Triceratium sp. A view inside and out in one image.

[Beatsy]

The scene was constructed to simultaneously show the view from "inside" as a reflection. I'm rather pleased how it turned out. A 300-image stack shot with a 50x mitty running 33.75x onto crop mode sensor.

[Sym P. le]

I like it. The perspective and setting is very informative.

[Smokedaddy]

How did you setup for that?

[Olympusman]

Wonderful shot.

Mike

[Sumguy01]

Amazing.
Thanks for sharing.

[Troels]

I really like when an extreme macro photo looks as if an ordinary 0.02 mm tall photographer has taken an picture with his ordinary 0.001 mm big camera. No problems, just a good photo.

[Beatsy]

I really like when an extreme macro photo looks as if an ordinary 0.02 mm tall photographer has taken an picture with his ordinary 0.001 mm big camera. No problems, just a good photo.

Troels, you have absolutely made my day! Thanks for that comment. In one short phrase you described *exactly* the core goal within all my photography, but the high mag stuff in particular (because it's harder to do). I wouldn't have phrased it quite that way - but I think I might in future

The "...just a good photo" part is key. A little background: I have a deep and ongoing (but wholly good-natured) disagreement with a friend at our camera club. He says I should make sure people know that the "thing in the picture" is only a quarter of a millimetre tall so that they are completely wowed. Etc, etc. I strongly disagree. They must first be wowed by the picture *alone*. It doesn't matter if they never figure out it was something microscopic - if they like the picture, it worked. But it really is the icing on the cake when they do know (or learn) the scale involved.

Anyway - thanks again. It may only be confirmation bias on my part, but it feels nice when someone else "gets it" too!

Cheers
Beats

[Beatsy]

Thanks everyone for your comments - appreciated as always.

How did you setup for that?

The stack is standard stuff, 50x mitty on a rail. The diatom prep was pretty straightforward too. I just stuck it to a small glass bead melted onto the end of a capillary tube and bunged that in front of the mitty.

[rjlittlefield]

The stack is standard stuff, 50x mitty on a rail. The diatom prep was pretty straightforward too. I just stuck it to a small glass bead melted onto the end of a capillary tube and bunged that in front of the mitty.

I love it! "Standard stuff", "pretty straightforward", but describing a result that 15 years ago would have been a heroic effort if even conceivable. This is why I sink so much time into supporting photomacrography.net.

--Rik

[Pau]

The "...just a good photo" part is key. A little background: I have a deep and ongoing (but wholly good-natured) disagreement with a friend at our camera club. He says I should make sure people know that the "thing in the picture" is only a quarter of a millimetre tall so that they are completely wowed. Etc, etc. I strongly disagree. They must first be wowed by the picture *alone*. It doesn't matter if they never figure out it was something microscopic - if they like the picture, it worked. But it really is the icing on the cake when they do know (or learn) the scale involved.

I only partially agree: I'm familiar with Triceratium and I find the picture absolutely amazing, although without a sense of the scale -and of the difficulty of imaging it with glass optics- the image alone would be just good: imagine that it was an ashtray on a gift store shelf

[Beatsy]

The "...just a good photo" part is key. A little background: I have a deep and ongoing (but wholly good-natured) disagreement with a friend at our camera club. He says I should make sure people know that the "thing in the picture" is only a quarter of a millimetre tall so that they are completely wowed. Etc, etc. I strongly disagree. They must first be wowed by the picture *alone*. It doesn't matter if they never figure out it was something microscopic - if they like the picture, it worked. But it really is the icing on the cake when they do know (or learn) the scale involved.

I only partially agree: I'm familiar with Triceratium and I find the picture absolutely amazing, although without a sense of the scale -and of the difficulty of imaging it with glass optics- the image alone would be just good: imagine that it was an ashtray on a gift store shelf

Oh sure - I didn't mean to say this image was a "wow" on it's own. It isn't, but the audience here is well aware of the scale and the difficulties making it - so it gets a "lift" from that. I meant images presented to the general public, exhibition or book or just prints etc.

Edit: and that's what I'm aiming for. One day. This image *is* a stepping stone in that direction - for me.

[Beatsy]

The stack is standard stuff, 50x mitty on a rail. The diatom prep was pretty straightforward too. I just stuck it to a small glass bead melted onto the end of a capillary tube and bunged that in front of the mitty.

I love it! "Standard stuff", "pretty straightforward", but describing a result that 15 years ago would have been a heroic effort if even conceivable. This is why I sink so much time into supporting photomacrography.net.

--Rik

Haha. Sorry, I didn't mean to be flippant about it, but thanks to your much-appreciated efforts and input from so many other contributors on this site, a lot of these things have become simply routine now. Took 7 years to get there though. Slow learner...

[rjlittlefield]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be flippant about it

No worries -- I did not read flippancy, just acknowledgement that, as you say, a lot of these things have become simply routine now. It's been great fun, and very rewarding, to watch the evolution.

--Rik