Salt deposit on the peanut shell

In the first picture is a detail at a salt deposit on the shell of roasted peanuts in the shell and salted.

The small, irregular crystals of salt have appeared as a result of a rapid crystallization process.

In the second picture are beautifully defined salt crystals, which have had the opportunity to grow slowly, over a long period of time (decades, maybe hundreds of years), under conditions of constant temperature and humidity, in a salt mine.
One whole side of the central cube is more than 1 cm.
But some crystals grow much larger.

240 stacked images (image depth is high).

Quite beautiful compositions and very sharp results - congrats!

Since I can find no EXIF: Care to share the setup (incl. lighting and gear) you used to create these extraordinary pictures?

Phil

Thank you for your appreciation! 🙂

For high-magnification macro images, I use a self-made, large, heavy and robust device with fine multi-directional advance, on which I mount the necessary accessories.
The camera used is the Sony a6300, but the accessories are mostly on Nikon mounts (with adapters), with no electrical contacts that can transmit information.

Everything is adjusted and set manually, ISO at low values (100-200, rarely higher values), aperture usually closed at f:16, or fixed/native on microscope lenses. Lighting preferably with continuous LED source (one, two, three sources, diffuse or spot). The camera is on a tripod or on a stable stand, the exposure is adjusted to the given situation.

So, the first image is taken with a microscope objective mounted on an extended set of macro tubes, at ISO 200 and exposure of 1/80s, with a single diffuse LED light source.
The second image is taken with a Sigma 90mm macro lens, ISO 400, f:16, 1/2s, two LED light sources focused from some distance.

3D Gunner wrote:

Thank you for your appreciation! 🙂

For high-magnification macro images, I use a self-made, large, heavy and robust device with fine multi-directional advance, on which I mount the necessary accessories.
The camera used is the Sony a6300, but the accessories are mostly on Nikon mounts (with adapters), with no electrical contacts that can transmit information.

Everything is adjusted and set manually, ISO at low values (100-200, rarely higher values), aperture usually closed at f:16, or fixed/native on microscope lenses. Lighting preferably with continuous LED source (one, two, three sources, diffuse or spot). The camera is on a tripod or on a stable stand, the exposure is adjusted to the given situation.

So, the first image is taken with a microscope objective mounted on an extended set of macro tubes, at ISO 200 and exposure of 1/80s, with a single diffuse LED light source.
The second image is taken with a Sigma 90mm macro lens, ISO 400, f:16, 1/2s, two LED light sources focused from some distance.

Thanks for the detail! Most interesting.

One last question: In the original post you indicated 240 stacked shots for the first picture - how many did you stack for the second one?

Phil

The second picture is just one, no stack.

Have you tried f stops wider than f16? I suspect you're getting a lot of diffraction sharpness losses, since your effective f stop is far higher (worse) than f 16, due to magnification.

Yes, it's a dof tradeoff. That's why so many macro/micro photographers use stacking to get sharper pictures.

(sorry phil, meant to go to the OP.  Wrong reply button.  }

3D Gunner wrote:

The second picture is just one, no stack.

And the crystals in the second pic are much larger - I forgot that. Now that makes sense.

Phil

ken_in_nh wrote:

(sorry phil, meant to go to the OP. Wrong reply button. }

No problem, Ken!

Phil

ken_in_nh wrote:

Have you tried f stops wider than f16? I suspect you're getting a lot of diffraction sharpness losses, since your effective f stop is far higher (worse) than f 16, due to magnification.

Yes, it's a dof tradeoff. That's why so many macro/micro photographers use stacking to get sharper pictures.

(sorry phil, meant to go to the OP. Wrong reply button. }

For the first photo I used a microscope lens that has a fixed aperture, and the images were taken at low resolution (6MP), just for fun.
The salt cubes obtained in the process are very small and irregular, ~0.15-0.25mm wide on the side of the cube.