Snail egg, ready to "hatch"
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Charles Krebs
- Posts: 5865
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:02 pm
- Location: Issaquah, WA USA
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Snail egg, ready to "hatch"
I found four snail eggs attached to a small blade of grass. Two were empty, and two looked ready to enter the big bad world at any time. Here is one of the "unhatched"...
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Planapo
- Posts: 1585
- Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:33 am
- Location: Germany, in the United States of Europe
Wow, ... master stroke... again!
And I love it! Not only that it is highly informative and technically perfect but at the same time aesthetically highly appealing! Love these different shades of grey and brown... as in an aquarell painting.
And then the little feller who looks like peering cautiously out of his shell... just beautiful!
Anything on the technical details?... Please... pretty please!
BTW and honestly: Mr. Krebs, I thank you for sharing your gorgeous photos that have lured me to this board and for your generous teaching.
Best wishes.
Betty
And I love it! Not only that it is highly informative and technically perfect but at the same time aesthetically highly appealing! Love these different shades of grey and brown... as in an aquarell painting.
And then the little feller who looks like peering cautiously out of his shell... just beautiful!
Anything on the technical details?... Please... pretty please!
BTW and honestly: Mr. Krebs, I thank you for sharing your gorgeous photos that have lured me to this board and for your generous teaching.
Best wishes.
Betty
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Charles Krebs
- Posts: 5865
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:02 pm
- Location: Issaquah, WA USA
- Contact:
Thanks for the kind remarks!
Olympus BHS w/DIC lighting
Electronic flash for exposure
Olympus 10/0.40 D Plan Apo UV objective
Olympus NFK 1.67X photo-eyepiece
(the DIC intermediate piece gives an additional 1.25X magnification)
When the little snail was positioned "nicely" I took 4 or 5 shots as fast as possible, changing the focus from top to bottom. They were layered in Photoshop. One image became the "base" image, and provided about 80% of what you see (all of the the egg casings and the rim of the shell). Details from two other images were used to complete the upper portion of the shell, and details from another image were needed to complete the "face". This is an example of a situation where using image stacking software (such as Helicon Focus or CombineZ) would have provided a much inferior image, so it was done manually.
Charlie
Betty... it was taken with the following set-up:Anything on the technical details?... Please... pretty please!
Olympus BHS w/DIC lighting
Electronic flash for exposure
Olympus 10/0.40 D Plan Apo UV objective
Olympus NFK 1.67X photo-eyepiece
(the DIC intermediate piece gives an additional 1.25X magnification)
When the little snail was positioned "nicely" I took 4 or 5 shots as fast as possible, changing the focus from top to bottom. They were layered in Photoshop. One image became the "base" image, and provided about 80% of what you see (all of the the egg casings and the rim of the shell). Details from two other images were used to complete the upper portion of the shell, and details from another image were needed to complete the "face". This is an example of a situation where using image stacking software (such as Helicon Focus or CombineZ) would have provided a much inferior image, so it was done manually.
Charlie
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discomorphella
- Posts: 608
- Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:26 pm
- Location: NW USA
It's a great shot Charlie, I never realized how small "hatchling" snails are. Something else to look for as spring approaches in the Oregon coast range. Do you recall what kind of plant were these attached to? I'd really like to try sectioning one (I know, its the worst kind of molluscide, sectioning baby snails...). Again, fantastic shot. How many microns thick do you estimate the egg was?
--David
--David
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Charles Krebs
- Posts: 5865
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:02 pm
- Location: Issaquah, WA USA
- Contact:
Hi David,
Doing some checking I would say that the egg width shown here is about 850 micron (.85mm, left to right). It was found on some decaying "grasses" that I had scooped up from the edge of the pond I usually sample.
Betty,
It would move around slowly within the egg and then occasionally "settle" for a few seconds before it moved again. I needed to stay with it for some time before it reached a "photogenic" position and held it long enough to get off the needed 4 or 5 shots. The interesting background shading was from the light passing through the light "tan/white" blade of dead grass to which the eggs were attached.
While it was photographed set up with DIC, the appearance through the eyepieces was extremely close when set up as oblique brightfield. At least with my setup, when DIC illumination passes through heavy debris or something like this grass blade it modifies the "look" and sometimes appears very much like oblique.
Doing some checking I would say that the egg width shown here is about 850 micron (.85mm, left to right). It was found on some decaying "grasses" that I had scooped up from the edge of the pond I usually sample.
Betty,
It would move around slowly within the egg and then occasionally "settle" for a few seconds before it moved again. I needed to stay with it for some time before it reached a "photogenic" position and held it long enough to get off the needed 4 or 5 shots. The interesting background shading was from the light passing through the light "tan/white" blade of dead grass to which the eggs were attached.
While it was photographed set up with DIC, the appearance through the eyepieces was extremely close when set up as oblique brightfield. At least with my setup, when DIC illumination passes through heavy debris or something like this grass blade it modifies the "look" and sometimes appears very much like oblique.
