New 4X and a new fly. (Wild lookin' one too!)

Post your images made through a compound microscope or made with a stereo/dissecting microscope in this gallery. Images may be of any subject natural or unnatural, living or non-living.

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Charles Krebs
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:50 am
Location: Issaquah, WA USA

New 4X and a new fly. (Wild lookin' one too!)

Post by Charles Krebs »

Helloooo.... anyone out there? What happened to all our photomicrographers? A whole weekwith no posts.

Well here's a new one. Picked up a good 4X and found a very interesting fly on my little trip into the Olympic Mtns. This fly is a little smaller than a "housefly" and has very nice color pattern. The eye appeared green and the body a golden yellow. Its greyish back is covered with many white spiky hairs. (In this profile it sort of looks like a grouchy old man). I found these regularly on the flower buds of thistles.

Image

Olympus 4X S Plan Apo, Olympus NFK 1.67X. Canon Rebel XT. Ping-pong ball diffuser. Green rhododendrun leaf over base light port provided dark green background. 76 shot stack, Helicon Focus.

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Mike
Posts: 217
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:26 am
Location: Northeast Ohio, USA

Post by Mike »

Hello Charlie,

I think there are still people out here but this must be a slow period. Personally I've been in Asia for the last few weeks and just got back so I have a lot of catching up to do.

Your shot is (as usual) another beauty - you make these little critters almost attractive! Have to admit I've never seen one of these flies or perhaps just never noticed it.

The performance you're getting out of HF is amazing, especially with a 76 shot stack. Do you do anything special to limit the artifacts I sometimes get with HF?

Great shot,

All the best,
Mike
"Nil satis nisi optimum"

Charles Krebs
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:50 am
Location: Issaquah, WA USA

Post by Charles Krebs »

Thanks Mike. With the arrival of HFv4 I did another brief test comparison with AutoMontage, Helicon, and CombineZ. There will always be "artifacts" and errors that require clean-up with all of the programs, especially with subjects as 3-dimensional as these flies. So if you make use of this type of program regularly, it is probably best to accept that fact, and develop some skills at the type of photo editing needed to correct them. (My sense is that with this type of subject HF makes the fewest errors, and/or they are the type that can be more readily "repaired").

Personally I was without my primary stand for a while as the power supply in the base was being repaired. But I have spent so much time peering down the eyepieces since I started this a couple years ago, that I have essentially "missed" two springs of photography in the Olympics and Cascades. I'm trying to spend more time up there this year, and hopefully, trying to collect some nice microscope subjects (like this fly) at the same time.

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gpmatthews
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Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2004 11:54 am
Location: Horsham, UK
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Post by gpmatthews »

Another wonderful image Charlie - wow!
Graham

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piotr
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Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:44 am
Location: San Diego
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Post by piotr »

Beautiful picture. Smooth and very detailed. It looks like a color SEM image.
Piotr

rjlittlefield
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Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 11:57 pm
Location: Richland, WA, USA
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Post by rjlittlefield »

A beautiful image of an interesting fly -- who could ask for more? :D

Mike, I see a couple of stacking errors in this image -- mostly bristles appearing to overlap in ways that would make M.C.Escher proud.

Are you talking about those kinds of artifacts, or something else?

--Rik
Reworks and reposts of my images in this forum are always welcome, as are constructive critiques.

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