Grass flower and aphid

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JH
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Grass flower and aphid

Post by JH »

When I was taking studio photos of grass flowers I saw two aphids on a straw. At 10x the movements of the aphid were too large to get a clean stack. The last picture is a stack of frames cropped before stacking.

Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg

Canon MPE 65 approx. 1.5x and cropped
Image
Canon MPE 65 5X and cropped
Image
Mitutoyo 10x
Image
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

JH
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Post by JH »

White background

Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg


Image
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

Lovely captures, especially the white BG one.

A spell in the fridge (not freezer) seems to immobilise aphids for longer than it does with most other insects. I found this out by accident when I discovered an apparently dead aphid on an ivy berry one morning after a light ground frost. About an hour after bringing it in and stacking it, the aphid woke up and started strolling round the berry :shock:

JH
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Post by JH »

Beatsy wrote:Lovely captures, especially the white BG one.

A spell in the fridge (not freezer) seems to immobilise aphids for longer than it does with most other insects. I found this out by accident when I discovered an apparently dead aphid on an ivy berry one morning after a light ground frost. About an hour after bringing it in and stacking it, the aphid woke up and started strolling round the berry :shock:
:D

The temperature at a normal Swedish summer have a lot in common with the temperature in a fridge so I can probably just wait for the unusual warm May weather to pass.
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

razashaikh
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Post by razashaikh »

White background works for me. Great set.

JH
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Post by JH »

Thanks razashaikh

Detail:
Image

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

Troels
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Post by Troels »

Very nice.
Grases can be so amazing.
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
Visit my Flickr albums

JH
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Post by JH »

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

Rudi
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Post by Rudi »

Very nice indeed. My favourite is the 'complete' flower with the white background, maybe because nothing is cut off here.
Love also the last detailed shot !!
Always looking at the bright side of life,
Kr, Rudi

JH
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Post by JH »

Thanks Rudi

Here is a more complete one with the black background.

Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg

Image
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

Another nice stack. But I still think "white is the new black" for this subject :)

JH
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Post by JH »

Beatsy wrote:Another nice stack. But I still think "white is the new black" for this subject :)
Thanks Beatsy!
Plant studiostacks are a race against time - every thing moves. The white set up was the one I wanted to do and had prepared. The first white stack came out OK, therefore had time for another stack. I agree that the white one is ”better” than the black one - but I am not sure that white is the absolute best in this case.
Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

JH wrote:...Plant studiostacks are a race against time - every thing moves.
You're not kidding! I found that out the hard way - getting really bad stacks and not understanding why at first. Do you do anything to keep the plants fresh and still? I use 2ml centrifuge tubes with water in as "mini vases". That helps a lot. It's the light that catches me out most these days. It can cause flowers to open or close, or if it's directional (to get nice shadows) some plants will turn towards it. Lively little beggars, these plants :)

JH
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Post by JH »

Beatsy wrote:
JH wrote:Do you do anything to keep the plants fresh and still? I use 2ml centrifuge tubes with water in as "mini vases". That helps a lot. It's the light that catches me out most these days. It can cause flowers to open or close, or if it's directional (to get nice shadows) some plants will turn towards it. Lively little beggars, these plants :)

Tubes as mini vases is a great idea!

My set up is vertical. The grass was free hanging horizontally - probably worst case. Laying on glass ads a few minutes. For higher magnification of tiny flowers I use a small petri dish, I cut a slit in a cotton swab, ad some water to the cotton place the flower on the cotton and the stalk in the slit. Then I arrange the picture, turn on the leds ad the diffuser etc. After that I wait - a lunch break is usually enough - before stacking. If I want to photograph stomata and trichome I use a water dipping lens. Water dipping works for hours.

Water dipping http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=36982

Edit: Pictures on glass [not: First picture on glass the second and third water dipping]; http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=37092

In cotton; http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=20494

Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Last edited by JH on Sun Jul 01, 2018 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

The water dipping lens looks a great solution - never thought of that. Won't work on my horizontal rig of course, and the only (multi) immersion objective I have is 40/0.9 - so limited to serious close-up. But I've never tried the setting for just water (no coverslip). I think I'll be trying it fairly soon now :) Thanks for the links.

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