Puget Sound (WA) diatoms

[c-krebs]

The first four images were collected in Puget Sound, WA using a small plankton net. The last was a piece of alga I scraped off a pier.

I have photographed the species (Coscinodiscus sp.) in the first two images several times. On this particular outing there must have been a huge bloom because every cast of the net came back loaded. So rather than photograph individuals as before I decided to show a large number of them together.

[rabitt]

One word "EXCELLENT"

Rich B

[rnabholz]

Every image is a treat Charles.

The last one featuring the colonial is really interesting.

Thanks very much for posting them.

[zzffnn]

Amazing photos! Thank you Charles K.
What illumination was used for photos #1 and #2? Phase?

[75RR]

A treat!
Such profusion in images # 1 and 2
# 3 Darkfield? is very delicate.
Diatoms in lower half of image # 4 are quite beautiful
Love the composition in # 5

[billbillt]

WOW!!... I am blown away!!.. The best I have ever seen!.. Thanks for sharing Charles K....

[KurtM]

Boy am I ever glad you live where you do. Charles Krebs and the Pacific Northwest are a match made in heaven. These images are just as artistically beautiful as they are informative. Wonderful! Bravo!

[Johann]

Incredible images - thanks for sharing them with us

[vasselle]

Bonjour.
Superbes images elles sont magnifiques.
Cordialement seb

[kit1980]

Amazing images!

[Charles]

Very nice...as usual. All are stunning but I like the first two which shows the two halves, the girdle and the contents.

[c-krebs]

Thanks for the kind remarks!

What illumination was used for photos #1 and #2? Phase?

The first two used a mix of lighting. I used the MM-11/Olympus "hybrid" scope that I showed in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3295&p=29145

This gives me a great deal of freedom for "free-style" lighting (with my 5X to 50X "M" type objectives). The diatoms were in a small petri dish on the stage. Under the stage I set up darkfield to provide some back-light. This provides a nice "glow", especially around the edges. The main lighting came from above the stage using a ringed diffuser and one or two lights (somewhat similar to the another image at the end of the thread linked above). The lights have variable intensities so I just played with them until the balance looked right. (All images are from z-stacks).

[zzffnn]

Thank you very much, Charles K. No wonder why those two photos look so special!

[apochronaut]

pretty hard to comment further. really , superbly crafted images. they give the sense that one is either miniature and has discovered that they are swimming in diatom infested waters or is looking down into the water with magnifying eyeballs.

[Dale]

I'm speechless, those are just gorgeous. Might you pass along where you
got small petri dishes? The only ones I can find are extremely expensive.
Dale

[c-krebs]

Might you pass along where you
got small petri dishes? The only ones I can find are extremely expensive.

These are plastic (polystyrene). I purchased a couple of different sizes from a company called "lightlabsusa.com". The smallest ones I have are 35mm diameter but I find them very handy when looking through a new sample in a larger container through the stereo scope. I can put prospective subjects in the small dishes as I find them. You can get a box of 500 for $59.90. I suppose the initial outlay is not cheap, but I've been working on the same box for years at about $0.12 per dish.

http://www.lightlabsusa.com/Petri-Dishes-1.html

If you don't want to spring for that quantity have a look at Ebay (#162010578271) 10 for $2.29

[gekko]

Extraordinary beauty.

[Radazz]

Your work is the best I've ever seen.

[exmarine]

Thank you Charles, I endorse everything that has been said about the photo's.

[billben74]

Late to the party. But if even more praise will even slightly increase the chance that you keep on sharing these inspiring images then I'll add mine.
Sublime images.
And after I closed my mouth I thought of a science question. In the darkfield images the chain of diataoms has some repeating circular shapes and some wider, sort of rectangular shapes. Anyone know of the biolgical significance of this?