Butterfly scales (images added +)

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:25 pm

Craig Gerard wrote: The first image....which area of the Papilio blumei wing are we looking at?
Craig

The tail.

Rogelio

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:05 am

RogelioMoreno wrote:
Chris S. wrote: Can you tell us what kind of butterfly it is?
--Chris
It is Papilio blumei.

Rogelio

Thanks, Rogelio. I was not aware of this species (and don't know much about insects in general); it looks like an interesting one to study.

--Chris

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:46 am

Rogelio,

You are capturing some of the very suble shades of iridescence in these two particular wings, which is inherent, but most difficult to capture with a camera. I'm attempting to work out just how you are doing that....the darker scales do not appear to be 'black', are you applying some type of treatment in post production?

Another possibility which comes to mind is that the representation of the colour is a consequence of the colour temperature or colour spectrum of the LED illumination which may be revealing shades of iridescence normally veiled, to some extent, by other forms of illumination...?

Craig

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:41 am

Craig Gerard wrote: You are capturing some of the very suble shades of iridescence in these two particular wings, which is inherent, but most difficult to capture with a camera. I'm attempting to work out just how you are doing that....the darker scales do not appear to be 'black', are you applying some type of treatment in post production?
Craig

Craig,

What darker scales do not appear to be black? Let me know to check if it is artifact from the stacking software (not retouched yet).

Rogelio

curt0909 · Post by **curt0909** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:54 am

Excellent work. Great color and detail.

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:36 pm

Rogelio,

What caught my attention were the differences, especially colour variations, when comparing images of such wings taken using LED illumination as opposed to other traditional forms of illumination. As an example, compare the shades of iridescence in your 50X image to image #3 by Charlie at the link below:
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=8114

When I first saw your images I was surprised by the representation of the various shades of iridescence and when attempting to discern how you were achieving such results I decided to compare images taken under different lighting conditions. Tungsten delivers an alternate result to LED, or to put it another way, the iridesence of the wings behaves differently under alternate light sources. This is why I asked about the darker scales and post-production because I was in the process of attempting to emulate your results.

To put this in some perspective (I hope); when photographing various mineral samples many of them do not respond well to LED, the colours keep their secrets looking flat and 'washed out'; but with your wing images LED appears to be delivering the opposite effect, it is revealling shades of iridesence not usually visible under tungsten light.

Craig

*edit: typo

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 5:59 pm

Craig,

I see what you are talking about, Charlie image was taken with EPI dark field illumination so the illuminations are different. I like the details of the papilio blumei's scales, I can see some kind of spiral.

Thank you.

Rogelio

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:25 pm

Rogelio,

As noted, Charlie's image was taken with a scope and vertical illuminator; I included the link to the image for reference (it was the first image that came to mind).

I've been taking photographs of P. ulysses and P. blumei and I am seeing similar comparisons with regard to the reaction of the iridescence to either LED or tungsten illumination; this is the point I am attempting to highlight.

In particular, your P. ulysses @ 50X is possibly the best representation I have seen to date.

Some related information: (PDF 2.6MB)
http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/fullte ... &id=213438

Craig

*edit: included additional comment.

dmillard · Post by **dmillard** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:49 pm

Rogelio -

Wonderful colors and textures!

David

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:24 am

curt0909 and David,

Thank you for your comments.

Rogelio

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:10 pm

Here is the ZS version of the 50x P. ulysses:

In my opinion this version has better details.

Rogelio

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:32 pm

Here is a image of P. ulysses taken with the 20x/0.4:

Full frame:

Crop:

Rogelio

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:45 pm

Excellent detail!

Craig

curt0909 · Post by **curt0909** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:22 am

That last one is unbelievable. I could look at these all day.

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:30 am

great photos