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How are our pictures taken? |
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We use Hasselblad 503 cw cameras on a sturdy Nikon Multiphot Stand, since a heavy stand is needed to prevent vibrations when photographing at high magnification. Most of our pictures are shot with an 80 mm or 120 mm lens, coupled to bellows and/or extension tubes. The 80 mm lens works well when lighting is from the side and the 120 mm lens permits light to be directed parallel to the line of focus. These arrangements allow the image on film to be magnified up to two-fold. For higher magnifications, including those that exceed 10-fold, we use Luminar lenses or a Zeiss compound microscope.
High magnifications produce problems with loss of depth of field. For example, at a magnification of ten-fold do not forget total magnification equals magnification in the transparency x magnification produced in the print depth of field is only 2 or 3 mm. That means that if the plane of the specimen is not exactly parallel to that of the film, part of the image is going to be out of focus. To assure that film and specimen surface are parallel, we have custom designed stages for specimens of different sizes. For lighting we use multiple fiber optic wands systems. These are lit with halogen tungsten bulbs, the light from which is corrected to daylight with 80A filters. This allows us to see exactly how the light reacts with the specimen under conditions that permit a broad selection of film. We have become very fond of Kodak Ektachrome EPP 100 film which gives clean whites and good color saturation. We do not manipulate color digitally. |
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Would you like to try your hand at photographing fossil slabs? |
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We have the following suggestions
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