When you look at it up close. This close-up picture of a tip of a ball point pen is possible with the use of a macro lens, the one I bought the other day. There is some problem at the fringe — they call it purple-fringing, not for nothing because it’s purple — but that can’t be helped. It could be the lens, or the camera.

If you still could not find the purple-fringe in this picture, look at the bright side of the object (the tip of the pen) and you would see it. So whoever invented the phrase “looking at the brighter side” ought to rethink phrase because what is in the bright side is not always — well — the bright side.

Nevertheless, I am quite happy with the lens which now enables me to shoot even closer.

What is purple-fringing?

According to Wikipedia:

“Purple fringing is the term for an out-of-focus purple ghost image on a photograph. Images taken with high-contrast boundary areas involving daylight or gas discharge lamps are particularly susceptible, since chromatic aberration is worst for the shortest wavelengths that a camera is sensitive to (violet and/or ultra-violet light).”

It also known by its other, more glamourous, name, “chromatic aberation”. Accoding to Digital Photography Review:

‘”Chromatic aberration” or “color fringing” is caused by the camera lens not focusing different wavelengths of light onto the exact same focal plane (the focal length for different wavelengths is different) and/or by the lens magnifying different wavelengths differently.’

How to get rid of purple-fringe?

Here’s one way to rid the problem. Google ‘em!

Posted in Still life Macro 2 Comments »