Biophysicist Michael Davidson got into microscopy to solve scientific problems.
With diligence and hard work, he's built his photomicrography program into
an enormous success. "To date, my program has generated over $1 million from
licensing royalties of my photomicrographs," he says.
"The real secret to my success is twofold. I build my photomicrograph collections
around motifs -- such as vitamins, beer, birthstones and pharmaceuticals,
and don't stop building a collection until it has representative micrographs
of a majority of the subjects in the collection. Also, I've spent [my] career...learning
to crystallize various materials. This is, without a doubt, the hardest part
of getting good photomicrographs."
Davidson is a researcher at Florida State University. "I'm involved in
a wide spectrum of projects centered around photomicrography of various materials
-- just about everything from ice cream to superconductors, the web and NMR
simulation programming."
Pathology is another area that uses photomicrography on a regular basis.
"We have two digital cameras mounted on two of our microscopes, and we use
these on a regular basis to produce full-color pictures to supplement current
case reports and slide shows for the edification of our colleagues at the
weekly Tumor Board," says pathologist Dr. Terry Hurlbut.
In order to do good photomicrography, you need a good camera, a good microscope
and good material. A photomicrographer must also possess some skill at composition.
"Composition means not taking beautiful pictures of empty slide space, but
focusing properly on the cells that will really interest the viewer of a report
or a slide presentation," says Hurlbut.
Mary McCann worked at Polaroid for 35 years as a microscopist and photomicrographer.
Now she does some consulting and organizes a short course in microscopy --
Fundamentals and Applications of Light Microscopy -- in the Boston area.
"I think of photomacrography as close-up photography; that is, photographing
specimens at a magnification of 1:1 up to perhaps 20:1 or 30:1. It's usually
accomplished with a single lens. Photomicrography is photography through the
microscope.
"The microscope differs from a simple magnifier by having two stages of
magnifications, an objective and an eyepiece. The objective lens makes a magnified
image of the specimen, the eyepiece magnifies that image still further, and
the camera photographs the image made by the eyepiece. Magnifications can
be anywhere between say 5X and 1500X, depending on the objective used."
To McCann, photomicrography is a very satisfying profession. "I don't know
of a profession that has more members who do the same thing as a hobby! It's
the lovely combination of the esthetic opportunities and the practical usefulness
of microscopy that make it so satisfying. The microscopist gets to 'see' on
a different scale. She's able to see details of a specimen that are invisible
to the naked eye. That view may reveal remarkable beauty and totally unexpected
features.
"If the microscopist can capture the image, and thereby act as a photomicrographer,
then she can share that beauty with the rest of the world. And even if the
image isn't beautiful, it may provide useful information in the understanding
of the behavior of the specimen. That's often the case with industrial samples."
What type of background is needed in order to work as a photomicrographer?
"In industry, you'll usually find the microscopy lab associated with the analytical
chemistry lab, or with the quality control-assurance lab. So a background
in chemistry may be useful.
"Another useful major is materials science. Pathology, histology and hematology
make extensive use of the microscope. It seems to me that the biologists are
often pushing the forefront of microscopy, in terms of what can be imaged
and measured. I've also known medical photographers who have been well trained
in microscopy," says McCann.
Arthur Strange wanted to be a freelance photographer. "But I didn't want
to do the usual weddings and bar mitzvahs. I wanted to be different, so I
picked an area of expertise -- microscopy."
Strange won an award in the Nikon Small World Competition. But it isn't
all small-time photos and big-time fun. "The worst thing is that
work that I would have done a few years back is now done in-house."
Due to the easy availability of equipment, most laboratories now have their
own photomicrography and video-microscopy systems, so in-house researchers
do their own work instead of hiring it out.