An Anther Releasing Its Pollen

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:46 pm

Leitz Ortholux microscope
4X Leitz projection eyepiece plus 1/3x relay lens

Image 1- 10X Olympus S Plan, 310 images at 2.5 micron increments. 15x on sensor.
Single anther with pollen grains and filaments.

Image 2- Leitz 6.3X Plan Apo, 75 images at .001" increments. 9.5x on sensor. FOV 2mm
All four anthers present in this blossom. The subject of image one is at the lower center of this image.

I got very lucky keeping the “wilt” movement under control long enough to get the deep stack in image number one. I have not been able to identify the plant that these images are made from. The pollen remind me of the vitamin E and fish oil capsules we humans ingest.

Walt

Diffused Fiber Optic illumination
Canon 50D
Zerene PMax and Photoshop processing.

Olympusman · Post by **Olympusman** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 8:09 am

Walt,
Very nice. I really love the first one. How are these lit?

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:33 am

I like these.

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 8:21 pm

Thank you gentlemen.
Olympusman, lighting is based on the light tent concept used in glassware photography but miniatureized for the stage. I have made some white plastic tubes that are placed around the subject then lit by two fiber optic guides. You want to avioid hot spots and shadows.
Walt