The nymph phase of some insect taken from our pond. Viewed in darkfield illumination. Darkfield illumination gives higher contrast for transparent subjects and makes a striking image.
A similar nymph shown in Differential Interference Contrast. DIC gives a false 3d image that reveals the structure of low contrast subjects.
The same nymph as above. DIC allows focusing at various layers within a transparent subject to reveal things otherwise not visible. This image was focused about halfway through the nymph body and shows a lot of interesting structure. The eyes on in this image are out of focus compared to the inset picture, which is focused on the upper surface of the nymph and has the eyes in focus. There is some really interesting detail on the nose, seen in orange, that is not resolved in the inset image. Notice also that the out-of-focus eyes do not obscure the structures that are in focus under them. This is one of the great strengths of DIC. Compare with the darkfield image above which shows very little inner structure.
Two diatoms. Diatoms are type of algae. They have shells made of silica which are clear and glass like. Diatoms are found EVERYwhere. Oceans, fresh water, soil... they generate about 20 to 50 percent of the oxygen produced on the planet each year, take in over 6.7 billion metric tons of silicon each year from the waters in which they live and and constitute nearly half of the organic material found in the oceans. (Wikipedia) There are some soils that are almost completely made of up discarded diatom shells. (Diatomaceous earth)
Empty diatom shells left behind. 50μm is about 0.002".
More diatom shells in Differential Interference Contrast. (Different DIC settings give different colors to the background.) The scale is roughly the same as the previous picture of diatom shells.
Another empty diatom shell, imaged using DIC.
Radiolaria (singular: Radiolarian). Similar to Diatoms they leave behind this glass-like silica shell. But where diatoms tend to be flat, Radiolaria are more spherical.
A pair of my cheek cells viewed in transmitted light. Since the cells are transparent and have nearly the same index of refraction as water and glass they are almost invisible to human vision.
The same cells viewed with phase contrast. This makes a great amount of detail visible to the human eye at the expense of lost detail due to a kind of halo effect inherent in the technique.
Same cells again but viewed using Differential Interference Contrast. DIC also increases contrast for human vision but leaves more small details intact. Again the 3d effect is false but very helpful to determining the structure.
Spiro Gira. A form of algae. Not a musical group in this case.