A Closer Look
"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain." -- Henry David Thoreau
This is the Journal version. If you want to see images only, please click here:
http://hermitdog.com/microscope/images.htm
At age seventy-five and a half, I knew I needed to find a new learning edge.
Poser compositions and Java programming (both personal obsessions for years) were getting stale.
I considerd astronomy, then remembered how cold the winter nights can get and that merely tilting my head
backwards triggers sudden vertigo that topples me if I don't immediately grab something stable
and look at the ground.
2018's April nighttime temps regularly fell to the mid-20's,
so I thought some challenging night-or-day indoor hobby would be best.
Then I bought a microscope, and here it is:
[right-click on any thumbnail image; then "open in new tab"]
A biologist friend had recently introduced me to "phase contrast,"
and I'd done enough on-line research to know the hardware "essentials"
and this mid-range priced scope had them all. Since I intended to make still photos and videos of my work,
I also bought this 14 MP microscope camera:
It took days for me to learn enough of the microscope/camera's technology to get 'closer looks' good enough
to begin a permanent collection of images. My first project involved a misadventured wasp that I found crawling
pathetically on my living room floor. When the insect finally died at the bottom of the open glass I'd collected it in,
I began observing one of its feet at four magnification levels:
[right-click on any thumbnail image and "Open in new tab" to enlarge it]
The last of those images is actually a composite of 99 "stacked" photos - each taken at a precise distance
from the most distant point in the focal depth, stepping forward until the closest in-focus image has been found.
The software that makes this otherwise impossible view possible is Helicon Focus.
I highly recommend it to all photographers or microbe hunters who wish to share their work.
It took me a couple of days to get the phase contrast condenser occuli adjusted;
then I realized that phase contrast is primarily for viewing the internal details of transparent specimens
(and my wasp's foot was not transparent - so I switched all of the phase contrast objectives
and condenser back to the regular ones.)
Here's the Helicon Focus image:
As of April 9th, I am two weeks into my microsopic adventures.
Every new specimen offers surprises.
( What non-entomologist would have guessed that the feet of insects bear claws
or that wasps' wings have barbs? )
Then a hapless stinkbug landed near me.
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_marmorated_stink_bug )
After it took a quick dip in a capful of alcohol and had dried sufficiently,
I looked at its foot and compared it with the wasp's:
I then discovered that the stinkbug has four wings - two outer, more opaque ones
and two inner, more transparent ones:
Among the many things I learned quickly was that higher magnification
(40x or higher) is sometimes less preferable than lower magnification.
High magification reduces the visible area of the specimen,
reduces the depth of field (how much is in focus), and may create focusing challenges
including deciding exactly what to focus on.
UPDATE: APRIL 19, 2020
I've just received an email from "Jenn" - who gave me this link about non-chemical stinkbug control
https://happydiyhome.
Thank You, Jenn!
- - - - -
Helicon Focus eliminates much of the problem but also takes more time,
since each "stacked" layer must be "captured," saved, and processed.
There are many fine online galleries featuring Helicon Focus microphotography.
Here is one of them: http://www.fotofind.eu/fauna/mikrofauna/
I've also discovered that exploring different options with both
microscope and software can yield dramatically different results.
Here are some of my explorations with stinkbug antennae and "knee" joints:
April 15, 2018 -- Rainy Sunday
This morning I'd almost decided to send the scope back for a refund.
The phase contrast wasn't working, and the videos I made were jerky and dark.
I began today's adventures by turning the scope around on the table,
giving me easier access to both the stage and the turret holding phase contrast annuli.
I quickly discovered that this small change made everything easier: mounting slides,
focusing, changing the stage's x, y, and z locations, and adjusting the brightness
of the halogen illuminator bulb.
