How to clean up a specimen

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Archibald
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:12 pm
Location: Calgary

How to clean up a specimen

Post by Archibald »

New member here...

I'm struggling with dirty specimens when doing closeups. Below is an example, and this is after directing several puffs of air at the subject. Any suggestions on how I can improve this?

Damselfly 3.5x Canon MPE65mm stack
Image

WalterD
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Location: Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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Post by WalterD »

Welcome Archibald,

I came across the same problem a couple of weeks ago with a (dead) bee I found. After some research I noted a mix of water and alcohol was recommended. Unfortunately I was not very successful, the object became a bit of a mess... The best method to get clean insects is to catch them alive and kill them by e.g. alcohol fumes.

Cheers

Walter

Pau
Site Admin
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Location: Valencia, Spain

Post by Pau »

This topic has been debated several times at the forum.

Just search for clean insect and you'll find some relevant ones

(sorry, I'm travelling and short of time to search the links)[/i]
Pau

zzffnn
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Post by zzffnn »

I have never cleaned or photographed an insect. But you may try 3% hydrogen peroxide mixed (half to half) with 91% alcohol. In theory, hydrogen peroxide can produce some foaming action to dislodge dust debris. Alcohol should dissolve organic/oily debris. But like Walter said, it depends on how fresh your insect is, if it is already partially decomposed, cleaning with water alone may make it messy.
Selling my Canon FD 200mm F/2.8 lens

MaxRockbin
Posts: 188
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 11:12 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Post by MaxRockbin »

You will find great info on member Johan J Ingles-Le Nobel's extremely helpful extreme macro site:

http://extreme-macro.co.uk/cleaning-insects/

Personally, I find a stereo microscope pretty much a necessity. You can get one that'll work for this purpose on ebay for <$100. Nothing too fancy is required (though zoom is kind of nice).

Also, something really handy is the smallest water color paint brush you can find (and even then you may want to prune a few of the bristles). Very useful for getting particles off of the eyes. Camel hair is extra soft and won't damage anything.

For bees and other similar insects, check out Sam Droege's videos for the USGS on youtube. Here's one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2y-ind12Cc
If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

Archibald
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:12 pm
Location: Calgary

Post by Archibald »

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have done the forum search and had a look at the links provided. Very interesting. I have to say, to me the techniques seem very aggressive to apply to a tiny bug. But I will give them a try.

Archibald
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:12 pm
Location: Calgary

Post by Archibald »

Another attempt, better this time I think. Bluet damselfly.
Image

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