Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

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RobBerdan
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Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#1 Post by RobBerdan » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:14 am

Most crystals are pretty easy to prepare for photomicrography, either melt them on the slide, or dry them from a solution of water or alcohol - a coverslip isn't necessary, but helps keep the crystals flat. Proteins and other substances e.g. beer are more difficult to crystallize. I have been trying to get good beer Crystals, the late Michael Davidson had some nice photos but never revealed his methods calling them proprietary. I can get some beer to form small crystals and I can freeze the beer so it forms crystals, but I am not yet satisfied with the results. Below I am attaching a few images of crystals because the colours are so vivid and they are relatively easy to prepare by anyone. Any light microscope can be converted to a polarizing microscope easily with two linear polarizing filters - one over the light source, the second can be placed above the objective or in the eyepiece - you cut the second polarizer from plastic polaroid material or buy eyepiece polarizing filters - they must be linear not circular polarizers. You can even tape a polarizer to the top of the eyepiece with some electrician tape.

For these photos i used a Zeiss Axioscope with DIC and polarizing optics, images were taken with 2.5, 5, 10 and 20X objectives recorded on a Nikon D500 digital camera (RAW) minimal processing in Photoshop and I captured the images to my laptop using Digicam control software (free download off their web site).
Crystals include: Beer, Citric acid, Ascorbic Acid, Strontium choloride - which I obtained at a local pharmacy store.

For those interested in my methods I have an article here:
https://www.canadiannaturephotographer. ... light.html

I plan to present an in depth article on my web site in a few weeks on preparing crystals, which chemicals seem to work well and some of the methods I am using. I have never seen such intense colours in any other form of photography and the variety of abstract patterns is staggering. Even simple things like potato starch can look good. YOu can also enhance the colours with wave plates, which you can make using ordinary (not the magic tape) scotch tape, some plastic CD covers or thin pieces of mica. They also sell 1\4, 1\2 and full wave retardation plates and a quartz wedge - if interested read more about them on the web.
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billbillt
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Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#2 Post by billbillt » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:29 am

This is amazing!... Thanks for sharing.. Looking forward to more!!...

BillT

PeteM
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Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#3 Post by PeteM » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:29 am

Great images. Looking forward to your tutorial on crystal prep -- thanks!

JMK
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Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:09 am

Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#4 Post by JMK » Mon Feb 25, 2019 1:11 am

Pleasant compositions and robust saturation- thanks for sharing

John

wjuanxp
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Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2019 7:15 pm

Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#5 Post by wjuanxp » Mon Feb 25, 2019 3:25 am

WOW! That looks really cool! Some looks like exotic landscape! Will try it on my microscopy someday and thanks for sharing!

Hobbyst46
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Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#6 Post by Hobbyst46 » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:38 pm

Works of art !
There are 5 photos but 4 "chemicals".
From the cubic structures I assume that photo no 5 is strontium chloride(?)
The beer crystal is intriguing. Are those crystals of sugar?

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RobBerdan
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Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#7 Post by RobBerdan » Mon Feb 25, 2019 11:42 pm

Yes the last crystals in the last picture are strontium. The beer crystals, I am not sure - they could be sugar, starch or protein - getting beer to crystallize has been difficult. I am going to try some precipitants to see if that might help promote crystallization. I have been boiling the beer to concentrate it - sometimes its helpful and sometimes not. The beer crystals shown are 3 weeks old from Corona beer. Most of the other crystals I have tried form within a few minutes to a day or two.

I will post an article in a few weeks of the substances I tested. I am also experimenting with a wide variety of chemicals, some work best when I melt them e.g. citric acid others like Epson salts work best when I dissolve them in water first.

Cheers
RB

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Radazz
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Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#8 Post by Radazz » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:02 pm

Beautiful!
I too would very much like to see a tutorial.
Radazz
Arnold, Missouri
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geo_man
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Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:54 pm

Re: Crystals under Polarized Light and DIC

#9 Post by geo_man » Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:22 pm

Inspiring!! I'm going to try the simple polarizing setup you describe!

Thank you.

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