I reckon that the Mods are having a larf to see whether we're awake or not - even Scott realised (after a tip from Nigel) that he hadn't made the best of a promising situation
It's always great to see the world 'anew' when we get a new lens, especially a macro which allows us to focus very closely on everyday objects that we'd overlooked before. Long before I bought my first macro, I borrowed a set of extension tubes from a workmate and I still have some of the shots that I took of whatever came to hand when I was trying them out. I'm going through my old slides at the moment and have found a few of them - perhaps I should have posted one or two into the gallery instead of some old mountain views
Looking through previous POTW selections, it's clear that the Mods have steered away from what might be termed 'traditional' shots (no chance of any mountain views getting through!). Whether this is deliberate or not is hard to determine as they're not going to tell us why they picked them - fair enough, as we then have to look again at them to make up our own minds.
I hope the Mods don't start to modify their choice in order to avoid to much flak and, even more importantly, I hope members don't start tailoring their photos to match what they think the Mods might look for.
The last thing we need is for everyone to start posting similar shots to each other - we all see the world in a different way and we should all post shots that reflect
that view rather than how we think someone else might take it.
Anyway, with tongue very firmly in cheek, here is my entry for the 'Emperoror's New Clothes' award:
1 It shows the use of a macro lens
2 It shows what can be achieved with a relatively slow shutter speed, hand-held (ie. I didn't bother setting it up too much!)
3 It shows how you 'correct' the white-balance post-capture (shot in room-lighting, originally)
4 It shows what can be achieved with a modern digital camera by going up to 1600ISO (see point 2)
5 it is of a section of a lens test target that was given away with a Soligor lens that I bought in the early '70s, putting a historical slant on the shot (showing the cofidence that independent lens makers used to have in their products)
6 It should really be taken at 26x the lens' focal-length for the readings to be 'accurate' but as this is a close-up of one section, it shows that the photographer is not hide-bound by any 'conventional restraints' on his creativity
7 Despite points 4 and 6 and the quality-loss with 'save for web' compression, it shows that the Sigma 50mm EX Macro lens is quite a good optic, more than capable of delivering the kind of shot that you hoped it might do when you first bought it (though the autofocus motor is a bit noisy if you're used to USM-type lenses!)