Family Heirloom.....

 This little image is one that I shot a few nights ago, just to test out a little background that I had made from a couple of sheets of black foam core that I had picked up from the local Dollar Store. It also served as a test of my 90mm Macro lens that I had purchased about a year ago, and I am still getting used to using it. It had been touted as one of the sharpest lenses that you could buy, and is often used for portraiture as well. That was enough to tip me over the edge, and go for it. The tea set in this image is one of a family heirloom from my wife's little collection of tea cups etc. that she keeps in a cabinet. But I wanted to give the lens a workout, and this image was shot at f11 for 1/8 sec. with the camera on a tripod. The textures in the carnation and the doily came across very nicely, being next to the shiny porcelain tea set. The contrast between the black background and the tea set is quite stark, and I am hoping to do a similar set up using a white background for a high key effect. It will be interesting to see the difference between the two images, and which would be visually more appealing.....Cheers!