Photographing Feeding Mosquitoes.

To observe the behaviour of a mosquito feeding on human blood, a total field diameter of only four or five millimetres is required, but at sufficient distance from the imaging optics to allow room for manipulation and adequate illumination of the specimen. An apparatus is described which was built to enable a clear view of the way in which mosquitoes infected with microfilariae pass the parasite to a human host.
It provides a general approach to the problem of viewing from the side processes which would have to be viewed from directly above with a normal microscope setup.


  Photographing Spiders using Electronic Flash.

(Part of an article on flash photomicrography).
Even a tiny newly hatched spiderling moves at high speed when magnified sufficiently to fill the frame of a photomicrographic camera. And since it is so small, the magnification required is accompanied by limited depth of field, making it a difficult subject to photograph in action -- even impossible, unless the light source is short-duration electronic flash.

A system using two electronic flash sources is described in which the fill-in illumination is provided by four acrylic light guides, and the background illumination is provided by a dual-source flash/modeling lamp giving Köhler illumination.


The Microscopy of Vinyl Recordings.

As all owners and collectors of vinyl recordings know, clicks and pops can magically turn up on even the most meticulously cared-for discs. Removing these calls for a variety of techniques depending on the nature of the foreign body stuck on or in the grooves, and when a careful brushing fails to dislodge them, examination under the microscope is a good next step in determining a suitable approach.
This account deals with the business of examining the records without damaging them, gives some insights into identifying the causes of unwanted noises, and where possible, advice on removing them.