



I've been installing quite a few of the new Cree LED bulbs in my house. This one apparently got set down too hard on a countertop.

Probably you're wondering why the thing didn't just explode. It's because these bulbs are covered with a film of flexible and somewhat sticky plastic. After these pictures were taken, I was actually able to cut the glass shell all around the base and separate it completely away from the innards, without having the shell come apart.
Closeup of the cracks was shot at roughly 1:1 using an Olympus 80 mm bellows macro lens at f/5.6, focus stepped at 0.2 mm using a StackShot rail and processed with Zerene Stacker DMap. Illuminated for photography with four light sources: two fiber bundles from a halogen illuminator and two Jansjö LEDs. The first two images are crops of the third, with a bit of curves adjustment to bring out the colors and textures best for each one.
--Rik