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Takeatrip
Stranger
Registered: 09/10/23
Posts: 183
Last seen: 3 hours, 9 minutes
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA] 1
#28637553 - 01/28/24 01:16 AM (3 months, 18 days ago) |
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Quote:
SWBZA said: Hi photographers.
Please give away your secrets. When I try to take photos of things with reflective surfaces such as agar plates, glass jars, or plastic bags, I have tried all sorts of different lighting schemes - in the sun outside, in the shade, with bed lamps, LED lamps, you name it - but always I go nuts fighting with those *&@#!*&^$ reflections! How do you guys get such beautiful pics?
Thanks in advance for giving away your mojo 

 I took these shots with my iphone 7 plus. I did not technically need these plates as they were an added bonus to what I was doing at the time. So, to get them so clear I removed the lid of the petri dish and got up close underneath my uplighter lamp which I believe was the only light source. I had to tap the screen of my phone a few times to get the focus spot on but thats all I did. I cant say they come out this good all the time, but you do have to experiment a little. Sometimes if I take pictures in the evening this forum says my file sizes are too large and that gets quite annoying when I want you guys to look at some contamination or whatever it is. Sometimes I take photos on my kitchen worktop by the window with natural light coming in with no lamps or light from my kitchen and it works well but that is usually around the middle of the day so the sun is in a good position for me. What camera are you using?
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SWBZA



Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: Takeatrip]
#28637568 - 01/28/24 01:41 AM (3 months, 18 days ago) |
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Quote:
Takeatrip said:
So, to get them so clear I removed the lid of the petri dish and got up close underneath my uplighter lamp which I believe was the only light source. I had to tap the screen of my phone a few times to get the focus spot on but thats all I did.
<snip>
What camera are you using?
Takeatrip is a cheat!!! When I saw those pics, my first thought was "how on earth is that agar so clean??". Then I read and understood: no lids on the petris. Sneaky! 
I use a OnePlus 9. I concur with that "tap the screen a few times". I've tried searching on the web how to manually change the focus point, but no luck in getting it right so far. Especially if there is condensation on the lid, I battle to convince the phone to focus on the actual myc on the agar surface. Beautiful photo of clear drops on the lid, out of focus myc
Also, the focal point keeps changing if I zoom in or out manually, and the camera has a mind of its own trying to auto-guess whether to go macro or not. I've ended up setting my camera to maximum resolution, taking photos from further away, and then cropping the photo when editing. As you say, else the upload file is too large, anyway.
Thanks for responding. I'm a little less envious knowing those plates had no lids. Had me feeling wholly inadequate there for a while, bud
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LogicaL Chaos
Ascension Energy & Alien UFOs




Registered: 05/12/07
Posts: 70,093
Loc: The Inexpressible...
Last seen: 2 days, 15 hours
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA]
#28638260 - 01/28/24 02:40 PM (3 months, 17 days ago) |
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Great photos in this thread, especially the last photo. You can see how the bright sunlight illuminates the top-edge side of the petri dishes as well as the top-down portion of the lid: https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/28638035#28638035
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SWBZA



Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: LogicaL Chaos] 1
#28638822 - 01/28/24 10:17 PM (3 months, 17 days ago) |
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Quote:
LogicaL Chaos said: Great photos in this thread, especially the last photo. You can see how the bright sunlight illuminates the top-edge side of the petri dishes as well as the top-down portion of the lid: https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/28638035#28638035
Thanks for the pointer. Much appreciated.
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SWBZA



Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA] 2
#28644705 - 02/03/24 01:19 AM (3 months, 12 days ago) |
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Update 3 February
First-off:
Quote:
LadysKnight said: Nice pic. Ime, that is enmeshed with mold. I would take some tweezers and grab the end of that long arm that is coming towards the camera to a new plate and hope for the best.
I declare LadysKnight a sadist. Grabbing a rope with tweezers sounds easy. LadysKnight, I think you increased my vocubulary with this exercise 
Here is the evidence of me "grabbing a rope" with tweezers. You will notice multiple attempts. Each time it's flame the tweezers, cool them, try again... Eventually I just gave up. I tweezed something and dipped the tweezers in the clean agar plate. I actually could not see anything being transferred, but wrapped the plate nonetheless to see what will happen, if anything.

