Diatom, Algae and Stentor Ciliate

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:09 am

For those wondering, GTF is simply an abbreviation for the location where I collected these specimens. Oh by the way - Charles, the stentor ciliate photos were taken at ISO3200 - something the 600D would never achieve with that little noise. A good example where my setup without flash benefits from the 6D's larger sensor and my ability to crank up the ISO to try and stop motion on the cirri.

20140531-DSLR_IMG_0037-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
GTF - diatom,60x/1.2x*1.25, DIC, HF B

20140531-DSLR_IMG_0104.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
GTF - Stentor ciliate,40x, DIC

20140531-DSLR_IMG_0105.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
GTF - Stentor ciliate,40x, DIC

20140531-DSLR_IMG_0117-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
GTF algae,20x, DIC, HF B

20140531-DSLR_IMG_0224-Edit.jpg by pwnell, on Flickr
GTF algae,60x/1.2, POL, HF A

_Michal_ · Post by **_Michal_** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 12:14 pm

Great, as always

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 12:21 pm

first image marvel

arturoag75 · Post by **arturoag75** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:35 pm

Great...i' m impressed by your 60x water obj.

Marek Mis · Post by **Marek Mis** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:19 am

Very nice images. The quality of the first one is incredible !

By the way, what factors suggest you to choose HF "A" or "B" ? What does it depend on ?

Marek

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 4:14 am

Nice set!

The noise on the 6D is lower than 600D?

Rogelio

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:11 am

arturoag75 wrote:Great...i' m impressed by your 60x water obj.

Thanks, me too. The big thing about the water objective is that I can use it all the time and get much greater resolution than with the 40/0.95 alone. Unlike the 60x/1.35 which is technically better (for ideal samples and 0.17mm coverslips) but for which I need to use oil which makes a huge mess.

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:13 am

Marek Mis wrote:Very nice images. The quality of the first one is incredible !

By the way, what factors suggest you to choose HF "A" or "B" ? What does it depend on ?

Thanks Marek,

By now I am quite tuned to which method works best for which kind of illumination. HF B works best most of the time, especially for DIC. HF A works best when there are bright highlights or a challenging subject. HF C works best for fluorescence. But the rule is not set. My approach is per above, and if the result is not what I want I'll try the other methods and pick the best.

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:14 am

RogelioMoreno wrote:Nice set!

The noise on the 6D is lower than 600D?

Thanks. Yes, by quite a large margin. With the 600D (APS-C) at ISO 3200 the noise would have destroyed much of the cirri on the ciliate's body. With the 6D (Full Frame) the details are all still there.

TasMan · Post by **TasMan** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 5:16 am

These are great pwnell, I especially like the one of the diatom. I have a "newby" question though, how do you get the backgrounds so uniform and clean? Is it done in post? If so do you have any tips how to do it well? I seem to end up with a lot of distraction in the background of my photos that is nearly impossible to get rid of :-)

vasselle · Post by **vasselle** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 6:14 am

Very nice photos

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:36 am

TasMan wrote:These are great pwnell, I especially like the one of the diatom. I have a "newby" question though, how do you get the backgrounds so uniform and clean? Is it done in post? If so do you have any tips how to do it well? I seem to end up with a lot of distraction in the background of my photos that is nearly impossible to get rid of :-)

Thanks. It depends on the subject. For instance, the ciliates I barely did anything to the background - that is pretty much directly from the camera. Same with the diatom - I did not touch the background. But the algae DIC photo had lots of disturbing elements - especially caused by small swimming protists that wreaks havoc with the stacking algorithms so there I cleaned the background in post.

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 8:07 pm

Very nice!