Following on from the previous post on this subject, I decided to try using flash to illuminate the subject – still spider mite. Again, I was trying to photograph a live subject without placing it on a slide. I used a diffuser in front of the flash but still used the mirror for lighting the subject from below:
Ugh!. Whatever I did I couldn’t improve upon this. So I tried lighting from the side. This shows the set-up.
There is a diffuser to soften the light. The first images showed I needed a reflector on the other side to help illuminate the far side (I used a large plant label that was to hand!). The following was obtained:
A big improvement on the first image. But this lacks depth. So I made several attempts – here are a couple:
Not very good. Most microscope lenses are corrected for a flat image plane, with the subject under glass. These images demonstrate the problems with the approach I am taking. Below is a closer view of the set-up:
I need to research this and experiment a bit more…