Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

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seta666
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Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

Post by seta666 »

Hi,

I an working in a project that involves taking pictures of some small beetles. The samples I have been given have been in alcohol for a long time (years).

I am having trouble with a Trechus sp. (3mm long) I can get back the eye's colour with decon90, but it does not hold enough to finish the stack. This is at 20x (300+ pictures stack), light comes from led cobs.

I may try to run the eye's stack first and then the whole insect but I would love a solution that could hold the colour long enough to end the stack in one go.

Any tips welcome

Javier

Bob-O-Rama
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Re: Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

Post by Bob-O-Rama »

I have some stupid questions, so forgive me. So essentially the subject is drying out and the cuticle surface is hazy, so you are keeping it moist and glossy to maintain its "true" color? Perhaps you can shoot it while submerged? Or increase the humidity so that it doesn't dry out, like surrounding it with a wet sponge. Also, maybe add a humectant, like glycerine? This is added to soapy films to keep the bubbles from evaporating as fast. It is soluble in alcohol so easy to remove, should not harm much of anything.

seta666
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Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:50 am
Location: Castellon, Spain

Re: Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

Post by seta666 »

This crop of a partial stack shows the problem; diluted Decon 90 restores the eye colour back to black, but it will not hold enough to end the stack.

Image

I do not want the insect to be wet during the stack, normally this is not necessary but this bettle being small makes it a bit more challenging.

I will try to stack the eyes first and then the whole insect, then merge both stacks in PS.

Adalbert
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Re: Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

Post by Adalbert »

Hello Javier,
What about the distance between the COB LEDs and the subject?
Have you tried using a flash yet?
I can imagine that the high temperature can accelerate the drying of the eyes.
Best, ADi

seta666
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Location: Castellon, Spain

Re: Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

Post by seta666 »

The leds are around 10cm/4" away fom subject, the diffuser are way closer (1cm/1/2" or so). The head is less than a mm wide, it is difficult for it to hold humidity for a 300+ image stack. Just running a test stacking the eyes first and then running the whole stack. I will see what comes from it

MarkSturtevant
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Re: Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

Post by MarkSturtevant »

There is this trick, but I don't know if any color restoration really lasts a long time.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=36652&p=228191#p228191
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

quenoteam
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Re: Advice needed in recovering colour from dry insects and making it last

Post by quenoteam »

You can try Biotrue lens cleaning fluid. A few hours submerged sometimes manages to restore the color of the eyes of some insects long enough, although it does not work the same with all

https://www.amazon.es/Biotrue-Soluci%C3 ... B008EU828K

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