My First Microscopy Film

So here is the very first film I was able to shoot.

I always have wanted to try this! I LOVED looking through a microscope in Biology Class at all the little "creatures" in a drop of our pond water! Fascinating stuff.

It's a whole new world to discover Rose, all the little creatures are nothing short of aliens to me. The above film was water from Kings bay today I'm going to look for some pond water, I expect it will be like looking at a new planet with new and different aliens.

I wasn't sure I would be able to capture any images or videos without spending a lot of money, I didn't have to spend but $49 for the microscope.

I think you are going to have some fun. I used to enjoy my microscope and pond scum viewing too. Amazing things going on there. Enjoy!

Mario, what a fun toy... your film looks like my eye floaters on a clear day... lol

Looking for more installments... enjoy!

Richard I just got back from the grocery store and on my way back I saw a nice pond full of some scummy water and scooped a jar full, I cant wait to see what's swimming around in it.

@Ed, eye floaters, lol! I think my next one might be a little better, I did not use a slide cover on my first and the water was doming and making it hard to focus. I don't have any slide covers so I will have to improvise for my next film.

Mario, I love the way you're always looking for new challenges.

I'm just pleased it was microscopy not colonoscopy!

HAHAHAhaaaa... Barbara

Considering your set up that's a great start Mario. Keep up the voyage of discovery!

That makes two of us Barbara, Lol! However I might be giving a more intimate look at other body fluids like saliva at 400X. :-) I want to take a look at my blood but I'm not to keen on pricking my finger just yet.

Thank you Richard, I'll admit it's a rather crude set up but with some practice I might be able to improve the quality of the video and images. I'm looking into how I can convert my bright field microscope to a darkfield microscope to capture more detail and contrast in the specimens.

Wow, that is awesome like having National Geographic come to Fine Art America smiling, glad you added the music to the video that was a nice effect, .in the beginning of the video that wiggling create that was definite a mosquito early pupa stage micro pupa and also identified tad pole pupa.... And I am sure you will find mosquito hawk or dragon fly larva, if I come across my amoebas images I took by putting the camera lens to the eye piece of the microscope, they are interesting to view.


Halloween is just around the corner get a sample of blood from the nearest vampire as well, erhhhhhhh, errrrrrh.....

Thank you Michael, you are to kind. I don't really have a clue as to the organisms in the film, seems like there exist some 50,000. little creatures in pond water and it's pretty difficult to distinguish between many of the variety or types.

Now here is something that's really amazing! Wow,look at what this photographer does to get his images and the complexity of the process.

What an amazing video the photographer who takes micro of insects wow, wow, also try a human tear drop the organisms you will discover my optometrist informed me what I see from time to time in bright light and they appear to move across you eye vision are floaters, micro cells and they appear to be attached I am sure everyone has seen them and wondered what it was they were viewing, you are actually seeing cells.

I had a friend many years back in the 80's a colleague I worked with from England, he did static electromagnetic molecular photography, wow, He actually gave me one of his photographs to me, looks like something from out of space the cosmos. Also, if you can get a sampling of water from the Gulf of Mexico should be plentiful of fascinating marine organisms

I overlooked Ed comment the floaters, those are interesting and you can see them float across your vision of sight., clear structure elongated , eventually if you can look up on line the brain eating amoeba you just may see one of them in your collection of samplings...they are very plentiful in the Gulf of Mexico, they are also flesh eating amoeba's as well......

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/f9/b7/60/f9b760f2be395e9afffca8ec418af312.jpg

omg I screamed when I did a google search of brain eating amoeba and came this image but have no idea what species of bacteria this is.... this is an image of a real organism crazy and scary....

Michael, this is all new to me, it's really fascinating to me. There is so much to it. I think I keep seeing those floaters as reflections on the eye piece of the microscope, I thought thet were just artifacts of some type.

I was surprised to find out how many types of microscopes there are, even more surprised at the price ranges from $250 to $200,000. heck mine is not even worth mentioning. It's really mind blowing to see these living organisms in a single drop of water.

