Photographing Micros And Micro Id's

[collector]

Hi all. I acquired a Nikon SMZ-1B microscope and have been having fun looking at fossils with it. I also have a Sony a580 DSLR camera and have been attempting to take pictures and finding it challenging. The microscope did not come with a ring light but I have an old B&L variable spot light which has worked for looking at the fossils but I am wondering how much better a ring light would be especially for taking photos. The Nikon ring lights look more expensive than the microscope and will not be on my purchase list. I have used the live focus check feature on my camera which magnifies a portion of the window and you can fine tune the focus. That has helped some but the color is different using it so now I am taking a picture with it and then turning it off and taking another and seeing which looks better. There is also a feature on my camera I have tried where you can change the picture to what it would look like under different types of lighting and I also tried taking pictures holding an LED flashlight (very blue). I have a couple of pieces of Leicester pyrite with fish fossils on them and they are especially challenging to photograph. I have to go back and really lower the saturation on the pictures or they look like children have been playing with rainbow glitter. I was wondering what kind of techniques that other people are using to get clear photos.

I am including some pictures of the pyrite and a couple of others in shale hoping for some ID's. I have some guesses thanks to Karl Wilson's, "Field Guide to Devonian Fossils of New York" and website examples. Thank you Karl.

regards,

Patti

1 - chondrichthys

2 - chondrichthys

3 - ? fish plate

4 - chondrichthys

5 - Bryantodus

I will add others in next message.

[collector]

Here are some more of my microfossils.

Thanks for your input.

Patti

1 - Bryantodus

2 - Ligonodina

3 - fish plate

4 - unknown

5 - ostrocod Ponderodictya punctulifera

[collector]

A couple more. The ostracods and the last unknown are from Hamilton group shale.

Patti

1 - another Ponderodictya punctuliferous

2 - unknown This is from a small 2" piece of shale that has many lots of these most in pieces.

[Auspex]

Oooo...very good!

In a couple examples, a little more light wouldn't hurt, but you've got yourself a good tool

[collector]

Oooo...very good!

In a couple examples, a little more light wouldn't hurt, but you've got yourself a good tool

Thank you Auspex! I was thinking they weren't very good. I have to thank my husband for the microscope as he found it up for auction and went through 3 biding sessions to get it for me.

Patti

[Missourian]

Your pictures are excellent as they are, but you may eventually run into the problem of fossils being overexposed when on a dark background (assuming you can't adjust the brightness on the fly).

I had such problems with imaging conodonts on black shale:

My solution was to place light objects in the field of view to trick the camera's sensor:

Once it turns out as I like, I just crop the photo.

[collector]

Your pictures are excellent as they are, but you may eventually run into the problem of fossils being overexposed when on a dark background (assuming you can't adjust the brightness on the fly).

I had such problems with imaging conodonts on black shale:

post-6808-0-58966000-1381101768.jpg

My solution was to place light objects in the field of view to trick the camera's sensor:

post-6808-0-37819200-1381101770.jpg

Once it turns out as I like, I just crop the photo.

Thanks for the hint. I will try that.

Patti

[diddi]

patti, the feature I like in your photos is the depth of field. in my photos I have to take multiple slices at various focal lengths, then photoshop to get the whole image in focus. my equipment is nothing special, USB microscope 5MP capture.

so well done!

[ynot]

Hey Patti,

I think Your pictures are of good quality.

You may want a full spectrum light. I use a desk top reading lamp with a full spectrum incandescent light, some times with a LED lamp at the same time. Quite often I have to adjust the color or exposure to bring out the fossil, and make the photo look like the fossil does in sunlight, as much as possible.

I find the light rings to be to bright, and cause severe overexposure when taking pictures.

I have found it very hard to get a good picture of any metallic mineral such as pyrite.

Keep up the good work.

Tony

PS Those are some really cool fossils You have!!

[collector]

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions "diddi" and "ynot". I will look into getting a full spectrum lightbulb. I haven't taken many micro photos recently. I picked up a green river fish kit in Kemmerer, WY in the Spring when my husband and I were going cross country to try for fun. It really has been fun uncovering the fish and the microscope became an important tool in doing that. I spent many, many hours hunched over that scope! I did just find an unknown microfossil from a recent trip though so I will have to photograph and post that.

regards

Patti