Butterfly Wing - Super Closeup Photo

Last weekend, I went to the Center of Condensed Matter Sciences to photograph butterfly wings under high magnification microscopes. I had acquired the butterfly specimens from online stores in the hopes of using them for a scientific photographic contest I wanted to enter.

I soon found out with my existing photography gear, I simply could not get the magnification I needed to make compelling shots showing the details of the wing scales of the specimen. So I gave up on that subject for the contest. Instead I went over to my uncle's lab at the National Taiwan University to use their high powered microscope objectives to take some shots of the butterflies. 

The photo above is the best out of the bunch, here are some other not-so-great shots:

Here's a shot of the setup I was using:

The camera sensor attached to the lens is only 2 megapixels, so a lot of detail cannot be resolved. In order to get better shots, one would have to mount a DSLR quality sensor or camera onto the lens. Also, a powered rail for micro-stepping the focus in micron steps is crucial to getting quality photos for focus stacking, which I didn't have.

I'm not sure if I want to invest in microscope objective lenses and electronic slider rails to shoot higher quality photos of butterfly wing scales. It seems a hefty investment for something I'm not sure if I'll enjoy that much. A lot of post-processing is involved in focus stacking the images, and obtaining specimens to photograph can cost more money. Maybe one day when I have more free time I'll consider this again.

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