One of the main outcomes of this project to investigate the Cook-Voyage collections at the Pitt Rivers is a new website, to replace the existing
Forster Collection and
Pacific Pathways sites. High quality images will be taken by the Pitt Rivers' photographer, and I will supplement these with digital microscope images of materials. Taking photographs through the microscope is relatively simple with the right adaptors for the camera. We're using a Canon Eos 60D, which allows us to connect it to the computer using the Canon Liveview software, and to take pictures remotely, which minimises vibration.
 |
| A microscope with camera attached |
A single image of a microscope slide or a sample from an object may not capture all the detail we need - the focal depth is sometimes too great for a single image and parts of the field of view may be out of focus.
 |
| A single image of a feather from the Tahitian Mourner's costume, x40. Parts of the image are out of focus |
Using Helicon Focus software, we can take a series of images of a sample, adjusting the focus of the microscope slightly each time. The software then merges the images together, creating a final image which is in focus through the whole depth of field, with no blurry areas.
 |
| 10 images of the feather were taken as the microscope focus was slightly changed. The images were stacked together using the software to create this final image. |
