Photographing Butterfly Scales
and Other Small Objects
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Photographing butterfly scales is eased by the relative flatness of the wings, though at high magnifications the small deviations from flatness may make a good all over focus very difficult to achieve. Illumination is very important. The source of light should cast shadows of the scales on the ones they overlap. A light on the wrong side produces a very flat effect. The light should be behind the wing root, pointing towards the wing-tip.
In all photography at high magnification, depth of field can be a problem. Even if the object is flat, it must be exactly parallel to the film.
The optical system depends on the required magnification. An SLR is essential. For the weaker magnifications a reversed macro lens on a long set of extension tubes will serve well. An ordinary lens may also give good results. Since the distance from subject to film can never be less than four focal lengths, using a shorter focal length may help to gain magnification. A 35 mm or 28 mm wide-angle lens could be used, or even a lens from a 16 mm movie camera. It is a god idea to attach an extension tube to the back of the lens, that is the side facing the object, to act as a lens hood. All surfaces near the object should be painted matt black with something like blackboard paint, to reduce scattered light. Obtaining adequate contrast with high magnification is hard enough without self inflicted problems.
Calculating exposure is not difficult, if the length of the tubes is measured, but the use of a dedicated flash gun with through the lens metering makes things much easier. All you need to do is to make sure that the flash is at a distance at which the system can cope. Too far away, and there will be not enough light: too close and the system will be unable to cut it down enough. In practice the technique is quite simple once you have established the working distance. Many flash guns will indicate whether the light intensity was correct. If it isn't, you have to change the distance. The flash gun can be hand held.
To make this type of picture a stand is needed, with an adjustable stage for the subjects.
For the higher magnifications a microscope is desirable. It can be used in several ways. One method is to use only the objective lens to project an image on the film with the camera lens removed. Another way is to use both microscope lenses, and again to project the image on the film without using the camera lens.
In any case, it essential to use a stand which takes the weight of the camera, so that the microscope is not stressed. It is well worth taking a lot of trouble over this, because it will make the photographic work so much quicker, easier, and more reliable.
Flash illumination can be used with a microscope as described above.
The photograph below shows clearly that the wings are not flat. This has a significant effect at high magnifications, making sharp focus difficult over a wide area. Under a microscope no glass, except a slide cover, should be used to flatten an object, because the optical quality may suffer. The picture below shows very clearly that teh wings of a butterfly can be far from flat.
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