Mailboxes

A couple weeks ago the weekly theme for the Macro Mondays group on Flickr was "mailboxes." We share a small locking box that is grouped with about 24 others into a case provided by the USPS. They are a few years old and the excessive amount of salt used to treat the roads in the winter has taken its toll on the metal. I got a couple photos of the rust on the external part of the boxes. One of the photos is shown to the right and you can see the other one here.

For something different, I thought it would be interesting to get a photo from inside the box looking out while a hand reached in or an eye looked inside for mail. Since mailboxes are so long and hard to access, I made a false mailbox using an aluminum foil oven liner. Instead of making a standard box shape, I made the opening on one end of the box a lot larger than the other so it was easier to fit the camera lens in tight and light the interior. I used a fisheye lens to enhance the distorted perspective. Dianne, my creative consultant, took the shot so I didn't have to bother with a tripod and she also directed the placement of me and the mail to get the right effect. I illuminated the shot with a single flash, bounced off an umbrella and used another reflector on the opposite side of the box to soften some shadows. It turned out well and made Flickr's Explore.