Inexpensive dark field adapter

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dmillard
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Inexpensive dark field adapter

Post by dmillard »

A quick and easy “dark field” adapter made from a solar cigarette lighter, readily available on eBay for just a few dollars (see for example here).

I removed the metal coil, and cut a plastic vial to reach the position at which the end of the cigarette would rest in the coil (the focus of the parabola). I stuck a small piece of black flocking material on the inside of the lighter, and glued a disc magnet on the convex base to provide a level support (a washer would work as well).

The image of the seed was taken with this setup using a combination of incident and dark field illumination.
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Castilleja sp., Mitutoyo 7.5X M Plan Apo, NEX 7

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Well how do you like that! Reminds me of an ascomycete, a morel.

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

Ingenious :). Now with a ring flash...
Chris R

Pau
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Post by Pau »

Nice and effective!
How do you illuminate the mirror?, maybe with a ring of light from the rear of the subject (what's called a Lieberkühn reflector)?
http://www.alanwood.net/photography/oly ... ctors.html
Pau

JH
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Post by JH »

Hi
Nice picture and thanks for the idea!

I like the black background. Did you get it this black when photographing, or was it necessary to darken it in post processing?

Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

dmillard
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Location: Austin, Texas

Post by dmillard »

Pau wrote:Nice and effective!
How do you illuminate the mirror?, maybe with a ring of light from the rear of the subject (what's called a Lieberkühn reflector)?
Thanks Pau. I used a pair of Novoflex Macrolight Plus lights, with Vivitar 183 flashes. See here
JH wrote:Nice picture and thanks for the idea!
I like the black background. Did you get it this black when photographing, or was it necessary to darken it in post processing?
Thanks Jörgen. The black disc resting in the concavity is cut from an extremely light-absorbent material, Doodlebug Design Beetle Black Crushed Velvet Cardstock, see here and here , so apart from retouching around the immediate edge of the seed, there was no need to darken the background.

Chris S.
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Post by Chris S. »

Very good and useful post, David! :D
Ken Ramos wrote:Reminds me of an ascomycete, a morel.
This is precisely what I thought. Do we both have morchellaceae on the brain?

--Chris S.

JH
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Post by JH »

dmillard wrote:
JH wrote:Nice picture and thanks for the idea!
I like the black background. Did you get it this black when photographing, or was it necessary to darken it in post processing?
Thanks Jörgen. The black disc resting in the concavity is cut from an extremely light-absorbent material, Doodlebug Design Beetle Black Crushed Velvet Cardstock, see here and here , so apart from retouching around the immediate edge of the seed, there was no need to darken the background.

Thank you very much for that information.
Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

cube-tube
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Post by cube-tube »

Bought!

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