This is what happened. Looks fluffy. Fluffy good, or fluffy bad? Not sure, but at least it is fluffy 

For the "fuzzy" transfer, I went back to my trusty sabre.

Bacterial, I think. Hard to see on the photo, but a shiny "wet" layer all over what is growing.

There you go, the outcome of the experiment. I'll let the transfer plates grow just to see what happens.
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LadysKnight
Hello Ladies


Registered: 10/09/15
Posts: 1,976
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA] 1
#28644867 - 02/03/24 06:45 AM (3 months, 12 days ago) |
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Well done SWBZA! Yep, let it ride and see what we get. Hold the old plate too. Hopefully you have some other projects going on to keep you busy.
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SWBZA


Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: LadysKnight] 2
#28653594 - 02/10/24 12:24 AM (3 months, 5 days ago) |
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Some feedback. The "tiny tweezer transfer" and the T2 from that:

Closeup of the T2 plate:

I have such severe PTSD from "fluffy tomentose-looking stuff" (see my LAGM posts) that I'm not even thinking of trying to get excited about that plate. Think I may take it to T3 water agar and see whether I get some rhizo. Don't have the confidence to call that cube myc.
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LadysKnight
Hello Ladies


Registered: 10/09/15
Posts: 1,976
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA]
#28653795 - 02/10/24 07:47 AM (3 months, 5 days ago) |
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T2 looks pretty good. What happened to the fuzzy bit? And how is the original plate looking?
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SWBZA


Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: LadysKnight] 1
#28653870 - 02/10/24 08:58 AM (3 months, 5 days ago) |
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Quote:
LadysKnight said: T2 looks pretty good. What happened to the fuzzy bit? And how is the original plate looking?
Original plate:

A bit hard to see on the photos, but the fuzzy transfer is all covered in what looks like a wet layer - looks almost like "melted agar" all over whatever grew.


I would have guessed "bacterial" based on recent plates I got feedback on, but we started thinking enmeshed mold. That should not go slimy, right? Could be a contaminated transfer on my part, though.
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LadysKnight
Hello Ladies


Registered: 10/09/15
Posts: 1,976
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA]
#28653897 - 02/10/24 09:11 AM (3 months, 5 days ago) |
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Yep, didn't expect bacteria, expected mold. Are you still planning to take the original plate to grain?
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SWBZA


Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: LadysKnight]
#28653936 - 02/10/24 09:39 AM (3 months, 5 days ago) |
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Quote:
LadysKnight said: Yep, didn't expect bacteria, expected mold. Are you still planning to take the original plate to grain?
Mmmm... I guess that would be a good test. I've got several grain bags and two grain jars I need to spawn to bulk, but I'm sure I can slip in sterilising some grains one evening this week and give it a shot. Will keep you updated.
Thanks for the continued interest and feedback
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LadysKnight
Hello Ladies


Registered: 10/09/15
Posts: 1,976
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA]
#28653961 - 02/10/24 09:53 AM (3 months, 5 days ago) |
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SWBZA


Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: LadysKnight]
#28653967 - 02/10/24 09:58 AM (3 months, 5 days ago) |
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SWBZA


Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: LadysKnight] 1
#28657876 - 02/13/24 03:08 AM (3 months, 2 days ago) |
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Quote:
LadysKnight said: Yep, didn't expect bacteria, expected mold. Are you still planning to take the original plate to grain?
Sent!
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SWBZA


Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA] 1
#28658230 - 02/13/24 10:24 AM (3 months, 2 days ago) |
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Imatryin
Stranger



Registered: 07/06/21
Posts: 488
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: SWBZA]
#28682856 - 03/01/24 04:59 PM (2 months, 15 days ago) |
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Throwing in my app preference. iPhone: pro camera-omnipotent camera. Pictures taken with IPhone 12 Pro. I took the lid off for a transfer, in front of an FFU. It wasn’t just a photo op. King trumpet, if you are wondering.

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SWBZA


Registered: 05/09/23
Posts: 207
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Re: How to take beautiful agar and jar photos [Re: Imatryin]
#28683287 - 03/01/24 11:46 PM (2 months, 15 days ago) |
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Quote:
Imatryin said: Throwing in my app preference. iPhone: pro camera-omnipotent camera. Pictures taken with IPhone 12 Pro. I took the lid off for a transfer, in front of an FFU. It wasn’t just a photo op. King trumpet, if you are wondering.


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