Desmid

[gekko]

Cosmarium. There is what appears to be some smearing, especially at the top of the desmid and in the diatom, that puzzles me, but it may have been due to movement caused by a nearby rotifer that was outside the field of view.

[Brightfield; 40x objective].


Thanks again to Crater Eddie for the water sample.

[rnabholz]

Beautiful colors, great sharpness, a nice seemingly serene setting.

Is this a single frame, if so the depth of focus for a 40x is very nice.

I like it a lot.

Rod

[gekko]

Beautiful colors, great sharpness, a nice seemingly serene setting.
Is this a single frame, if so the depth of focus for a 40x is very nice.
I like it a lot.
Rod

Many thanks, Rod, for your too-kind comment. Yes, this is a single frame (I always say when I use a stack-- doing stacks is not a favorite activity of mine simply because, for whatever reason, my stacks usually come out very poorly )

[75RR]

Nice image and nice composition

[JimT]

Nice. Clearly something in the oblique imaging process caused the cyan in your other image.

[billbillt]

I find this very well done..

BillT

[gekko]

75RR, JimT, and BillT, thank you very much!

JimT, thank you for your suggestion. I think the cyan background in the image (with grey background through the eyepieces) occurs in DIC, but not in oblique illumination. And it also seems to occur in cross-polarized image captured by the camera, and since both use polarization, I thought that perhaps that was involved somehow.

[gekko]

Beautiful colors, great sharpness, a nice seemingly serene setting.
Is this a single frame, if so the depth of focus for a 40x is very nice.
I like it a lot.
Rod

Many thanks, Rod, for your too-kind comment. Yes, this is a single frame (I always say when I use a stack-- doing stacks is not a favorite activity of mine simply because, for whatever reason, my stacks usually come out very poorly )

Rod, I think I misunderstood your comment about depth of field: I believe in this case it was between 0.5 and 1 µm, so it is very shallow indeed. I think the image depicts a thin optical section through approximately the middle of the desmid, rather than representing it as a whole as a focus stack would.

[vasselle]

Bonjour Gekko
Très belle photo.
Cordialement seb

[rnabholz]

Beautiful colors, great sharpness, a nice seemingly serene setting.
Is this a single frame, if so the depth of focus for a 40x is very nice.
I like it a lot.
Rod

Many thanks, Rod, for your too-kind comment. Yes, this is a single frame (I always say when I use a stack-- doing stacks is not a favorite activity of mine simply because, for whatever reason, my stacks usually come out very poorly )

Rod, I think I misunderstood your comment about depth of field: I believe in this case it was between 0.5 and 1 µm, so it is very shallow indeed. I think the image depicts a thin optical section through approximately the middle of the desmid, rather than representing it as a whole as a focus stack would.

It seemed to me to have a depth and showed a good deal of sharp detail across the face of the desmid, more than I would have expected with that objective.

Whatever the case, it is a highly successful image.

Rod

[gekko]

It seemed to me to have a depth and showed a good deal of sharp detail across the face of the desmid, more than I would have expected with that objective.

Thanks again Rod. I think I can illustrate the way I think of it: let us say you place the Cosmarium in your super home-made microtome. Then you turn the bolt to expose about half the thickness, and, with your knife, cut the exposed top half off and throw it away. Then you advance the remaining part of the Cosmarium about one micrometer, and cut the 1 µm slice, and place it under your microscope. As far as I understand, that is what we are seeing in the image above. The details are on the inside of the cell, not at the top surface, so were are not seeing depth. I think. And I hope someone knowledgeable will correct me, as I'd like to know where I am wrong.

[rnabholz]

It seemed to me to have a depth and showed a good deal of sharp detail across the face of the desmid, more than I would have expected with that objective.

Thanks again Rod. I think I can illustrate the way I think of it: let us say you place the Cosmarium in your super home-made microtome. Then you turn the bolt to expose about half the thickness, and, with your knife, cut the exposed top half off and throw it away. Then you advance the remaining part of the Cosmarium about one micrometer, and cut the 1 µm slice, and place it under your microscope. As far as I understand, that is what we are seeing in the image above. The details are on the inside of the cell, not at the top surface, so were are not seeing depth. I think. And I hope someone knowledgeable will correct me, as I'd like to know where I am wrong.

Thanks Gekko. I do understand the "slice" concept. Perhaps it is the various shades of color, but to my eyes it seemed to have a depth that I did not expect, and to your point did not exist.

It appears it was an illusion, but still pleasing to my eye none the less.

Rod

[gekko]

I apologize, Rod, for my simplistic attempt at description: it is the way my mind works.

[rnabholz]

I apologize, Rod, for my simplistic attempt at description: it is the way my mind works.

No apology necessary! I was sure your instincts regarding your pupil's capabilities was guiding you... ;^)