Unexpected colors

Images taken in a controlled environment or with a posed subject. All subject types.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Unexpected colors

Post by rjlittlefield »

Following the theme of "unexpected colors", and since we haven't a puzzle piece for a while, I offer the following:

Image

In the spirit of disclosing significant changes in postprocessing, I confess that I applied a curves adjustment to increase contrast.

Here is the adjustment:
Image

Pressing the Auto button for curves adjustment removed a lot of the subject's natural background color:

Image

Here is the adjustment producing that image:
Image

And finally, here is the original unadjusted image:
Image

Optical setup was 10X Mitutoyo objective with Thorlabs ITL200 tube lens, to a Canon T1i sensor. The objective was significantly stopped down and the stack was shot at 20 microns step size, only 8 frames, run through Zerene Stacker using DMap. Illumination was halogen, using a single bundle of optical fiber with Kleenex tissue wrapped around its head, the light source positioned about midway along the objective, just far enough off axis to keep the objective from shadowing the subject.

Now the obvious question: what is this beautiful object??

--Rik

Craig Gerard
Posts: 2877
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 1:51 am
Location: Australia

Post by Craig Gerard »

It is beautiful, I look forward to finding out what it is.

Are you shooting through some type of immersion oil?




Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

Craig Gerard wrote:Are you shooting through some type of immersion oil?
Yes. The subject is not completely smooth, so I added a coverslip with glycerin to fill the gap and avoid direct reflections of the fiber bundle from surface texture.

The Mitutoyo may not the best objective to use for this situation, but I did not realize the problem until I was already set up to shoot with that lens. On the other hand, the Mitutoyo allows illumination closer to the axis than any of my other 10X lenses, which has some importance in bringing out the full intensity of the colors. I shot it only with this one objective, so I'm not sure about all the tradeoffs.

--Rik

BugEZ
Posts: 850
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:15 pm
Location: Loves Park Illinois

Post by BugEZ »

Just a guess, but is it egg shell?

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

BugEZ, thanks for the guess!

Nope, not an eggshell.

However (hint #1!), this common material can often be found within a few feet of an eggshell in a typical American kitchen. :D

--Rik

tpe
Posts: 478
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:07 am
Location: Copenhagen Denmark

Post by tpe »

Very nice shots, of what must then be bacon?

Tim

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

Not bacon, but you're very close.

--Rik

ChrisR
Site Admin
Posts: 8668
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:58 am
Location: Near London, UK

Post by ChrisR »

Either a synthetic net thing food comes in, or a section through the rope you use to tether your Vietnamese pot bellied pig?

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

All guesses appreciated, and I confirm there was a pig involved, but the bacon guess was closer. :)

--Rik

seta666
Posts: 1071
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:50 am
Location: Castellon, Spain

Post by seta666 »

I do not see how it could produce this colours but could be lard?

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

Definitely no one would call this material "lard".

And yet there could be some components of lard involved.

I am not sure!

--Rik

Olympusman
Posts: 5090
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:31 pm

My guess

Post by Olympusman »

chiccarones?
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

JW
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:38 am
Location: New Haven, CT, USA

Post by JW »

Sausage casings?
It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see - Henry David Thoreau

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

Nope, neither of those, but you're giving me great ideas of other things to look at. :D

The material shown retains much more of its natural structure than chiccarones (fried pork skin). I think that's true for sausage casings too, but I'm not so familiar with how those are processed.

I understand from my readings that the same colors can be found in related products that are completely fresh. I haven't confirmed that personally.

More hints... This stuff is tasty and nutritious, but it's banned by certain religions and ethical standards. I spotted the colors while getting ready to eat and saved out this little piece to photograph. The material does not usually appear as shown here. When the colors are noticed, they often prompt questions about whether the sample is still good to eat.

--Rik

ChrisR
Site Admin
Posts: 8668
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:58 am
Location: Near London, UK

Post by ChrisR »

Muscle fibres?

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic