‘Structure’: 4K Shots of Organic Things Magnified up to 1000x
Structure is a new short film by photographer Drew Geraci, who used a microscope and 4K camera to capture the beauty of ordinary organic objects when magnified up to 1000x.
“It all started with a single shot – a small frozen snowflake I captured using a 100mm macro lens,” Geraci writes. “I’ve shot plenty of macro photography in the past, but for some reason, this image ignited my imagination and passion to shoot.
“So I did what any sane person would do — bought a microscope with camera capabilities and I started to shoot everyday objects at 1000x+ magnifications.”
Geraci visited the grocery store and purchased as many unique-looking organic foods he could find, and then spent 30 days shooting the 20+ subjects at different magnifications.
Everything was shot with a Sony a9 mirrorless camera looking through a microscope, and the motion was done by connecting the lower microscope tray to a stepper motor, which created microscopic slider moves.
Here’s what Geraci has to say about the challenges he faced in shooting this project:
Since I was capturing motion now everything needed to be 100% completely still. This was the hard part at 1000x magnification. I must have filmed the same sequence 10 or 20 times before I got a completely still and usable shot. The slightest vibration could easily ruin the scene.
The next challenge was lightning. Capturing video via a microscope requires a ton of light and the microscope’s light is only so powerful. Each bulb only lasted for up to 3 hours at max power before they would die. I must have gone through 8 or 9 bulbs during the course of filming (and they’re not cheap bulbs!). Because of this, I needed to rig up external lightning that could help illuminate the scene. I ended up using a small Manfrotto Lykos light which did the trick.
You can find more of Geraci’s work on his website, Twitter, and Facebook.