that they don't block the essential bar details.

I wanted the translucent peridots to glow like gold nuggets so I gelled the fill flash with CTO and placed it just right beside the pile. The effect was very interesting and I like the golden touch created.

Hope you like the shot and with the gold price rising everyday, how I wish I have tons of these pieces...!! :D


Shooting Information:
Date Taken: 19 Oct 2010
Camera Body: Canon 40D
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Hood
Add-on Lens: Raynox DCR-250
Mode: Manual - Av @ F11, Tv @ 1/125sec
ISO: 100
Focusing: Manual
Lighting: Main - MT-24EX @ 1/8, Fill - 580EXII @ 1/16
Main Flash: Canon MT-24EX Macro Flash
Fill Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash with Sonia Optical Slave
Flash Gel: Rosco’s “The Strobist Collection” - #3401 Roscosun 85 (5500K to 3200K)