Radiolaria

Optical microscopes + digital photography
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Charles Krebs
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Radiolaria

Post by Charles Krebs »

The fossil skeletons of radiolarians are very three dimensional, making them a tough subject to photograph with a microscope. Stacking with Helicon Focus allows for some nice looks at these structures.

Canon 350D above an Olympus BHS microscope. Olympus 20X S Plan Apo objective with DIC illumination.

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http://www.krebsmicro.com
Dan Kozub
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Post by Dan Kozub »

Charles,

Thanks for sharing your latest images!

I can see there is kind of aberration on the images? I think they can be improved by shifting blue channel up and red channel down. What is the reason for this aberration?
Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Dan,
I can see there is kind of aberration on the images? I think they can be improved by shifting blue channel up and red channel down. What is the reason for this aberration?
Not really. These were done with DIC (Differential Interference Contrast) illumination. When used "normally" with a subject like this the results are shades of a uniform color (there is no real color in these silica "skeletons" at all). By changing the relative positions of the upper an lower Nomarski prisms you can get some very weird and colorful ("DisneyChrome", I call it :wink: ) renditions. I use DIC this way infrequently, but sometimes it is fun to try with otherwise colorless subjects. A more proper name for this is "Optical Staining" and it can be studied in more detail here:
http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/java ... index.html

Here's another stacked radiolarian image so you can see what the DIC effect would be without adjusting it into this "optical staining" range.
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http://www.krebsmicro.com
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Mike Guwak
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Heliodiscus asteriscus

Post by Mike Guwak »

I Make the same with Helicon Focus.
I use Apo. 16x with 3,2 Projectiv. I have a Carl Zeiss Standart 14 Microscope.

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Mike Guwak
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Astractura ordinata

Post by Mike Guwak »

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Mike Guwak
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Petalospyris decapus

Post by Mike Guwak »

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Mike Guwak
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Rhopalatractus ornatus

Post by Mike Guwak »

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cybermystic
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Location: Hampshire, U.K.

Post by cybermystic »

Some stunning results there guys - very nice indeed!!
Greg
Canon 40D, 100mm macro, 100-400mm zoom, 28mm fixed focus, Helicon Focus, CS3, PaintShopPro, Manfrotto accessories.
BrianS
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Very Star Trek!

Post by BrianS »

Charles/Mike,

nice work, I can see that you have a similar challenge with these 'transparent' object that I do with shooting jewellery, especially diamond rings etc.

Maintaining the clarity and 'life' in such object is tricky.

Another observation - I'm constantly challenged by fixing the 'imperfections' in the work of man, as we assume there will be perfection.

Bit deep I guess! :)
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