Winter Tardigrade

[Timemaster1212]

So sadly, a few of my winter culture jars got a tad too cold this week, so I had a few mass extinctions to deal with. Perusing some random samples I came across a (sadly) dead tardigrade. Looking on the brightside, it was perfectly positioned to see each appendage, so I decided to take a crack at focus stacking and some rudimentary photo editing. I would love some feedback!

DF 200x magnification

Stacked Image:



original images:

[MichaelG.]

So sadly, a few of my winter culture jars got a tad too cold this week, so I had a few mass extinctions to deal with. Perusing some random samples I came across a (sadly) dead tardigrade. Looking on the brightside, it was perfectly positioned to see each appendage, so I decided to take a crack at focus stacking and some rudimentary photo editing. I would love some feedback!

Feedback:

The stacking seems to have worked nicely, but your ‘cutting-out’ looks a little heavy-handed
… there should be tools in your software to help do this with more subtlety.

[At the risk of invoking Monty Python’s ‘Dead Parrot’ sketch] … Your tardigrade may not be dead !
… they are tough little blighters.

MichaelG.

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https://archive.org/details/marvelsofpo ... /1up?q=XII
https://www.techexplorist.com/tardigrad ... res/54181/

[Timemaster1212]

but your ‘cutting-out’ looks a little heavy-handed

I thought so too. I am currently using a free trial of helicon focus so this first attempt was more of me goofing around on the software. Do you have a recommended software for stacking and editing?

[At the risk of invoking Monty Python’s ‘Dead Parrot’ sketch] … Your tardigrade may not be dead !

I actually kept the slide "wet" for an hour and many multicellular organisms just did not budge; tardigrades, rotifers, and nematodes were all dead. I believe what caused this was a lack of airflow. I had to seal the jars because my cats took interest in them and I might have forgotten to open them back up There was a plethora of bacteria and small ciliates that I believe support the idea that the oxygen level got too low.

[MichaelG.]

I happen to use Zerene Stacker … but I doubt if there is much to choose between that and Helicon Focus

Photoshop and the like all have excellent tools for doing background-removal, but if you happen to have an iPad, I can thoroughly recommend a little App called ‘Magic Eraser’ … the ability to pinch-zoom, and to rotate the image to any convenient angle, makes it almost like working on an Animator’s light-box.

MichaelG.

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http://zerenesystems.com/

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/magic-era ... d989920057

https://youtu.be/WZzpsbBx7pg

[Timemaster1212]

I do like the sound of editing on my iPad Michael, I will give it a shot.