The microscopic world under the microscope: discovering the beauty that cannot be seen by the naked eye

You might notice tiny water droplets or microorganisms on the surface of a leaf after it has rained, but with access to a microscope, you enter a whole new world where those insignificant droplets contain a unique universe filled with life and secrets.

Some people use microscopes to observe butterfly scales, others use them to observe fruit flies, tears under different emotions, the shape of each snowflake, and carrot skins. Some people even magnify a hair 10,000 times and take a photo under an electron microscope...

Coral fleece pajamas under a microscope, source: Internet

Today, I will take you into the world of microscopes and let you discover those tiny and beautiful scenes that we cannot see in our daily lives.

1. How is microscope photography achieved?

Speaking of microscopes, everyone must have used them, that is, using a microscope to observe onion slices in middle school.

The microscope was invented by the Dutch in the late 16th century. The Janssens stacked two glass convex pieces to look at the church tower and found that the rooster sculpture on it was several times larger than before. The real application value of the microscope was realized by another Dutchman, Leeuwenhoek, who used a homemade microscope to become the first person to discover microorganisms.

So how does a microscope take photos?

There are two ways. The first is to take photos behind the eyepiece. First, see a clear picture in the microscope, then point the camera lens to the microscope eyepiece, use the automatic mode, and shoot with autofocus. The second is to directly remove the camera lens, remove the microscope eyepiece, and then connect the camera and microscope together through a simple device.

Because microscopes need to magnify objects to a large multiple and have a long focal length, the depth of field of the objects photographed is very shallow. Depth of field refers to the range in which a photo can maintain a clear focus, which determines which parts of the foreground, middle ground and background of the photo can remain clear and which parts will gradually become blurred. If you want to use a microscope to take clear photos of objects from front and back, you need to use an electronic control device to take dozens or even thousands of photos focused on different planes. Later, the clear parts can be combined into a full depth of field picture through software.

2. Microscopic beauty captured by microscope

1. Animals

The hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko embryo, which is about 3 mm long and collected over two days, with about 200G of data. The photographer used cyan to highlight the gecko's nerves, while the bones, tendons, ligaments, skin and blood cells were dyed in a range of warmer colors, and when you zoom in on an area, it reveals how the structure is organized at the cellular level. This work won the 2022 Nikon "Small World Photography Contest" championship.

Photographers GRIGORII TIMIN AND MICHEL MILINKOVITCH and an adult Madagascar giant day gecko

The feathery texture of a shrimp's tail. These long, thin structures twist and wiggle to generate propulsion, allowing shrimp to swim quickly to escape predators or catch prey. Photo by Caren Alpert

2. Plants

To measure the length of pollen tubes, the photographer took this fluorescence microscope photo of a pollen tube growing through the pistil of an Arabidopsis thaliana plant.

Photographer Jan Martinek shares the charm of microscope photography: even in seemingly mundane objects and specimens, microscope photography can reveal another level of complexity and beauty.

Arabidopsis may not be something most people have heard of, but it is very common in the field of plant research and is widely used in plant genetics, cell biology, molecular biology and other research. Most of the research on plants started with it. In 2022, Arabidopsis thaliana was launched into space on the Shenzhou 15 spacecraft and successfully experienced flowering and fruiting on the space station.

Arabidopsis thaliana source: Baidu Encyclopedia

“Trichomes (white appendages) and stomata (purple pores) on a Southern Live Oak leaf”

Photographer Jason Kirk used 60x magnification and stacked more than 200 different images to get an in-depth look at the structure inside an oak leaf. This image shows three different structures: stomata (purple), trichomes (white), and veins (blue). A simple oak leaf contains unusual beauty and complexity.

Southern live oak, a common tree in Texas, United States Image source: Wikipedia

3. Medical

Yellow River Water 2020 Subject: Undecalcified bone and fibrous tissue grinding. Photographer: Li Tiejun, Vice Dean, Peking University School of Stomatology, Professor of Oral Pathology

Undecalcified bone and fibrous tissue slices are usually derived from human bone tissue. They are often used in medical and biological research to study bone tissue structure, morphology, or pathology.

Bones, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and teeth can also be transformed into the boundless universe, vast wasteland, and mysterious lakes under a microscope...

Melatonin Crystals

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the brain that helps you fall asleep. It is also usually taken in pill form to give the body an extra boost of rest. This image is from the microscope photography collection "Science is Beautiful", author Colin Salter, which shows cells, microorganisms, etc. through an artistic eye.

4. Others

Some photographers have also pointed microscopes at things in daily life, such as coffee grounds, film, snowflakes, salt, etc. The following are tears captured by Mikkers under a microscope in different situations:

The tears you get when you yawn are like vines lying randomly on the ground

The tears of joy are like a beautiful snow scene

The photographer Mikkers first used a micropipette to collect the tears near the eyes. Then he dropped the collected tears onto a microscope slide. After waiting for a while for the crystals in the tears to settle, the true appearance of the tears could finally be photographed.

Mikkers used many methods to make people cry to prove the differences in tears. There are three basic types of tears: basic tears, reflex tears and emotional tears. Different types of tears have slightly different molecular compositions. For example, reflex tears are mainly tears that flow out of the eyes due to foreign particles irritating the eyes, such as onions, tear gas and pepper spray. These tears are mainly to wash away these irritants that come into contact with the eyes.

3. Can ordinary people take photos under a microscope?

After seeing the images captured by professionals using a microscope above, I believe you must also have the urge to observe objects with a microscope. So, can ordinary people take photos with a microscope?

The answer is: Yes.

Simple version:

Buy a mobile phone with microscope photography function. You can choose the magnification, such as 20x, 40x, 60x, etc. Microscope photography is as simple as taking daily photos. Pillows, sofas, and express boxes can all become objects of observation under the microscope.

Advanced version:

First, buy a microscope. A cheaper one can be bought online for just a few hundred yuan.

Prepare the sample for observation. The sample will usually be fixed, stained, or labeled to enhance the visibility of details.

Adjust microscope parameters, including magnification, focus, brightness, contrast, etc., to ensure that the microscope is in the best condition to obtain clear images.

Photographic equipment connection: Connect the camera to the microscope.

Focus: You need to fine-tune the focus to bring the sample into the clearest state.

Exposure setting: According to the light intensity and sample characteristics, set the appropriate exposure time and aperture size to ensure that the image brightness and contrast are moderate.

Framing and recording: Capturing an image using a camera or computer software. Often multiple images with different focal points or areas are taken and then combined into a clear image.

Post-processing: perform color correction, contrast adjustment, denoising and other processing on the image.

Do you also want to observe the world with a microscope? What do you want to observe with a microscope? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss~

References:

1.https://www.olympus-lifescience.com/en/discovery/beauty-of-the-microversemeet-the-ioty-2021-global-winner/

2.https://ournarratives.net/the-beauty-and-vitality-of-nature-as-seen-through-jason-kirks-microscope-chinese/

3.https://www..cn/wiki/faq/201911/t20191107_1147347.shtml

4.https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/X1-bIB1rEKfIUZ02Rkw4mw

5.https://www.tsinghua.org.cn/__local/1/0A/C5/0DED0FD932149490CE3885F4BEA_5E8F940D_19DB098.pdf

Compiled by: Dang Min

Editor: Guru