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I've finished my set of this species, and I figured I'd share the highlights here as followup to my other thread. I had fun making these. These stacks are all in the 200 to about 750 exposure range. I lit them with a pair of studio strobes at close range.



A tighter portrait of a specimen absent the head injury of the other one. I include damage and flaws I find on specimens in many of my photos because these things are real, but I like to select for some that are just pretty to look at, too.



This is the edge of one of the small orange spots on the hind wing, dorsal view.



Most of a solitary swallowtail foot. Sometimes the specimen lends itself to composition more than others, and this one was really pushing it, in terms of fitting in the frame. I'm pleased with the result, even if it's not perfect. Their feet are so alien compared to the feet of so many other critters. I wonder if they actually pierce the surface of plants and flowers when they land.

If you'd like to see them all on one page, they can be found here.

[MikeNArk]

Thanks so much for sharing this microscopic look at the Tiger Swallow tail butterfly. Your captures are extraordinary. They show us the complexity and beauty Of this life form.

[blues_hawk]

These are amazing and well lit too. How did you position the lens on the microscope? Any chance we could get a pic of the setup? I have an old military binoc microscope and wouldn't mind trying this.

[SelrahCharleS]

Nice! A continuation of this great series

[Philoslothical]

Thanks so much for sharing this microscopic look at the Tiger Swallow tail butterfly. Your captures are extraordinary. They show us the complexity and beauty Of this life form.

Thanks for such nice feedback! It baffles me that their tiny brains can so gracefully control all of their complexity.

These are amazing and well lit too. How did you position the lens on the microscope? Any chance we could get a pic of the setup? I have an old military binoc microscope and wouldn't mind trying this.

Thanks, and I have some fairly poor photos of my setup but I think I'll shoot some new ones tonight, and I'll add one here tomorrow. I'm doing eyepiece projection photomicroscopy, which is a fancy way of saying I'm adapting my camera with a lens attached directly onto the eyepiece of the microscope. This way the magnification is fairly consistent with what we see with our eyes when looking through the eyepiece, but it depends on the focal length of the "host lens". I use the 50mm f./1.7 because it's what I have and it increases the magnification slightly on the APS-C sensor.

For lighting I'm experimenting with strobes. It seems to have been a decent idea, at least for some subjects, but I'm still in the process of experimenting with making diffusers and trying different things. Prior to that, and still as a supplement for composing the shot I've been using a pair of ordinary LED floodlights in desk lamps, as close to the stage as I can get them. I do my composing in Live View, and then I turn it off and shoot the stack while watching the opposite side of the focusing wheel to measure my increments more precisely. I've had a much easier time training the muscle memory for it while watching my hand do it, so I'd suggest trying that if you get into manual stacking. I monitor progress and decide when to stop by watching the 1 second reviews of the exposures. This stuff is a lot of fun, and I absolutely recommend it. Over the past two years I've put thousands of happy hours into it, but you don't have to do that to get results. It's just very addictive to me.

One concern with binocular microscopes is that you need to be sure it can support the weight of your camera at an angle, and it does put some strain on your camera mount, and potentially the filter thread, but I don't think it should be a problem unless you're using something quite heavy. You'll just want to be gentle with it while it's mounted. There's an example of an adapter similar to the one I use on Ebay here that is probably all you need to mount a camera and lens, attaching the adapter to the filter thread of whichever lens you decide to use. If you can find one that has rubber tipped screws, even better, because it might scuff your eyepiece otherwise. You could also improvise. A bit of electrical tape on the eyepiece first should protect the finish from the screws. You might also want to look for one with longer screws so you could use it with a 23mm eyepiece in future. I use some PVC tape to prevent light leaks, and I keep the adapter and the prime lens mounted on that microscope all of the time. This way I can just swap the body off. It's very convenient.

Nice! A continuation of this great series

Thanks! I was a little concerned I was posting too many lately, prior to posting.

[PJ1]

I checked out your page. These are a fantastic set of images.

[RobG]

Amazing! Of course the images are colour, but they remind me of some of the scanning electron micrographs my brother made at university.

[Philoslothical]

Any chance we could get a pic of the setup?

Here you go. It is what it is, which isn't much, but it works. In the background you can see my continuous zoom microscope, which I use for lower magnification stuff like my bug "portraits" and for finding subjects on specimens. The compound microscope is better suited to stacking as it has a fine focus wheel, and a nice one, considering. I move the strobes around as appropriate for my subject. They're new to me, and I'm still experimenting. Out of frame at the top there's a cord running across that I clip my camera strap to, to keep it out of the way but loose enough it can move with the microscope head, and also to reduce the clutter from the AC adapter cord. If you have questions I'll do my best to help.

