Giemsa stain is supposed to stain the nuclei. Red blood cells don't have a nucleus. My technique has been to get a peripheral blood sample, smear it over the microscope slide, let it dry in air, fix in methanol, air dry, apply giemsa stain diluted 1 part to 10 (I have used lower dilutions) and leave for 15mins to 1 hour, rinse with tap water. I have tried variations on this spell.
The photo was taken with a phone looking down a compound microscope with total magnification about 400x. I apologise for the rubbish photo - the vignetting is probably due to me not getting the condenser set up properly. The many visible cells are red blood cells with typical toroidal shape, thick at the edges and thin in the middle. I cannot see anything that has taken up the stain.
Could anybody please offer constructive criticism and tell me what I am doing wrong, or whether I have false expectations?