Oliver G Pike

Microphotography

Oliver Pike used a home-made set-up for taking very highly magnified images. He used a microscope set up on a bench with a light source and a simple camera (see Cameras/Baby Brownie), or sometimes his cine camera.

Microphotographs

 


He was very interested in the tiny creatures that live in water, in the minute detail of plants, and in microscopic fossils.

Clockwise from top - Sponge Spicules, Fairy Fly, Foraminifera, Diatoms.

Sponge Spicules make up the structure of most sponges.

The "Fairy Flies" are really very tiny wasps: their wings have bristles.

Foraminifera are protozoa that have hard shells: they are very useful in geology.

Diatoms are phytoplankton and they produce silica structures: these five are Pleurosigma formosum.