I’ve finally been able to work in the garden for the past few days now that the mosquitoes are gone. This morning, I noticed how beautiful the guttation on Sonchus asper leaves looked, so I decided to photograph it using a field microscope. In my garden, only Sonchus asper seems to produce guttation droplets. While horsetail (Equisetum) also has beautiful guttation, it doesn’t grow in my garden. Despite its reputation as a nuisance, it doesn’t seem to pop up everywhere.
When I observed the guttation droplets of Sonchus asper through the field microscope, I could see the surrounding scenery reflected in them. Using the microscope’s objective lens, I was able to take fisheye-like shots. However, the angle made it tricky since the lens itself would often appear in the reflection. I took multiple shots with varying focus points and combined them through focus stacking for greater depth.
The process wasn’t easy—wind caused the leaves to sway, and vibrations from adjusting the macro slider caused blurring. The field microscope allows you to adjust the camera lens focus, so using an Olympus camera with focus stacking capabilities might make this process much smoother.
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