Issaquah Diatoms

[KurtM]

From the Seattle area. The seller of my recently purchased Reichert-Jung (nee AO) 1820 inverted microscope... viewtopic.php?f=24&t=6298 ... collected some sample material from a small nearby stream and included it in the package, wasn't that thoughtful? While I haven't found anything shockingly cool, it does contain a rich and interesting bunch of diatoms all the same. Here are a few dolled-up images just for fun:

There are loads of Melosira spp. The chains are delightful eye candy in the eyepieces, pictures just do 'em little justice. Through the 40x/.66, DIC:

Melosira spp.jpg (348.05 KiB) Viewed 4243 times

Then an old favorite genus, Gomphonema, through the 63x/1.4 planapo, DIC. First is Gomphonema acuminatum:

Gomphonema acuminatum.jpg (474.18 KiB) Viewed 4243 times

Then the better part of a Gomphonema truncatum valve. I love broken diatoms because they tell more of a story of how they're built than intact ones:

Gomphonema truncatum.jpg (434.2 KiB) Viewed 4243 times

[GaryB]

Very nice, Kurt.
Glad the new toy is working well.

[75RR]

The chains are delightful eye candy in the eyepieces, pictures just do 'em little justice.

Added a little contrast - hope that was ok.
Still never as good as what is visible through the eyepieces.

[KurtM]

Yes, it's always okay to clue me in on ways of improving my images, you bet. So ... how'd you do that, exactly?

[Radazz]

Very nice

[rnabholz]

Nice shootin' there Tex.

Nothing better than diatoms in the mail.

New microscope too I see. Watching for developments.

Rod

[75RR]

The main issue are the levels. The dynamic range should run from 0 (black) to 255 (white)
See how the levels in your image do not extend to the full range.
This tutorial with video has a better explanation than I could give - it is for Photoshop but all post-processing software apps have similar controls.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using ... tment.html

[zzffnn]

Nice images, Kurt.
And great to see Rod back. Come to Houston next time. You can live in my house, go kayaking at Armand Bayou, collect some diatoms and/or photograph some shore birds (quite some of them in Armand). I have moved to around 15 min drive away from Armand now. Ask Kurt (he is close by too) to make you some fried oysters Texan style; he has never made any for me , but I am sure he will do that for you.

[KurtM]

I'm very careful never to fry oysters for anyone because then they'll never leave. Besides, they're only in winter.

75, many thanks for the assist. I never pay enough attention to histograms, a terrible habit badly overdue for correcting.

[vasselle]

Bonjour
Jolie images