Bread mould

[WojTek]

Hello everybody,

This time bread mould in partially polarised light:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/528 ... 9508_o.jpg

Best, ADi

[JayMcClellan]

That's really cool! Are the colors only from polarization or is it also stained?

[WojTek]

Hi Jay,
Nothing special but used a combination of partial polarisation
of transmitted light and obliquely reflected light.
Simply point an LED flashlight at a very oblique angle at the slide.
Best, ADi

[MarkSturtevant]

I really like this one! It grabs me as an appealing example abstract art, but made from recognizable objects. It's often the simple things that give a startling result that has the greatest artistic appeal.

[WojTek]

I really like this one! It grabs me as an appealing example abstract art, but made from recognizable objects. It's often the simple things that give a startling result that has the greatest artistic appeal.

Many thanks Mark!

[rjlittlefield]

WojTek, I keep coming back to puzzle over this image.

I am not aware of any way that polarization alone can produce colors like this with mold, and the appearance is quite similar to what is produced by traditional staining such as at https://us.vwr.com/store/product/888159 ... otes-slide .

Was your slide prepared by someone else, and if so can you ask them the process?

--Rik

[WojTek]

Hello Rik,

This is a very old slide from Bresser that came with the Biolam.
I cannot see any staining with the naked eye.
Neither with pure transmitted light nor with polarisation.
But with additional side reflected light it has become really colourful.

Best, ADi

[rjlittlefield]

Interesting -- thank you for the further information.

I do not recall hearing this effect described anywhere. It may be worth further investigation as an improved method of looking at stained slides, especially old ones.

--Rik

[WojTek]

Hello Rik,
enclosed you will find a picture of the slide:

Sorry for the quality. (taken and edited with a mobile phone)
Best, ADi

[Pau]

Hi Adi,
really I don't understand your technique with this picture. To me it looks like a good but typical bright field microscope image of a stained slide, and at your picture of the whole slide I think that I'm seeing the stained subjects (a low mag. macro picture could confirm it).

Could you gently explain what you did and if possible with images of the setup and the "pure transmitted light nor with polarisation" you said

[WojTek]

Hi Pau,

It looks like that:

1.) Transmitted light with polarisation
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=77 ... 0269581589

2.) Reflected light from the side (strong torch)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=29 ... 0269581589

BTW, I will take some photos of the slide.
Best, ADi

[rjlittlefield]

BTW, I will take some photos of the slide.

That would be great! I'm really curious what this slide looks like with transmitted illumination.

--Rik

[WojTek]

Hi Rik,
Yes, the colors are there, maybe a bit pale, but they are there.
With the sidelight I just lightened them a bit.

M6M2, DCR150, Mitu5x
Best, ADi

[rjlittlefield]

Yes, the colors are there, maybe a bit pale, but they are there.
With the sidelight I just lightened them a bit.

Unless you made a lot of change in post, that looks to me like a striking improvement from the illumination. It seems much more than "just lightened a bit".

--Rik

[WojTek]

Hi Rik,
I always have the polarizing and oblique filters on, but use the side lighting only sometimes.
For me, the sidelight brightened the colours more than the transmitted light.
This is probably due to my implementation of the transmitted light and the use of the two filters.

My way of illumination does not 100% correspond to the standards of microscopy :-)

Filters: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=47 ... 0269581589

Best, ADi