From the usual pond in my backyard...

[tonikon]

Hello everyone and happy Sunday ...
in the usual pond in my backyard, today I photographed these two organisms.
Could anyone give them a name?
The photos are not very good because I have no phase contrast but only brightfield.
Trying to work for oblique lighting.
Ciao
Toni

P.S. sharpness isn't great...today no APO, only NPL/PL objectives...

[viktor j nilsson]

I think these are a lot nicer than the vast majority of phase contrast photos I've seen. I just don't find PC visually appealing with the halos. Great for observation, though. But I don't think you need to worry about that.

I did notice right away that these weren't taken with your Apo objectives. How come?

Have you started experimenting with Pol, Oblique, DF and GUF? I think you'll do wonderful things with these techniques, given your clear visual talent.

[tonikon]

Thank you very much for your appreciation... I really need a big encouragement because these are my first microscope images and everything seems difficult to me. Indeed, brightfield seems like a rewarding "visual" experience to me too, but I'd like starting to play with the oblique lighting. Where can I find a good guide explaining the differences, advantages-disadvantages and DIY tricks for Pol, oblique, DF and GUF? ... I admit that I don't even know the meaning of some acronyms...

P.S. Today, no APO only because I'm playing/testing with my old NPL/PL objectives...you can see them in post
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=11176
Ciao
Toni

[tonikon]

Just photographed two other micro-organisms from the same pond. One just seems to be a tardigrade ... I got really excited, because I love them and had never seen one before. The second organism, rather large, had a very showy green color and compared to the organisms it looked like a giant!

[BramHuntingNematodes]

I should look for some larger freshwater stuff sometime I been looking at chlamydomonas lately and its adorable but p. small

[tonikon]

Could the second specimen be a Stentor? It was really very big ...

[micro]

It does look like a stentor

[Bruce Taylor]

Nice pics! First one is a slightly squashed Spirostomum (it has a moniliform macronucleus & short peristome, so S. minus is likely). Second image is a slightly squashed Paramecium. Compression has changed the cell shape a bit, so it resemble Frontonia (a closely related genus); however, the tuft of cilia at the posterior and the appearance of the faintly-visible mouth opening are more typical of Paramecium. The blue-green Stentor is Stentor coeruleus.

[PeteM]

Just a note of thanks, Bruce, for your many expert contributions. Thank you!

[tonikon]

Bruce...your competence is second only to your generosity! Thank you very much...