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the following is © Charles Brooks Photography: The exquisite architecture of Steinway. I had a rare opportunity to photograph the action and internals of a Steinway Model D recently. I found my self in awe of the craftsmanship and attention to detail of parts of the instrument that no one except a technician would ever see, especially the carving of the joints in which reflect curves on the outside of the piano. Just the strings are a feat of engineering. They exert just over 20 tonnes of pressure on the frame! These photos were painstakingly created using a special 24mm probe lens from Laowa and a Lumix S5 camera / Sigma MC-21 Adapter / Godox Flash Typically a close up photo like this would be mostly blurry, so I used a technique called focus stacking to keep them sharp from front to back. This involves taking a series of approximately 100 photos per image, slowly adjusting the focus for each one, then running them through special software to merge the sharp part of the photo. The result appears to be a cavernous like space that invites you to walk through... Thanks to @LewisEadyLtd @chironasmrma @atollrecords and Lumix New Zealand for this opportunity. Fazioli Part 1 An internal view of the action of a Fazioli Grand Piano. This instrument is one of the finest pianos in existence. Fazioli create about 80 grand pianos a year, each one of them takes 8 years to make! To take this shot I used a special 24mm probe lens from Laowa on a Lumix S1R. Typically closeup shots like this have a very shallow depth of field. I wanted the entire photo sharp to I shot 71 photos, adjusting the focus slightly on each. These were merged in a wonderful program called Helicon Focus. The result appears cavernous, almost like architecture. This is a simple optical illusion. We're so accustomed to seeing macro photos with a short depth of field, that when we see something that's sharp all the way through our brain assumes it's massive. This is essentially the opposite of the tilt-shift-miniature effect that was so popular a few years back. Many thanks to Sly's Pianos in Auckland for access to this extraordinary instrument. Lockey Hill Cello circa 1780 I had the extremely rare honour of photographing a fine Lockey Hill cello from around 1780 at the Stringed Instrument Company in Auckland. Thanks so much to Cath for trusting me with this rare beauty! Crafted around 1780 this is a fine example of Lockey Hill's prolific work, which was unfortunately cut short after he was hanged in 1796 for horse theft! The cello is seen from the inside. It's currently in the process of restoration. It needs a lot of work but someone's going to have an absolutely exquisite instrument once this is all done and dusted! Inside every violin lives a "mouse" - meet Fritz.... "Fritz" lives inside a ~130 year old "Hopf" violin awaiting restoration at the workshop of Noel Sweetman in New Zealand. Some say he was formed from the tears of students, others that he's the embodiment of bad intonation itself... 1940s Selmer Balaced Action Saxophone This is a look inside an extraordinary instrument. Roger Manin's Selmer Balanced Action Sax from the 1940s. It had just been carefully refurbished by Neige Music Atelier in New Zealand, with Italian Pisoni Pro pads with metal resonators. 14k Gold Flute. Photographed using specialist lenses and techniques while under restoration at Neige Music Atelier in Auckland. https://www.charlesbrooks.info/about https://www.charlesbrooks.info/architecture-in-music#/museum-quality-prints/ https://www.reddit.com/user/CharlesBrooks/