Evaporated whiskey

[specious_reasons]

OK, so this idea was stolen from an IFLS link, featuring a guy name Ernie Button's pictures of dried fancy whiskeys. He was using a lower magnification microscope and some more creative lighting, so his pictures were more interesting. I also used the whiskey I happened to have, in this case Dry Fly Washington Wheat Whiskey - not a bad whiskey, either.

Still, this is my take. The last 2 are ~100X, the rest are ~40X.

[Corona688]

I suggest putting a polarizing filter in the way of the light before it goes through the slide. Not that fancy, one of those throwaway polarizer glasses you get at the movies might do. That's what makes the fancy colors AFAIK -- the polarization caused by the various crystals meeting the polarization caused by the filter.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Corona688

I suggest putting a polarizing filter in the way of the light before it goes through the slide. Not that fancy, one of those throwaway polarizer glasses you get at the movies might do. That's what makes the fancy colors AFAIK -- the polarization caused by the various crystals meeting the polarization caused by the filter.

I tried using a polarizing filter on this - you put one filter between the light source and the subject then a second one between the subject and the lens. You rotate one until they're crossed and only the light which has been scattered by the subject comes through.

It didn't come off well with these samples - I don't remember the effect, but the dried whiskey wasn't generating a lot of scattered light. The guy in the IFLS link above was just using light at a high incidence angle (and a different kind of microscope).

[specious_reasons]

More! This time it's Jack Daniels, quite a bit dumped on a flat slide. I think this worked better than the previous attempt. I didn't try polarization, maybe I will tomorrow.





My favorite:

[Dingfod]

Can I just add water and turn it back into whiskey?

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

Can I just add water and turn it back into whiskey?

You might need to add some alcohol as well, and it's probably a bit dustier than when it started.

[Ari]

If you don't mind, quick shoop,

[Dingfod]

Can I get a 24 by 36 poster print of that?

[thedoc]

I would think that if you drank the whiskey your photos would look about the same.

[Janet]

You need to call that Whiskey in the Sky with Diamonds.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

Can I get a 24 by 36 poster print of that?

The original, or Ari's reworking? I'm willing to send Ari the original RAW file for a better source image.

BTW yes, it's totally OK Ari, and I should have the image be under the Creative Commons license specifically because I think it's OK.

My typical goal is accurate reproduction: I want you all to see what I see through the eyepiece of the microscope. If other people see something else or want to reinterpret the image, that's totally cool by me. My only restriction is that if people are going to sell it or otherwise make money, I want to see some benefit from it.

[Ari]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

Can I get a 24 by 36 poster print of that?

Nope, unless you like pixels.
However if SR sends me the larger version I'm happy to redo it and post a big version.

[Dingfod]

Even pixelated it might be a cool thing to hang in the living room.

[specious_reasons]

That was a pretty big Jack Daniel's bottle... That's what I get for buying from Costco.

This is Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon. I may have to try this again - something happened at the perimeter of this drop as it evaporated, and I wonder if it has to do with where I let it evaporate - in the cool downstairs vs. upstairs.

Anyway,

[livius drusus]

Wow, it looks like a Hubble picture.

[JoeP]

It looks like TEETH. (The first two)

[Dingfod]

Over the teeth and through the gums, look out liver, here it comes.

[Crumb]

Jack Daniels has a bite!

[specious_reasons]

So, normally, I do this near the beginning of a new bottle, not at the end, but I had a sub par attempt earlier and didn't get back to it until finishing the bottle last night.

This is Benchmark Old No. 8, which I found an excellent value for a decent Kentucky Bourbon.








The last has this weird line through it. This is on the slide, not a defect of the lens or camera, nor is it a hair in the whiskey or on a lens. I don't know what caused it.

[specious_reasons]

So, Benchmark No. 8 is whiskey that's sold at a discount because it doesn't meet the standards of the distillers at Buffalo Trace, and so Buffalo Trace was the next natural choice of whiskey after my pleasant experience with Benchmark.

As it turns out, it was an even more pleasant subject of photography.

All of these are at a higher magnification, around 100X.




This is around the edge: almost as strange as the Woodbridge "teeth"

[slimshady2357]

That first one in particular looks like outer space. Sweet pics.

[livius drusus]

What are those filaments in the bottom two pictures?

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

What are those filaments in the bottom two pictures?

I don't know exactly, some artifact of the initial phase of the evaporation.

[BrotherMan]

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

What are those filaments in the bottom two pictures?

Originally Posted by BrotherMan

But are they the pug's whiskers or the short hairs?