In fact Rik... at first I tried to mix together multiple duplicate layers by playing with the different blending modes. By slightly changing the brightness of two overlapping layers, you can achieve very different effects. But in the end, I thought that the dark field, after all, is just an "inversi...

Exactly, Rik ... you can convert the image in Lab Color Space and invert only the brightness channel. I found that this method allows to obtain a "DF-like" result, without altering the "scientific" value of the image. For completeness, I'm also attaching the original photo obtained by mixing bright ...

Hi everyone, today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a photograph of a Chydorus with two beautiful eggs well safe in the specially prepared "room". As in almost all Cladocera (as far as I know ...) the eggs are parthenogenetic and often also "ephippial": they can be transported over land by wi...

Hi everyone, yesterday, thanks to helpful advice of SW_Perspective, I was able to find (and to take some picture and some video) a couple of tardigrades on some lichens. This is my first attempt, but I'm planning to return to this topic. Ciao and thanks again to SW_Perspective for his valuable advic...

I collected the lichen then cut it in pieces a few millimeters in size and flooded it with water in a petri dish. I checked samples of the water 8 hours later (overnight) and found many tardigrades. This was my first try with this technique. I read about it at https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=1...

May I ask you how did you discover tardigrade in lichen?
Did you use a stereomicroscope?
Or did you put the lichens in water and then look at some water samples?
I have a lot of lichens in my garden but I can't find tardigrades

Bravo! I love these animals, but I have not yet been able to find a good specimen ... thanks for sharing.

Another amazing weekend!!!

Hi everyone, a few days ago, browsing in drop of water (coming from the usual pond...) I have encountered a very strange "shape": it is a Statoblast of Bryozoa (almost certainly of Plumatella sp.), a mass of cells that functions as "survival pod" during various environmental crises. This image, perf...

Hi everyone, after some encouraging results, I returned to the same subject: the Chydorus , a relatively common Phillopod Crustacean. This image is the result of the stacking of 10 shots during which the animal remained perfectly still. I am also glad that after more than half a century my old micro...

Hi everyone, this afternoon, rummaging into a drop of water from a pond, I observed and photographed this rather oddly shaped micro-organism which moved very very slowly. I have no idea what it could be ... maybe a Lionotus . I don't even know what is that strange "aggregation" of cells at the end o...

Hi BugEZ, usually I prefer to photograph "fresh" bugs, but in this case I'm not sure at all... In Sicily we have the Chrysoperla meditarrea, endemic of Sicily and Sardinia (for Italy)...it may be that the Mediterranean species has darker eyes, or it is a not very fresh specimen ... honestly I don't ...

Thank you very much Rob for your correct identification!
I started from here:
http://cfb.unh.edu/cfbkey/html/choices/ ... 10/10.html
but at some point, I got lost ...

John, all the c-mount pinhole lenses I've seen are made up of 3 main blocks of lenses inserted into as many threaded tubes. With a little DIY skill :idea: , you can unscrew the tubes and change their length. Unfortunately, I cannot disassemble my modified pinhole to show it because to make it more s...

I believe, but I'm not sure, that a pinhole lens is built with the "objective + relay lens" system. By moving the position of the lenses (by trial and error, because unfortunately I am not an expert in physical optics) I was able to increase the coverage circle of the relay lens, until to cover the ...