Polyfocal photography of conodonts and other microfossils using petrographic microscopes

James F. Miller; Benjamin F. Dattilo; Raymond L. Ethington; Rebecca L. Freeman

doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2015.04.003

Polyfocal photography of conodonts and other microfossils using petrographic microscopes

James F. Miller, Benjamin F. Dattilo, Raymond L. Ethington, Rebecca L. Freeman

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Polyfocal photography is a method for obtaining digital images that have great depth of focus. A series of photos are made at successive focal levels from the bottom to the top of a fossil using reflected light. Computer software takes the part of each image that is in focus and merges all of the parts into a composite image that is entirely in focus. Microscopes designed for this purpose are available but are expensive. A petrographic microscope with a digital camera can produce such a series of images, and they can be composited by an inexpensive computer program. Polyfocal photography appears to be superior to other methods of photography for illustrating conodonts. Composite images show internal features, such as basal cavities and white matter, and the software can convert one composite image into a stereoscopic pair.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	179-184
Number of pages	6
Journal	Annales de Paleontologie
Volume	101
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annpal.2015.04.003
State	Published - Jul 1 2015

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Viive Viira for providing Estonian topotype specimens of Cordylodus andresi. National Science Foundation award 0642405 provided funds to purchase the Nikon petrographic microscope that Miller used to photograph the Estonian specimens. John Cutler helped collect the conodont samples that yielded specimens illustrated in Fig. 3 . Michelle Miller and Mario Daoust provided French translations. Gabriella Bagnoli and an anonymous person made several helpful suggestions in their reviews of the original manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Cambrian
Conodonts
Ordovician
Petrographic microscope
Polyfocal photography

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Paleontology

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10.1016/j.annpal.2015.04.003

Cite this

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abstract = "Polyfocal photography is a method for obtaining digital images that have great depth of focus. A series of photos are made at successive focal levels from the bottom to the top of a fossil using reflected light. Computer software takes the part of each image that is in focus and merges all of the parts into a composite image that is entirely in focus. Microscopes designed for this purpose are available but are expensive. A petrographic microscope with a digital camera can produce such a series of images, and they can be composited by an inexpensive computer program. Polyfocal photography appears to be superior to other methods of photography for illustrating conodonts. Composite images show internal features, such as basal cavities and white matter, and the software can convert one composite image into a stereoscopic pair.",

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Polyfocal photography of conodonts and other microfossils using petrographic microscopes

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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