Thanks all for the kind remarks!
harisA:
.It looks like a final stage mosquito larva .
That's what I first thought, But on a
mosquito pupa the breathing apparatus ("trumpets") are funnel shaped and open at the ends. In this pupa they are spindle shaped and closed at the top, which is characteristic of Chaoborid midges. (Of course I could be totally wrong! It escaped after emerging so I don't know!
)
Jörgen
Do you use a lid or do you take the pictures directly through the water surface?
No cover slip. I have a "well slide" that is made up of a washer glued to a 2x3" slide. I had just enough water in it to cover the pupa. Frankly, I was very surprised it stayed still long enough for me to eventually get the images for a stack.
I thought I would add a few images to show how this was illuminated, some might find it, or a derivation of it , useful.
I have a small apparatus I have been recently using for many subjects with the
MM-11 set-up I use for these shots. (It was also used with
dandelion shots recently posted). It is a hemisphere from a ping-pong ball glued to a small "pedestal" (plastic plumbing fixture). At the bottom of the hemisphere is a matte black disk for "darkfield" or a colored disk for a colored background (here I used a dark blue). For this "aquatic" subject the well slide was placed on top of the hemisphere, and the hemisphere surface was illuminated from underneath via several of the cheap Ikea lights. If I want to add some soft lighting from above (as was done in this image) I add a smaller spherical section on top (with a hole cut for the objective to see through). It seems to provide a "softer" darkfield look than I have been able to obtain before, and can provide a surprising amount of lighting variation depending on how the 3 Ikea lights are positioned. For most "dry" subjects I don't use a glass slide. I use large, thin, matte black painted washers with different hole sizes. The subject is mounted on these so that the area of interest is over the opening.
Very nice pic.
