I bought this coin about 15 years ago as a birthday present for my wife. When I purchase my first dedicated macro lens I had this particular subject in mind. It gave me a chance to really find the edge of where that lens existed as well as my first shot at focus stacking in CS6.

For those who do not know, focus stacking involves taking several pictures of an object at different focus points, then bringing only the focused parts into one picture. This is all the more necessary as the depth of field of a macro lens can be measured in 1/16th of an inch, even on the tightest of apertures.

This is a quick iPhone shot of the process at work. A black tee shirt and some natural lighting did the initial shoot, then into the computer for some focus stacking and masking out the weave of the background. It took several tries to get it right, and I have picked up some additional tools to make macro photography easier in the interim. The penny in the photo is just to give you a sense of scale.