New Microscopic Photos and More

Yesterday, I decided to accept the self-imposed challenge of taking microscopic pictures primarily with my non-dominant hand. Even under normal circumstances, I have trouble hooking up the adapter that connects my iPhone to my microscope. I wondered if adding a wrist splint to the mix would make the task impossible. I would, of course, stop if the endeavor caused any pain at all. It took some effort, but before long the equipment was ready for me to snap some photos.

Last summer, I took microscopic pictures of the orange Echinacea flowers in my garden. This year, my goal was to photograph flowers on all three of the Echinacea plants. Each plant has blooms that are a different color. I was able to accomplish that objective and more.

Plant #1

While I was taking the photos, I saw something I had never seen before. It was quite a surprise. Take a look at my first microscopic video!

I did not notice that the photos of that plant had come out pink, instead of light purple, until I created the photo gallery above last night. I wondered if that happened because of the light source I was using for the microscope. This morning, I decided to shine that light on the flower again to see if it changed the color.

When I went outside to retrieve the purple flower from the back deck, I was flabbergasted to see that it had turned pink during the night. It had not looked pink when I checked it last night.

Plant #2

I found another bug when I examined the second flower through the microscope. It was a different kind of insect, though, or was it a spider? It resembled a spider in the way it looked and acted but insects have six legs and spiders have eight. I only see six on this creature so I don’t know what it is. It was so small that I couldn’t see it on the plant even when I looked for it wearing my reading glasses.

Note: There is a point in the video below where the creature stops moving for a while, but it starts again.

Plant #3

top of leaf
bottom of flower
bottom of leaf

I appreciate the iPhone camera and the beautiful photos it takes. I appreciate whoever came up with the way to connect the microscope and the iPhone camera. I appreciate the ease of the WordPress blogging platform. I appreciate how easy it is to create photograph galleries on WordPress.com blogs. I appreciate the dictation program for Office products that Microsoft released last week and the person that told me about it. I appreciate the neighbor who took the case off my iPhone so I had a chance of  making this project a success. I appreciate my willingness to take on challenges in difficult situations. And, last but not least, I appreciate all of you who read my posts.

10 thoughts on “New Microscopic Photos and More”

    1. I remember reading about some bug whose first set of legs become antennae but I haven’t remembered what it was. I also wondered that.

      Thanks for your kind words!

      I just reread your comment and saw the part about showing it to your bugs. I look forward to hearing their response.

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  3. The little creature you were communing with is an aphid. Aphids are pretty interesting.
    Am looking at a book Prem told me about, Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman, which talks about how much technology is changing our world…exponentially. And the iPhone is one of the big influences. The iPhone only came out in 2007 and look how much has changed in how we communicate, what we have access to, how businesses have been affected (Uber, etc) – so many changes we can’t even imagine what the 21st century will look like.
    Anyway, yes! Wonderful that you are taking advantage of this technology, willing to face the challenges, and pursue your life with curiosity.

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    1. Are you talking about the creature in the first video or the second. The bug in the first video looks more like an aphid than the one in the second video. The second video shows the creature I was trying to differentiate between a spider and an insect.

      I wonder if an aphid is ever the size of that microscopic bug. It seems like even a baby aphid might be bigger, but the one in the first video does have a similar shape. I also wonder if aphids move as fast as that bug moved. Interesting questions.

      I wrote a post about ants and aphids a couple years ago. They have a fascinating symbiotic relationship.

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  4. Oh I see the creature moving so fast in the 1st video. No idea what that is! It’s just staggering to realize how many manifestations of conscious life are existent at any one moment….

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  6. Wow!! your photos are awesome and the videos are so intricate and intersting!! The first video reminded me of “Honey, I shrunk the kids” or “Gulliver’s travels” the bug looks like a mouse running around…so interesting!! I would love a Kindergarden teacher to show that video to her class and have the children guess what it is without telling them anything about plants or insects. Or maybe my imagination is just running too wild today. I finished my little story of Utopia, so I really am in LaLa land:)

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