Specimen should be mounted in some manner (point/minutin etc.) most likely to a pin.
Place the specimen on the stage. The goal is to have you specimen
mounted such that the smallest possible mylar cylinder can be placed around
it. The pin should be first sunk into a relativleyl solid base such
as a small cork or cross section of tygon surgical tubing*. Small stages
of of clay, putty, or your chewing gum are not recomended, they tend to expand/become
soft and move from the heat of the light...this is bad. Clay or putty
is useful as a temporary adhesive to stabilize the small cork or piece of
tubing to the stage in cases where weight of the mounted specimen (pin) causes
the cork or tubing to tip.
Place the mylar cylinder with white paper insert around the specimen
. The white paper insert is an absolute must. It basically
traps light within the cylinder, drastically reducing the amount of light
you need to use. It also provides an even dispersal of light and allows
for more of a three dimensional affect because the primary light source is
from once side only.
As seen below lighting is relatively straightforard. A open light
source is easily enough light. Take the fibre optic lights off the
light box (or for specimens larger than 5mm position the arms). Position
the lamp at a 45 degree angle to the specimen (orient the cylinder accordingly
to allow the maximum light to enter the cylinder). This angle is
standard for scientific illustation. The height of the lamp may need
to be adjusted (in the photos below its just a little low).
For quicker shots or larger subjects you can stage the specimen with a specimen manipulator:
A simple enclosure (non-cylindrical) can also be made of two sheets,
one of Mylar and the other of bright white paper. For quick shots that
require or can make use of a colored background (see upcoming page on producing
vector line drawings from digital shots) a small square of colored felt can
be used as seen in the middle picture below.
Hints
When positioning the specimen use only one eye (of the tube
that correstponds to the tube the cammera is attached too) to ensure the
angle you see on the scope corresponds to angle captured in the image.
Maximize the feature/habitus in the screen, this alows capture of
the most detail.
Crop out as much of the background as possible (move
the crop box and resize it with the right mouse button), this speeds up the
montage process.
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