I took another stab at installing the entire phase contrast system and finally
got all of the annuli centered precisely - so it became a phase contrast afternoon using available indoor subjects:
Epithelial cells from inside cheek:
A drop of "clear" rainwater:
Mold spores from something OLD in the fridge (no more):
For comparison, a non-phase contrast shot of the same spores:
April 17, 2018 - Cold, blustery, waiting-for-the-surveyor-who-never-came day:
Quickie question for arachnologists: How many "knee" joints does a spider have?
Spiders, being arachnids, have eight legs; each of which has four segments connected by three joints.
Therefore, spiders have 24 "knees." I spent today looking at one of them:
April 19, 2018 - A Minor Success
Honeysuckle
Memorial Day Weekend - Swamp in a Bowl
I noticed that the potted coleus plants on my entrance steps were putting out flowers, so . . .
(I couldn't find stamens or pollen.)
A few days ago, I collected tree lichen, bark, and moss and put them into a bowl with rainwater - hoping to find tardigrades (aka, "water bears" - earth's hardiest living animal.) I didn't find any (yet), but I did find a lot of Stellate trichomes:
...and a vorticella:
I also found an underwater plant with leaves only one cell thick: 
Surely, those would be invisible to the naked eye.
Every pipette water sample from the swamp-in-a-bowl teems with life, such as this [dying?] rotifer:
( 3 minutes) http://hermitdog.com/microscope/Rotifer.mp4
and this more frisky one: http://hermitdog.com/microscope/Rotifer_May27_2018.mp4
Memorial Day - While hunting in vain for tardigrades, I came upon this critter and made a video of it:
2-minute video:
http://hermitdog.com/microscope/Onychodromos grandis.mp4
June 1st - Friday - First Tick of 2018
Video of the Tick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmXYbUzvrUs
While waiting for YouTube to upload and process that video, I made a list of nine software programs I use to make each still image, and here it is:
AmScope 3.7 - camera software for capturing the microscope's images
Helicon Focus - stacking and rendering various depth of field levels
SnagIt - to capture the image Helicon makes
Paintshop Pro - to erase spots and dirt on the image
Windows 10's image editor and enhancer
SnagIt, again - capture the Windows 10 image and add a label
Thumbs Plus - reduce size to 100 pixel width for web page thumbnails
Filezilla - upload all images and thumbnails to hermitdog.com
Microsoft's Expression Web - to make web pages like this one
Feeling like you could use a break from the micro-world?
Why not try this MACRO-world parody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlzVp6g5e8o&list=RDKcehlTQs1og&index=29
Five hours later, the tick was still alive, so I made a shorter, brighter, better-focused vid with background music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX6oj8JtzHo&feature=youtu.be
June 3 - Sunday: Three days ago I received a new 60x AmScope objective. I'd been so preoccupied with the tick that I'd not gotten around to trying out this new objective until today, After looking in vain, once again, for tardigrades,
I looked at my collection of old dependables, this time a fly foot:
Queen Anne's Lace
Darkfield
Rather than pay AmScope $90 for their darkfield condenser ( https://www.amscope.com/dry-darkfield-condenser-for-compound-microscopes.html ),
I built a darkfield filter of my own with a nickel centered in a clear piece of plastic. Here's a vorticella I found on my very first darkfield excursion:
http://hermitdog.com/
Of course, I'm now spending a lot of time exploring the darkfield world (and still looking for tardigrades.)
Here are two creatures I found this afternoon. I've identified these "unknown creatures" as Didinia (2 minutes):
http://hermitdog.com/Unknown_creatures.mp4
The one on the right appears different and moves differently from any vorticella I've observed before - (not that I've seen a lot of them.)
In a separate water sample, I found another Didinium and made this video (2 minutes):
http://hermitdog.com/Unidentified_creature_1.mp4
Neck:
Midsection:
Tails:
Wednesday, June 21, 2018: This morning I brought back a white morning glory:
Sunday, July 1, 2018 - Another hot, humid day. I stepped outside to pick a wild lily and some driveway moss:
Thursday, July 19, 2018 - I spend an afternoon with a gnat
