#microscopy art

[shuckle24]

Microscopy: Cotton and Rice

I’m continuing to gawk at intricate structures under the microscope.

It’s easy to forget how tremendously complicated and fascinating even the banalest objects are. Under the microscope, we can attempt to appreciate the structures that form everyday objects and get a sense of the world around us. Yet, even the microscope can only capture a slice of reality, only go finger deep into the ocean; the value of magnification can always be cranked further up, and under each layer there will always be another.

Just a jumble of fibers, what else was I expecting? But look at what a wonderful jumble it is. How the fibers curve and intertwine. Sparse around the edges, tangling up in that one spot. At first glance, I thought it resembled a sci-fi creature; a spider, perhaps.

Notice how there are a lot of fibers at one spot, and only a few in others. Notice how most fibers are dark, but others slightly lighter. Notice how some are in focus, while some blurred and pushed to the background.

It was difficult to locate isolated fibers — they were all so caught up in each other — but I managed it. This image is lighter than the others, less congested, more breathable, and I like it.

This is cotton under a microscope, but with the lights turned off. Bizarre and eerie, isn’t it? It has a ghostly energy; the background has the vibe of a typical horror movie. I discovered this completely by accident (my microscope lost power while I was observing) and the results have been spectacular.

This is a grain of rice. I heard somewhere that you never eat the same rice twice, every grain is different, and you should enjoy the uniqueness of each grain as you eat. A wonderful notion, and I had to witness it myself. Turns out you don’t need a microscope to see that each grain is different, but they were a wonderful specimen either way. Sidenote: I can testify that mindfulness while eating is, indeed, magnificent.

Microscopes do curved structures injustice. Compound microscopes only focus on a single, ultra-thin layer. So when looking at a curved structure, you only see a single slice regardless of how well you focus, and everything above and below is blurred out. There has to be a technique to overcome this, I’ll have to figure it out.

A fragment of a grain of rice. Looks like a bullet. Look at the little dark spots, the tiny disfigurations. I like tiny disfigurations; they add character to an object.

Cooked. The image doesn’t do the structure justice at all. It’s barely a white blob. Resembles a mountain from some angles, but I wanted to share it to give you context for the following images.

Again with the light turns off. The eerie, uncanny vibe is back on. I especially like how more details splash out in this dark image than in the light one. You can get a clearer view of the texture; it looks gelatinous. The slimy ghost of a grain of rice.

The yellow shone in this image. Look at the formations at the edges, the ones in focus, and the larger, unfocused blob. Notice, also, the miniscule hairlike structures. What we eat here is almost never pure, and it’s up to us to change that.

All crystals were viewed with a compound, light microscope with an eyepiece magnification of 10x and further magnification of 4x (sometimes 10x), bringing the total magnification to 40x (in most cases).

Images were taken with a midrange phone camera and cropped.

[niqvassieart]

Meeting a water bear. 🌱

Basically wishing I could make myself tiny and get lost in some moss. So much beauty in little drops of water.

[mugene-art]

https://mugeneartshop.etsy.com

⬆️ Diatom and bacteria art prints now available!!

See how I made the original pieces: P. dendritiformis, Eating Iron, Microcosms

[heartnosekid]

cosmodernism on ig

[olitheworm]

Bryum wishes to remind everyone: Don't drag the microscope. Just don't.

[accretion-disk-anxiety]

Cell structure of a mystery leaf sent to me by a mystery leafer. It was fairly dessicated on arrival, so I didn't expect it to be nearly so vibrant! That green is utterly entrancing - I really could (and probably will) stare at this leaf under the scope until I get a migraine.

If you have a plant you'd like photos of, feel free to reach out and send me a leaf!

Photos taken w/ 10x lens.

[marejadilla]

Linda Westin "Illuminated Dendrology" "Linda Westin’s portraits of the woods are strongly influenced by her background in imaging neuroscience. Especially the way she works with color is reminiscent of this experience with fluorescence microscopy, where she illuminated neurons instead of tree branches. Now she uses a camera to bring this way of seeing from the nano world to our human scale. Revealing the unifying morphology of macrocosm and microcosm.

As above, so below. It is this integration of parallel perceptions that makes me love her art even more.

In the middle of the forest there’s an unexpected clearing which can only be found by those who have gotten lost". TOMAS TRANSTRÖMER

[th3-0bjectivist]

“Petri Dish” - Acrylic paint on canvas

[he-who-needs-to-be-silenced]

OHSHIT EGG TIME

[shuckle24]

Microscopy: Crystals and Blandness

I used to do casual science experiments, still do. A year or two ago, I did an experiment that created a bunch of Sodium Sulfate (or Sodium Chloride, don’t remember exactly) solution as a byproduct. Due to absolutely forgetting that they were in my cupboard, the solution evaporated over time, forming thick, white crystals.

On Tuesday, my usual microscopy day, I decided to whip out those crystals instead of a new, planned-out batch. Turns out — they’re pretty bland. Translucent and white, they don’t offer a lot at first glance. Regardless, I managed to get some decent pictures out of them.

Sodium Sulfate (probably) at 40x magnifications. They look like stalactites, or geological structures out of a sci-fi planet. The shape exudes a sense of enormity, of strength and massiveness, despite being remarkably time and fragile. Note the blurred crystal at the back, the darker crystals at the front, and the tiny disfigurations.

This, like another similar picture, resembles a chaotic ocean washing onto a bright shore in a sweeping wave. There is a bit too much going on here, but I like the metaphor.

Not blue — I used a blue filter to give it more character. And it worked. Still Sodium Sulfate, but the color does it justice.

The original. Looking at it closely now, on a bigger screen, I wonder if it really did need the blue filter. Look at the complexity of the crystals, the waxing and waving translucency. The dark spots, the character. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it holds up on its own.

Dried out Calcium Hydroxide on a watch glass. Yes, I hate that it is mostly out of focus too, but look at the pattern. Look at the tiny dots, the spaces in between. Look at it repeating throughout the field of view and imagine it repeating throughout the entire watch glass. Nature is mesmerizing in its repetitiveness. Bunch of the same, yet all of them different. Tiny dots wonderfully collaged together, insignificant individuals making up something far greater and far more beautiful.

Same thing, same field, just a tiny impurity in the middle. I love impurities. A contrast in the regularity of a structure. It is often flaws that give something character. What is it? It is an unpleasant yellow, marked with even more unpleasant black. Yet, it is the center of the stage, distinct amidst the field of Calcium Hydroxide crystals, which, now that this is in view, fades inconspicuously into the backdrop, becoming the backdrop itself.

Zoomed in. So much closer, yet I have no idea what it is. A piece of floating trash that wandered into my room, probably. Striking nonetheless. Also look at how the zoom brings the crystals into focus. They seem to shine (or reflect) a bit more light. They’re brighter, more in focus, more like entities than a background.

[niqvassieart]

some microscope life drawings - monogonontan rotifers, vorticella ciliates and diatoms.

[andmaybegayer]

Hey. 108 gigapixel scan of Girl With a Pearl Earring with depth information.

[jamesusilljournal]

@cosmodernism

[elkement]

Wish you all peaceful holidays!

I've run out of new art to share, so I am diving deep into my archives.

Galaxies of Diffraction

A collage of electron microscopy images (electron diffraction patterns) from scientific publications (public domain), run through a vortex filter.

I've once analyzed such images daily.

Created as an illustration for a blog post about covectors and a nostalgic look back:

[olitheworm]

Handheld Microscope🔬-- New Icon for myself, also done live on stream. I literally streamed longer than I normally do because I really wanted to get this done. Worth it🦐

[elimilligan]

Some miracles of my life. 🫧