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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 44: Collective Nouns (hosted by Michael Puff) >> Eligible > An Illumination of Pipettes *
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22-JUN-2005 Jim H.

An Illumination of Pipettes *

Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/250s f/16.0 at 60.0mm iso200 with Flash hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time22-Jun-2005 20:21:45
MakeCanon
ModelCanon EOS 20D
Flash UsedYes
Focal Length60 mm
Exposure Time1/250 sec
Aperturef/16
ISO Equivalent200
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Mode
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (1)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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jimhwy29-Jun-2005 11:46
These are disposable glass pipettes in the manufacturer's cardboard box. They are used one at a time (one use only) then thrown away to prevent cross-contamination of samples. They are used more or less "by hand" in an autopipettor which allows the analyst to suck up and dispense a known volume very repeatably.

I've always thought they had a very elegant shape and being glass, they are especially pretty. With a nice even stack of them as comes in the box, they formed a pattern that I found irresistable. I was doing some work one night in the room where a box of them happened to be laying on a bench. When I saw them I just had to go get my camera and play a little.

To get the color, I stuck a piece of pink paper behind all of the pipettes (out of frame to the right side of the photo) so that their large ends were all right against that paper. The on-camera flash was diffused by a piece of cut-up plastic milk-jug and the pipettes acted as "light pipes" in a sort of fiber-optic kind of way and that carried the color down through them and made their tips light up like that.

I'm almost ashamed to admit how easy it was to get this shot :)
Peter Hollinger29-Jun-2005 01:10
Wonderful patterns and colors! Is this just a boxful of pipettes, or is it from one of those automated chemistry devices?
Timothy O'Connor28-Jun-2005 14:57
This is GREAT! I would love to know how you went about this image Jim.
Timothy O'Connor28-Jun-2005 14:36
This is GREAT! I would love to know how you went about this image Jim.
Guest 28-Jun-2005 01:47
Cool texture and a great idea.