Fern and an APO

[augusthouse]

An image taken using a Nikon 180mm APO Process Lens. Single image, back-lit.




Craig

[beetleman]

Very nice Craig. I have never seen a fern with leaves like that ! How big are the leaves? The back lighting works very nice.

[augusthouse]

Hi Doug,
It is a maiden-hair fern (adiantum). The leaves are approximately 1" in diameter for this variety.

The lens was 37cm from the subject on a fully extended bellows and I also needed an additional bellows extension made from black cardboard. The image is uncropped.

The backlighting (trans-illumination) brought out the detail.

I suppose this shot gives us an ant's perspective.

Craig

[rjlittlefield]

Any chance we could see an actual-pixels crop, to really appreciate the detail that must be in this?

--Rik

[augusthouse]

Rik,
When I took this image I was looking at the lighting (trans-illumination) and "colour-fringing" (I'm not experienced enough to say I was looking for CA); and the focus was good enough for the intended purpose. The 'room' lights were on, so there was quite a bit of stray light passing through the area between subject and lens.

I wouldn't class it as a 'photograph' - more of a snapshot. I just liked the shadows. It's Andiatum peruvianum.







Craig

[augusthouse]

Here is another image taken with the same arrangement. Single image, uncropped.

It is an 'abstract' image (portion) of a butterfly wing. Cethosia cydippe (Red Lacewing).

To me, it has the appearance of a tree in a bushfire with daylight breaking through the dense smoke.

The gold wing vein does not normally display the characteristics as exhibited in the image, infact, there is no gold in it at all; however, with trans-illumination the light interacts with the wing veins. That is not just light that is shining through the vein, the molten-gold is a direct result of the interaction; which might go some way to explaining why I have been obsessed with having such a facilty (trans-illumination) in the gizmo I am building.

Craig