articles/Macro/getting-very-close-page4

Getting very close - Part 3 - part 4 of 1 2 3 4

by Christopher Algar Published 25/01/2018

Daphnia with eggs, oblique illumination, 4x objective, stack of 50 frames.

After setting up our microscope, we looked around for subjects to photograph and decided that crystalline compounds might be worth a try. As we made the replacement tube in two parts, it was easy to place a polarising filter between the microscope objective and the camera sensor. We sited another polarising filter in the light path below the condenser and turned it until the transmitted light reached its minimum. ‘Crossing' the filters in this way can produce stunning colours when birefringent crystals are placed between them. All our crystal photographs in this article were taken using polarising filters.

Our method of setting up crystals for a microscope is simply to place a solution of a particular compound on a slide and wait for the liquid to evaporate. The way the substance crystallises is controlled by factors including the concentration of the solution, the ambient temperature and the depth, and size of the drop placed on the slide. The fact that we have not yet worked out the exact interplay of these factors (and probably never will) means that every slide may hold pleasant surprises or be instantly discarded. On the plus side, setting up a slide containing crystals is easy and the slide can be reused after a quick wash. When applying a solution to a microscope slide, we use a pipette for large amounts and a toothpick for small blobs.

Vorticella, 10x objective, single frame.

The ease with which crystals can be photographed, and the visually stunning results have distracted us somewhat from our usual choice of natural history subjects. The variables involved when setting up and using a microscope for photography have also limited the number of high-quality images of invertebrates we have so far produced. As usual with experimenting, only a small percentage of tests result in a ‘keeper’ image. So far, we have found that organisms such as rotifers and voticella that require high magnification are better captured with video than still photography because their movement is so important. We have uploaded a sample video, some of which was captured using a microscope with a trinocular head, to YouTube at: https://youtu.be/zdkU3T2Yv6Q

We recently became aware of the technique of adding a waveplate (retarder) to polarising filters when photographing crystals or invertebrates. We have only tried this technique a couple of times but it appears promising enough for us to explore it further in the future.

I would suggest that anyone wishing to find out about what microscopy can offer should look up The Quekett Microscopical Club at: http://www.quekett.org/ We attended one of their meetings recently and were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the members. They had microscopes set up in a hall, and we went out and collected specimens from the local canal. Although we can identify some of the relatively large freshwater invertebrates such as daphnia, we did not have a clue what most of the organisms seen under high magnification were. To find out, we sat with one of the members while he scanned across a small drop of water and identified most of the organisms for us. Even for people not intending to take up microscopy, I think that seeing the amount and variety of life in a drop of water may be worthwhile.

• Getting very close - Part 3 page 1
  
• Getting very close - Part 3 page 2
  
• Getting very close - Part 3 page 3
  
• Getting very close - Part 3 page 4
  

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