Common garden flies and a pain in the sons head

tpe · Post by **tpe** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:44 am

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Is 3 pics and a URL over the limit, it is just there may be someone who can answer this here, any idea why this thing http://www.scientificillustration.net/_temp/tick_02.jpg found on my sons head (some kind of tick about 1.5mm in length) didnt manage to get any blood after at least 24 hours undiscovered? Will be on the lookout for rashes, so no worries abot Lymes, fingers crossed.

Many thanks for all the help getting started on stacking and microscopes, especially Charles, Ken Bruce Rik, ahh you know who you are, don't you guys have day jobs? helping out the newbie so much

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Anyway I got one of the lenses i had been looking forward to from USA the other day (reichert 2.5x Plan Acro). Since then I have been trying to put the advice to use. There have been loads of mistakes (it has to get into gigabytes on the hdd soon), but at least i know where they come from on some of them, so now i see more of what I did wrong. Here are some of the better ones, some of the mistakes are still there I know, but at least something has come out of it. I had no idea that camera shake could be sooo much of a problem even when the camera is screwed down. Still a work in progress but a little more predictable now.

tim

Matty · Post by **Matty** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:50 am

My compliments ... Details excellent sharpness and color ...

puzzledpaul · Post by **puzzledpaul** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 12:45 pm

Well, the subjects in the main pics are also v. familiar to me - seen same thro' v/finder often enough, such that when I saw yours, I was just about to put my gear on Ebay (and take up knitting or some such) ... then realised they're stacks

A very fine start to stacking, I'd say ...

(I sometimes think there's a good likeness between top species and an old guys face, btw)

pp

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:46 pm

Tim,

The photos suggest that you've caught on rather quickly!

Very nicely done...

3 images and a URL is fine.

Haven't a clue about the beast on your son's head, sorry!

--Rik

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:29 pm

Excellant work Tim. As Rik said you have caught on. Congratulations, hair details are very well displayed. How about some info to go with the pics like spacing, software etc.

As far as the tick is concerned I don't know the species but it looks full to me?

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:26 pm

Three very nice images indeed. This is the sort of detail that is well worth taking time to examine closely.

Really enjoyed this post - Thanks!

Bruce

tpe · Post by **tpe** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:27 pm

Thanks Bruce, good to know i am on the right track, its all down to this place, i dabbled with stacking once before here and it did not go well so didnt dare touch it for about a year after.

Walter The greenbottle fly was 47 images of about 0.07mm sepperation, software was combineZ and a quick levels adjustment in photoshop and that was about it, camera was released with a cable and on a 2 second timer in the hope of reducing shake, exposure was 0.4 s I have seen similar ticks (and been bitten by in the nastyest places) that have really swollen up with blood, but this one looks much less swolen, i have a feeling that they have some kind of inflatable stretchy skin, and wonder if the ridges are to help inflation? Many thanks for the encouragment too

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Rik, I hope so, and if so its all your fault

, still lots of work to do, how long do cameras last with stacking, i guess about 1/50th of their normal lifetime?

Paul, "(I sometimes think there's a good likeness between top species and an old guys face, btw)" so you know my gran then?

. Yeah i know stacking kind of does that, it was charles krebs shots that just blew my mind on the macromuseum that did it for me.

Thanks matty very kind.

tim

Michigan Michael · Post by **Michigan Michael** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:40 pm

Superb images!

Michael

Dearis · Post by **Dearis** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:48 pm

Hi there,

these shots are truly wonderful. Remarkable in fact. I was wondering what stacked was or meant

Regards Darren

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:13 pm

Incredible photos Tim. The bluebottle is stunning with all the detail. Maybe the tick is a male. Isn`t the female the one that sucks the blood?

jmlphoto · Post by **jmlphoto** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:24 pm

wow, just wow. incredible shots, i cant decide which one i like most. what setup did you take these with?

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:40 pm

tpe wrote: how long do cameras last with stacking, i guess about 1/50th of their normal lifetime?

Beats me. But I have started to think in terms of "specimens per camera", and the number is frighteningly small!

Darren, "stacked" means that a number of images are taken, all as similar as possible except for different focus points, and then software is used to pick out the sharp bits and put together a single picture that looks well focused everywhere.

--Rik