I checked out your page. These are a fantastic set of images.

Amazing! Of course the images are colour, but they remind me of some of the scanning electron micrographs my brother made at university.

Thanks! I'm pleased people are enjoying them. Reactions vary widely, some people think they're really gross.

An SEM would be fun to play with...

[angkymac]

Fascinating for truth!
Good thing to do--taking images of the super-small stuff on this earth.
We might never see such things otherwise.
Thanks for the images.
Angky.

[blues_hawk]

Thanks, and I have some fairly poor photos of my setup but I think I'll shoot some new ones tonight, and I'll add one here tomorrow. I'm doing eyepiece projection photomicroscopy, which is a fancy way of saying I'm adapting my camera with a lens attached directly onto the eyepiece of the microscope. This way the magnification is fairly consistent with what we see with our eyes when looking through the eyepiece, but it depends on the focal length of the "host lens". I use the 50mm f./1.7 because it's what I have and it increases the magnification slightly on the APS-C sensor.

For lighting I'm experimenting with strobes. It seems to have been a decent idea, at least for some subjects, but I'm still in the process of experimenting with making diffusers and trying different things. Prior to that, and still as a supplement for composing the shot I've been using a pair of ordinary LED floodlights in desk lamps, as close to the stage as I can get them. I do my composing in Live View, and then I turn it off and shoot the stack while watching the opposite side of the focusing wheel to measure my increments more precisely. I've had a much easier time training the muscle memory for it while watching my hand do it, so I'd suggest trying that if you get into manual stacking. I monitor progress and decide when to stop by watching the 1 second reviews of the exposures. This stuff is a lot of fun, and I absolutely recommend it. Over the past two years I've put thousands of happy hours into it, but you don't have to do that to get results. It's just very addictive to me.

One concern with binocular microscopes is that you need to be sure it can support the weight of your camera at an angle, and it does put some strain on your camera mount, and potentially the filter thread, but I don't think it should be a problem unless you're using something quite heavy. You'll just want to be gentle with it while it's mounted. There's an example of an adapter similar to the one I use on Ebay here that is probably all you need to mount a camera and lens, attaching the adapter to the filter thread of whichever lens you decide to use. If you can find one that has rubber tipped screws, even better, because it might scuff your eyepiece otherwise. You could also improvise. A bit of electrical tape on the eyepiece first should protect the finish from the screws. You might also want to look for one with longer screws so you could use it with a 23mm eyepiece in future. I use some PVC tape to prevent light leaks, and I keep the adapter and the prime lens mounted on that microscope all of the time. This way I can just swap the body off. It's very convenient.

Neat! This looks a bit like my early foray's into Astrophotography where I used similar ep projection techniques for sun and moon shots. I keep a full spectrum modified k5 on my telescope full time these days. Thanks for all the info.

[RobG]

Thanks! I'm pleased people are enjoying them. Reactions vary widely, some people think they're really gross.
An SEM would be fun to play with...

The ones I've seen aren't gross at all. I have seen a scanning electron microscope in operation at 47,000x magnification to look at the structure of amoeba cilia, but not a scanning EM. Thanks for posting!

[Philoslothical]

Fascinating for truth!
Good thing to do--taking images of the super-small stuff on this earth.
We might never see such things otherwise.
Thanks for the images.
Angky.

Thanks for the feedback! I got into this stuff because it's the only way I could see it, and seeing it helped me to accept the reality of my own predicament on grander scales over time.

Neat! This looks a bit like my early foray's into Astrophotography where I used similar ep projection techniques for sun and moon shots. I keep a full spectrum modified k5 on my telescope full time these days. Thanks for all the info.

It sounds like a very similar technique, and you could use that K-5 to do fluorescence microscopy, too. I'd suggest you look up some photos of it, as you could make some really striking stuff that way if it appeals to you.

Used microscopes are not crazy expensive, or at least there are many good, affordable new and used options, so if you get into it you might find you want to expand beyond the binocular. If it's a continuous zoom like mine, you may find it a bit restrictive in terms of magnification. Mine also doesn't play well with an eyepiece in the trinocular port, and I think it's a matter of correcting the amount of extension I use, but I haven't figured it out yet. What I'm driving at is a cheap compound microscope would let you do far more, but that's no reason to neglect the binocular scope you have, either. I use both of mine, but I use the compound microscope much more. I'm happy to help with what info I can, and I hope you have fun with it!

