Andrew S. Kane1; Sarah L. Poynton2
The capture of microscopic images with confocal depth of field is often
challenging for histologists and parasitologists. This is particularly true when photographing
thick sections or 3-dimensional protozoan or metazoan parasites. Several desktop software
programs, including Adobe Photoshop TM and NIH Image, permit digital capture and manipulation of
(exciting) photographic images. Different focal plane images may be composited to show detail
and sense of depth. For example, organisms such as ciliates or trematodes are photographed at
high magnification in different focal planes. Compositing these separate focal plane images
produces a final picture with key features in focus. These features include the girdle of
telotrich ciliature and the spiral of oral ciliature for peritrichous ciliates, and eyespots,
hooks and embryo for monogenetic trematodes. In addition, a variety of digital filters may be
applied to images to sharpen, mask, adjust brightness, contrast, hue and saturation, and create
backgrounds. System requirements, exemplified use of Macintosh software with fish parasite
images, and output to printer and Ektachrome slides will be discussed.