MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Been a while since I posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been spending time in the lab. Here's a group of pix I took that tries to get all possible detail out of a diatom in order to understand the morphology.

First is through the 16x/.35 lens + 1.6x on the Optovar, DIC. The rainbow colors are naturally occurring diffraction effects, and really pretty:


Then, through the 40x/.65 with DIC, natural color:


Then converted to gray scale:


Next, colors inverted, then converted to gray scale:

Those are very pretty. I do like the colors of the 16x and the inverted 40x

Next is the same through the 63x/1/4 Planapo, DIC, natural light:


Then with colors inverted:


And finally, colors inverted and the result converted to gray scale:


None of this was about creating the prettiest image, but to use all of them to get all possible information on this diatom's morphology. It was a fun exercise, and answered my questions. Thought y'all might enjoy the pix.

What I mostly like is that under the 16X, the diatom top appears flat (except for the rim), whereas under the 63X, the curvature at the top center shows - a "button" like center, and the rim is also not at the same plane. A nice demonstration of selective focusing to show the cross-sectional curvature of the top surface (lid of frustule). Thanks for posting.

Great work.. Thanks for posting....

You have been practicing! :) Very nice work

Bonjour
Superbes images
Cordialement seb

Very nice, thank you for sharing, Kurt!