The ones I've seen aren't gross at all. I have seen a scanning electron microscope in operation at 47,000x magnification to look at the structure of amoeba cilia, but not a scanning EM. Thanks for posting!

It's amazing what can be done with electron microscopes. It's definitely something I'd have enjoyed the opportunity to try. Thanks.

[blues_hawk]

Thanks for the feedback! I got into this stuff because it's the only way I could see it, and seeing it helped me to accept the reality of my own predicament on grander scales over time.



It sounds like a very similar technique, and you could use that K-5 to do fluorescence microscopy, too. I'd suggest you look up some photos of it, as you could make some really striking stuff that way if it appeals to you.

Used microscopes are not crazy expensive, or at least there are many good, affordable new and used options, so if you get into it you might find you want to expand beyond the binocular. If it's a continuous zoom like mine, you may find it a bit restrictive in terms of magnification. Mine also doesn't play well with an eyepiece in the trinocular port, and I think it's a matter of correcting the amount of extension I use, but I haven't figured it out yet. What I'm driving at is a cheap compound microscope would let you do far more, but that's no reason to neglect the binocular scope you have, either. I use both of mine, but I use the compound microscope much more. I'm happy to help with what info I can, and I hope you have fun with it!

The one I have is a huge old clunky compound beast from the 60's(or before!) that was surveyed out of the navy in ~1980 and I rescued it from a dumpster. It's got a set of four lenses with two low power and at least one wet immersion, and no light, only a focusing mirror under the stage as they used a "sub-light" to project light toward the mirror. Those things got HOT. My dad worked in medical repair when I was a kid and I often got to play with cast offs like this. This one survived and is still with me. The fine focus is very fine. - Too late for a stone fly this year but if I happen to find one next year I'm totally doing this.

[Philoslothical]

The one I have is a huge old clunky compound beast from the 60's(or before!) that was surveyed out of the navy in ~1980 and I rescued it from a dumpster. It's got a set of four lenses with two low power and at least one wet immersion, and no light, only a focusing mirror under the stage as they used a "sub-light" to project light toward the mirror. Those things got HOT. My dad worked in medical repair when I was a kid and I often got to play with cast offs like this. This one survived and is still with me. The fine focus is very fine. - Too late for a stone fly this year but if I happen to find one next year I'm totally doing this.

It sounds like a wonderful microscope. I'd love to see a picture of it. You should absolutely do this. Try all kinds of stuff. There are few hard and fast rules. For reflected light you can just mount bright LEDs of whatever type appeals to you (by colour temperature and brightness, angle of beam, etc) on either side of the stage and then optionally add a little diffuser around the subject. I only got my strobes recently, and until then I did all of my stuff with the same two LED flood lights, about $8 each, just brought in as close to the stage as possible. The scatter from them results in plenty of diffuse light for most things, and for stuff like glassy bug eyes I can improvise various diffusers to cut the glare. So it is feasible to get into this stuff with virtually no additional investment, or very slight, since you have a good microscope and camera. I wish you lots of luck with it!

[blues_hawk]

It sounds like a wonderful microscope. I'd love to see a picture of it. You should absolutely do this. Try all kinds of stuff. There are few hard and fast rules. For reflected light you can just mount bright LEDs of whatever type appeals to you (by colour temperature and brightness, angle of beam, etc) on either side of the stage and then optionally add a little diffuser around the subject. I only got my strobes recently, and until then I did all of my stuff with the same two LED flood lights, about $8 each, just brought in as close to the stage as possible. The scatter from them results in plenty of diffuse light for most things, and for stuff like glassy bug eyes I can improvise various diffusers to cut the glare. So it is feasible to get into this stuff with virtually no additional investment, or very slight, since you have a good microscope and camera. I wish you lots of luck with it!

I struggled with the light and it needs a good cleaning(found a lady bug carcass inside the 10x lens) but here the old thing is. It's got a 10x 43x and 97x and 10x ep's. The latter two lenses are oil immersion. I had forgotten the deck light gatherer has a lens and a big multi-blade(12?) iris to control the light - though that's meant for translucent micro biomes and so less useful for solid stuff like this. the Y axis traverse knob wasn't engaging but I realized it was just loose at the gear and fixed it. The knob at the bottom adjusts the light projector. It even has a dial to adjust the binoc width and diopter screw on one of them. Your photos Inspired me to give this a try one day. Thanks!