This is my very first bug macro. Ran across some termites. Here is a 20x view from the top of the head. The hazy fuzz is the OOF body parts below. This is 160 images with 6um steps. The light is a down-looking KD-200 ring light with a dome diffuser below it. Made an interesting dark field effect because the termite was placed just below the plane of the ring light. I think the white loops between the eyes may be an imprint of the ring light. I can see that getting fantastic images like you guys regularly show is going to take some doing.
and a cross-eyed stereo
Steve
termite
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- rjlittlefield
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This came out well!
I especially appreciate the stereo. The two big elliptical structures on top of the head seem quite ambiguous to me in the single image. They look like ringed pits, which is not as crazy as it might sound given the "nasal" structures of some more exotic termites. But the stereo makes clear that these are convex blobs, with a transparent outer surface, a few bristles projecting outward from that, and fine structures visible inside the subject. Very nice! With this understanding of the geometry, I think the bright ring is probably just a reflection of the surrounding light diffuser, with the darker interior section being a variation of the famous "black hole" reflection of the lens aperture.
20X is an aggressive start for macro. What sort of setup are you using?
--Rik
I especially appreciate the stereo. The two big elliptical structures on top of the head seem quite ambiguous to me in the single image. They look like ringed pits, which is not as crazy as it might sound given the "nasal" structures of some more exotic termites. But the stereo makes clear that these are convex blobs, with a transparent outer surface, a few bristles projecting outward from that, and fine structures visible inside the subject. Very nice! With this understanding of the geometry, I think the bright ring is probably just a reflection of the surrounding light diffuser, with the darker interior section being a variation of the famous "black hole" reflection of the lens aperture.
20X is an aggressive start for macro. What sort of setup are you using?
--Rik
Thanks Keith and Rik.
Keith--yes the antennae turned out really nice. I should probably make a crop of just one of those sections.
Rik-- thanks for an explanation of the light ring. Yes, there were some interesting fine structures that showed: the thread through the right antenna, the lightning bolt structure starting near each eye spot and turning into a "Y" in each upper lobe (nerve bundle?), and the fine hairs on the head.
I have explained my rig in another section of the forums:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=36477
Steve
Keith--yes the antennae turned out really nice. I should probably make a crop of just one of those sections.
Rik-- thanks for an explanation of the light ring. Yes, there were some interesting fine structures that showed: the thread through the right antenna, the lightning bolt structure starting near each eye spot and turning into a "Y" in each upper lobe (nerve bundle?), and the fine hairs on the head.
I have explained my rig in another section of the forums:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=36477
Steve
Last edited by nanometer on Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
- rjlittlefield
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Probably air-filled tubes, tracheae. Those are common and highly visible in most lighting arrangements. Nerve bundles are a common guess, but those are very hard to see without staining because there is not much difference in refractive index between the nerves and surrounding tissues.nanometer wrote:lightning bolt structure starting and each eye spot and turning into a "Y" in each upper lobe (nerve bundle?)
Excellent, thanks. That looks like a very simple and effective approach. I have added it to my FAQs list at https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... 5311#55311 .I have explained my rig in another section of the forums
--Rik