[Syb]

... kind of technique was used for this photo?

Can it be taken into the mountains in a bag? ... guess not...

Syb

[little laker]

It just looks like a butterfly macro turned to B&W.

It's just a little bit of luck that it stuck it's tongue out at the right time.

A dedicated macro lens and you'll probably be taking the same sort of photos.

[HogRider]

Looks like Microscopy.

Here are a few good examples:

Bug Mugs - The 12 Most Wanted

Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc. - Microscopy and Science Education Web Site

[George Lama]

That actually looks like a photograph taken with an electron microscope.

If you look at the bottom left of the image you will see it says 200 mm or 200 micrometers.

Now, if you can get your hands on one of those, let me know and I will bring the Elephant Beer.

EDIT: Took too long and HogRider beat me to it, but like I said, you get one of those, I bring the beer!

[PDL]

Looks like a scanning electron microsope - no light or glass lenses used.

Oh - no bag big enough to carry it around in either.

PDL

[stewart_photo]

... kind of technique was used for this photo?

Can it be taken into the mountains in a bag? ... guess not...

Of course you can take one portable, Syb. There are several portable scanning electron microscopes on the market, including the Hitachi TM-1000. This unit measures just slightly taller and wider than a standard twenty-inch television, weighs roughly a hundred-fifty pounds, and will only set you back about $58,000 (US). A bit expensive for a field device perhaps, but the TM-1000 offers imaging up to 10,000X, or about 1,000 times past the point of the best high-end optical microscopes.

And I've personally seen it used in the field. Once worked as a sales rep for Hitachi. There is a padded bag available, but a foam-filled metal case with strong handles is a wiser choice. It is also a good idea to keep it out of the sun since images start to degrade sharply above 75°F. Finally, there is an interface available (about $6,500 IIRC) that will allow it offload images directly to a digital camera, including the Pentax (t-mount).

stewart

[Syb]

Hey,

Thanks all for your replies. They all (except one) make very clear that I better not fancy taking a gadget like that into the fields.

Makes me wonder, however, how this butterfly was lured in. And wether we have been looking at a dead body or a specimen that was still alive when portraied...

Syb

[and]

I heard a story once that some macro photographers used ice spray to freeze their subjects so that they would not move for the photo, but also didnt look squashed or dead. Dunno if it works...

[Syb]

Ice spray? Wouldn't that show on the pictures? I guess an electron microscope shows really e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g there is... including ice crystalls... however the idea is interesting...

[and]

Well maybe if the ice spray kills it and then you let the ice melt and you end up with a non-squashed bug to photograph. I am assuming you cannot get a live butterfly to pose for a microscope, unless you glue its legs to something...

But its just a story I havent heard any first hand experiences with this.

[stewart_photo]

Ice spray? Wouldn't that show on the pictures? I guess an electron microscope shows really e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g there is... including ice crystalls... however the idea is interesting...

You should be able to remember all this from your high school science classes. There are two common methods used for killing insects for preservation or study, the wet method using ethanol or ethyl acetate and the dry method using variations of cyanide crystals. These methods help prevent the specimen from convolving or collapsing during death, with the insect spread and special preserving agents used afterwards. Finally, fumigants or pesticides are used to protect the specimen from pests during permanent storage.

However, since most live insects, even aggressive ones like bees, become very still and docile in cooler temperatures, they're often fairly easy to photograph on cooler days or in the early morning hours. At other times, some photographers cover insects with containers (bags, bowls, etc) and spray cooling agents into the container to simulate cooler conditions temporarily. Once the insect becomes docile, the container is removed and the insect photographed. The insect remains still for several minutes after the container is removed and is usually unharmed from the experience afterwards if non-toxic cooling chemicals are used.

stewart

[JCSullivan]

Killing ANY living thing to photograph it is OUTRAGEOUS and whomever does that, ought to be shot with a ball of their own chit.

As explained above insects become docile at low temperatures and go into hibernation state.

Put them in the fridge NOT the freezer they will be just fine when they warm up. Another method is to use canned-air. DO NOT spray the insect, spray inside the container. There are other methods.

Hope this helps, but please don't kill 'em.

[and]

heh, I partly agree, but for certain living things like cockroackes and mosquitos. Then the more dead the better, hell Im a cockroach mass-murderer baby, I have killed as many as 31 in just a 10 minute hunt. If you want to shoot me with a ball of my own chit, whatever that is, then I suggest you offer your own home as a cockroach safe house and we can all just catch ours and safely release them in your house instead

Actually I tend to keep my house invading bugs alive a little longer so i can take a photograph, before they end up as a squashed pool of bug guts.

Killing ANY living thing to photograph it is OUTRAGEOUS and whomever does that, ought to be shot with a ball of their own chit.

As explained above insects become docile at low temperatures and go into hibernation state.

Put them in the fridge NOT the freezer they will be just fine when they warm up. Another method is to use canned-air. DO NOT spray the insect, spray inside the container. There are other methods.

Hope this helps, but please don't kill 'em.

[PDL]

I am pretty sure the the bug is not counted among the living. According to the "sample preparation" section of wikipedia - covering the sample in gold is a good way to "earth" - "ground to us Yanks" the subject since it is exposed to large electron flow (the E in SEM), the sample is also placed under a vacum . Scanning electron microscope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edit: ESEM allows for uncoated microphotographs to be taken. ESEM also allows for finer detail to be displayed - where coating would obscure these details. However, a living thing being bombarded with that many electrons - I think it would be hard to keep it alive.

If you want to see some other images - go here SEM - Image Gallery

I bought a book of SEM images - 20 years or so ago that was being sold as a Fine Art Photogaphy book - Cant find it now or I would say what is is.

SEM images are very cool. I have seen some of them "colorized" to show different cell structures (mostly in Scientific American) as SEM images are monochrome.

PDL

[George Lama]

I doubt an insect would survive a scanning electron microscope session, particularly the vacuum and coating in conductive metal process :-P

Here's a cool short video about the process:
http://virtual.itg.uiuc.edu/training/esem-prep.mov

and more information on this beauty
Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope