Reproduction of microscopic images, microphotography

Abstract

Ever since microscopes were introduced as a tool to extend human observation, the microscopist has tried to pass on the information to others. Until the middle of the 19th century, this could be achieved only by means of drawings made by the observer or through the services of a professional artist. The drawing of microscopic images remained a means of communication long after photography came into more general use around 1900. For a long time, photographic techniques remained costly and unreliable, so that until the late 1930s drawing was often preferred as an alternative to photography. Figure 5.1 gives an example of the high level of image reproduction which was reached by professional artists (often employed as illustrators by histological and anatomical laboratories) during this period. An advantage of this method of image reproduction — still in use incidentally today — is the fact that problems of depth of field at higher magnifications can be met by a graphic synthesis of spatial relations within the specimen, such as shown in the comparative thick section depicted in Figure 5.1. A definite disadvantage of a drawing as compared with a photograph — apart from the huge time investment — is of course that a drawing will always remain a subjective reproduction of the microscopic image.