Microscope pictures - photomicrographs

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The discussion centers around a series of microscope images showcasing recrystallized ascorbic acid and other substances, such as NH4 with perchloric acid and chloroplatinic acid. Participants express admiration for the images, highlighting the beauty of polarized light microscopy and its artistic potential. The conversation shifts to personal experiences with microscopy, including the use of petrological microscopes and the challenges of capturing quality images with older digital cameras compared to modern DSLRs. There is also a discussion about the techniques used in microscopy, such as differential interference contrast (DIC), and the aesthetic qualities of various samples, including minerals like mica and pyrite. Participants share their own microscopy images and reflect on the advancements in camera technology that enhance the ability to capture detailed microscopic images.
  • #31
edward said:
Fairly good pictures could be taken with an inexpensive fixed focus disposable film camera.

That's an excellent site, and serves to remind us that good pictures only require a good photographer!
 
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  • #32
Andy Resnick said:
Here's a few I took today, with my new camera (Sony a850). It's sitting on a Zeiss Ultraphot III, and all except one are taken using epi-DIC. The oddball is trans-DIC. All images were cropped and re-sized (I hope...). I also have a set of Luminars, and those images may appear someday.

This is a razor blade (8x):
Mica (4x):

I like the razor blade and Mica the best. Arg, why does your mica have pretty colours? I have analyzed mica under the microscope with crossed polars and have never seen it look like that. :frown:
 
  • #33
Not limited to optical microscopy, are we? Here's something a little different.

1t8wtf.png

That's an Atomic Force Microscope image I scanned a few months ago, showing a tiny gold electrode (250nm diameter, 50nm thick - patterned by e-beam lithography) deposited on a nanocrystalline oxide layer.
 
  • #34
~christina~ said:
I like the razor blade and Mica the best. Arg, why does your mica have pretty colours? I have analyzed mica under the microscope with crossed polars and have never seen it look like that. :frown:

Thanks!

Those images were taken using differential interference contrast (DIC). The colors come from something called a 'lambda plate'- those images are all 'exactly' what you see in the eyepiece.

Most people are familiar with trans-illumination DIC:

http://www.microscopyu.com/tutorials/java/phasedicmorph/

but these were all epi-illuminated. The razor blade image (and DIC in general) basically converts height information into color; I suppose the mica image is similar but don't really know- is mica birefringent?

Sir Michael Berry had a paper showing how to generate these really cool optical vortices and catastrophes with overhead transparencies... I have to find the exact paper, but you can easily make things like this:

http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/berry_mv/the_papers/berry347.pdf
http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/berry_mv/the_papers/berry355.pdf

Edit- here it is http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/berry_mv/the_papers/Berry303.pdf
 
  • #35
The Atomic Force Microscope image looks amazing, and I'd meant to say how nice Christina's images looked, too!