I guess the coloring is faked to make these images look better (or in the case of electron microscopy to have color at all). Would an AI be able to produce these colors given an EM image?
The false colouring is mainly due to the fact that they are using beams of electrons, not visible light. But a typical virus is ~100nm ( https://book.bionumbers.org/how-big-are-viruses/ ) and the wave length of green light ~500 nm. So I guess it isn't really meaningful to ask 'what colour is a virus'.
Sadly it's a dying art form. 40-50 years ago every scientific university department used to have a scientific photographer to allow the researchers to publish their photos in articles. My own godfather was a scientific photographer who retired and started commercializing scientific photos.
Unfortunately now, due to shrinking budgets and the proliferation of iPhones the need for such photographers is vanishing.
If you have an SLR/DSLR camera you can buy a macro lens and a flash and get some surprisingly good close ups of insects - with all sorts of details you can't see with the naked eye. You can safari in your own garden or nearby land. It opens up a whole new world. You'll need an electron microscope for viruses though!
You can even shoot in the field using a microscope! I designed a 3D-printed mount to attach a $25 4x microscope objective to a DSLR or mirrorless camera:
Cool. If you don't have a microscope and 3d printer than check out Laowa macro lenses. They are fairly affordable. Note that they are manual focus, auto focus is generally not very for macro photography.
In macro photography, flashes are usually used with a big diffuser. Ring lights probably have their own issues and don't seem to be that popular with macro photographers (from my non-expert knowledge).
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 49.6 ms ] thread[1] https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/photomicrography-c...
I'd love to see these in a museum with background information about the subjects and stories like the raspberry fungus.
Unfortunately now, due to shrinking budgets and the proliferation of iPhones the need for such photographers is vanishing.
If you have an SLR/DSLR camera you can buy a macro lens and a flash and get some surprisingly good close ups of insects - with all sorts of details you can't see with the naked eye. You can safari in your own garden or nearby land. It opens up a whole new world. You'll need an electron microscope for viruses though!
https://www.printables.com/model/143754-microscope-adapter-f...
A shorter version of the adapter "underclocks" the objective to 2x magnification, which is much easier to hand-hold:
https://www.printables.com/model/397489-microscope-adapter-f...
If you already have a 3D printer then this is a very cheap way to get started.
Chloé Savard is a scientist who contributes to the series, she posts beautiful microcosmos photos on instagram
https://www.instagram.com/tardibabe
Enjoy!