University of New Mexico
On December 18th, 2007, Dr. Kelly B. Miller at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque was joined by his staff in setting up their new Visionary Digital BK Plus imaging system. It was terrific to see everyone clearing space and assisting with the installation. This part of the process is important so everyone knows the proper connections to have the system working optimally.
We started training by identifying components of the system and how they fit into an overall strategy of the imaging process. Everyone was great and caught on immediately. The second day we were ready to start shooting specimens. Everyone was able to spend at least two hours on the system.
Kelly discovered that he has a lot of options in how best to illuminate his beetle specimens. The beetles are primarily black and highly reflective. He obtained superior results by using a diffused light that showed the tiny texture on the carapace while still getting an overall even illumination without glaring spectral highlights.
Sandra Brantley's specialty is spiders and centipedes and shares the responsibility of collection manager with David Lightfoot. David's primary specialty is grasshoppers. Between the two, there is no shortage of beautiful material to image.
Mike Medrano works with millipedes and most of his specimens are submerged in ethanol. Mike likes the tiny details he is able to capture in his images.
Eugenio (Gino) Nearns works on longhorned beetles and has extensive
experience designing and building websites.
Tim Lowery is a professor of Biology heading up the Herbarium at the University of New Mexico. He stopped in with a cactus specimen which he rendered in a quick single shot.
Andrew Johnson is the collection manager for the Division of Birds. He came by with a hummingbird skull. We took two images of the speciean, a single dorsal and a composite lateral. Success!
I want to personally thank all the folks in Kelly's lab. It was a total pleasure working with them. As the founder of Visionary Digital and an Entomology enthusiast, it is a thrill to have the pleasure of working with such a group.
Roy Larimer/Visionary Digital
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Clearing space
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Kelly is happy
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The group watching Kelly
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Sandy preparing a slide
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Gino with Kelly looking on
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Tim Lowery & Dave Lightfoot
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Mike Medrano
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