Th film was of salt water I got from the Gulf of Mexico close to the house at Kings Bay. I'm looking at some guides to try and identify what the specimens are. I really like the ones that move and can be seen digesting and feeding. If I can do that dark field coversion I might be able to capture a little bit of color, there is a way to do it as a diy project which I might try.

Michael, interesting that you posted that link. I was just telling Alina that what I found really weird is that these creatures look like cartoon characters, totally animated, I do see so many faces in these creatures I thought I was hallucinating. Now you confirmed it for me with your link that I'm not. :-)

this is so cool. I love it. The music is perfect, my only suggestion is to 'fade the music out'. It just stopped. Cant wait to see more.

Thank you AJ, I was so excited that I was able to record any video at all I just plain forgot about the music, next time fade I will.

I spent the last few hours trying to convert the microscope to a darkfield and although the instructions were pretty easy, the light filters are so tiny that it was difficult to cut the right size blackout ring, finally got it to where I could view in darkfield which illuminates the specimen in a different way which gives it an almost flourscent look revealing more detail.

I'm to tired to continue now but tomorrow I will test to see if my camera sensor detects enough light to focus and record this way, otherwise it will be back to brightfield and I may try to use some dyes, food coloring since I don't have the real thing, if I can find some at grocery store?

I tried the darkfield conversion and I was able to see into the microscope and it was pretty cool to see the way the specimens were illuminated but I could not get my camera to film it at such low light so I had to scrap that idea.

I did make this other film and tried different camera settings to achieve higher magnification. All I can say is that the equipment is very sensitive to light, focus and any movment and it can get quite tedious to get a shot. I am limited by the equipment I am using.

I have been experimenting with several different elements and techniques to get more detail and color on the imagery. Most has been improvised with household items and I have made my own dyes using things like Iodine, india ink, malachite green and methylene blue.

Don't forget my story, Mario. You are on an adventure. Many of life's finest moments and discoveries happen in science and not even by scientists but with instruments geared to help us see.

I work with very small, but very powerful substances...smaller than nano technology. I wish I could talk, but I can't.

Just know that I find anyone who takes a microscope into their lives is amazing and brave, especially if they take the time to understand what they are looking at. Enjoy the beautiful and the creepy.

I so wish you could talk Lisa, I'm sure I would get an amazing education on the subject but I understand why you can't. Smaller than nano particles, Wow! Now that is really awesome stuff! I would love to have a microscope to see that.

Mario, I thought I would mention this simply because the slightly scratch or cut, and while you are taking these samples from various places use gloves. And thoroughly clean you glass which you drop your specimens onto. Would it be great Mario makes a scientific discovery. Normally you would not venture into terrain unless you had to, there are some bacteria which can be lethal. Use a bleach solution. I had forgotten about my infection, It brought me to mind many years back in the 90's I visited a landscape gardens where you purchase things to make your own backyard ponds, they have a giant one on display and those giant water pads like you see in the movies in the jungles of the Amazon and a human could float on them, then had smaller ones... Well, I did not know better and they had no signs I knelt down the edge of the walkway to touch and look on the underside and I was pricked by the thorns on the underside, within days my hand started to swell like a monster and went to the local emergency room

I can not take penicillin and took time to find the right meds to fight the infection. I had gone back to visit after that and I think there is a sign now which reads to not touch the floating pods, along with the water and bacteria which is know to collect on the underside of the floating plant....

How exciting to see your video's, brings back memories from grammar school and high school. I enjoyed the new video's you have been posting and sure like the music selected.

Nice detail in the last video and it does seem a bit of coloring reveals finest detail

Thank you Michael, those are good precaustions you mention. After seeing some of the organisms in the water I noticed not all have very friendly faces on them as seen in the thumbnail of the above film.

I do go throught the procedure of cleaning and disinfecting everything I handle. I can relate to your terrible infection experience, I had a similar experience when a tiny scratch on my pinky finger almost killed me.

The bacteria was from coming in contact with a human mouth and it took several months to recooperate while taking some very strong antibiotics. I used to design and install large out door fresh water ponds when I was living in Miami, I still have the business name Aquatic Watergardens Design Co., that was a business I really enjoyed I frequented all the extoic plant nurseries in the homestead area.