Cat Flea

PhilippeV · Post by **PhilippeV** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:05 pm

Hello everybody,

Here a picture of a very common cat flea. Own preparation. Stack of 24 pictures in Photoshop. Ortholux I and Eos 350D

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:09 pm

Dang no wonder they are scratching and yowling about, great shot there Philippe and a great prep. I tried to prepare a few slides back when I was in high school, boy was that a long time ago, but was never really good at it. Hey, welcome aboard Philippe, great post and good to have you here.

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:46 pm

Welcome Philippe!

Great photo!

Well guys, what you mean "prepare", how you prepare them?

With salad?

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:31 pm

Warm welcome Philippe

A beautifully clean, text book image and nicely arranged on the slide too.

Bruce

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:02 pm

Welcome aboard!

This is a very nice image indeed! But I am curious... "Stack of 24 pictures in Photoshop." Why Photoshop (manual stacking), instead of Helicon Focus or CombineZM (automatic stacking)?

--Rik

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:38 pm

Welkom Philippe!

A very beautiful image of a flea. Isn't it stitched? Fleas are sometimes a bit too big to take in one piece with the light microscope. And when you put several images together you can get a superb resolution!

Or can you stack in photoshop? I am looking forward to the answer!

Wim

PhilippeV · Post by **PhilippeV** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:55 pm

Hello everybody,

Thanks for your positive comment.

You are right Wim the picture is stitched. Sorry for my bad English. But some hairs on the body and the legs and the mouthparts were assembled in Photoshop to have everything in focus.

Philippe

PhilippeV · Post by **PhilippeV** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:24 pm

Hello again,

To “prepare” the flea I do it this way (suitable for little insects) :
-Fix in FAA (Formalin, Acetic Acid, Ethanol) : 1week
-Clear in NaOH 20% + a drop of NaOCl 10% : 1 week
-Wash in acetic acid 2% (plenty) and 3x in Water (plenty).
-Place in pure isopropyl alcohol: one day; redo this 3x with fresh alcohol.
-Place in isopropyl alcohol/ xylene 75/25: 3days
-Place in isopropyl alcohol/ xylene 50/50: 3days
-Place in isopropyl alcohol/ ylene 25/75: 3days
-Place in Xylene 100% : 3days
-Flatten specimen in a Petri dish with xylene 100%, covered with a cover slip on which was placed a little weight : one week
- Place specimen on a slide with one drop of Entellan, cover with a coverslip, place a little weight on it and let dry.
-Ready!

I hope you enjoy!

Philippe

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 4:45 pm

Philippe, thanks for the recipe.

But not sure I'll give it a try.

Flea Dog Biscuits Recipe

Makes about 5 dozen bone biscuits

1 cup flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brewer’s yeast (available at health-food stores)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
1 clove garlic, chopped medium
1/2 cup chicken stock plus 3 tablespoons for basting

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Mix flour, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a mixing bowl, combine oil and garlic. Alternately add 1/2 cup chicken stock and flour mixture in 3 parts; mix until well combined. Knead about 2 minutes by hand on floured surface; dough will be sticky.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out about 3/8 inch thick. Cut out bone shapes; place on prepared baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, rotate baking sheet, and baste with remaining 3 tablespoons chicken stock. Bake 10 minutes longer. Turn off oven, leaving oven door closed. Leave pan in oven for 1 1/2 hours longer.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:04 pm

Philippe, welcome to the forums. a very impressive photo..lots of detail. I would say your hard work has paid off.

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:43 pm

Phillipe, that is quite a recipe! I have made some insect samples like that some years ago. It is a lot of work but can give great results. For fleas, since they are quite flay you can also try clove oil. The disadvantage is that they will not become soft so you can't create a very flat slide but it clears the insects in a way that you will still see the muscles. And since the flea is flat enough you can make a slide with a ring.

Are you connected to the Antwerp Genootschap? They are very experienced slide makers!

I alo enjoyed your hydra images last month. Please keep posting!

Wim

Biologyben · Post by **Biologyben** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:26 pm

That is a very clean slide. I am impressed.

Did you remove artifacts in photoshop to give such a clear white field? Or is your slide, microscope, and sensor just that clean??

Beautiful.

PhilippeV · Post by **PhilippeV** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 3:47 pm

Thanks Wim, I will try clove oil for the next preparation. I am not connected to the “Antwerp Genootschap”, and I must confess, maybe you will not believe it but this is my first preparation of an insect.

Thanks Biologyben. This preparation was very clean and needed very few removals in Photoshop. My microscopes (Olympus BH2 and Leitz Ortholux I) are always very clean. The Eos 350 sensor too, it is cleaned regularly with Sensor Swab and Eclipse cleaning solution.

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:52 am

Philippe, than it would be nice top visit the Antwerp Genootschap. They do excellent work!

Yes, keeping your material clean is the key! That is to say, all the elements that are important to keep clean. Like the parts that will project in the image: the eye piece, some parts of the condensor.

When you have worked with analog photography you learn to make clean slides. With digital photography it is easy to remove artefacts from an image but it is much easier to avoid the artefacts!

Keep up the good work Philippe, with such first slides I can't wait to see the more advanced ones!

Wim

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:35 am

Phillipe,
I must agree with the others, both an excellent preparation and a flawless execution of the photography as well. Please do show us more images!