Robert Howington Photography

Genetics Article Test

2010-10-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

Scanning Electron Microscopy

2009-07-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

So...I finally finished summer school a couple of weeks ago. I took Organic Chemistry + Lab and it was amazing! Anyways, I am finally getting around to posting some of the work I do with my research team at Appalachian State. These following images are pretty much the first images I came up with when I was learning how to operate the equipment last fall. These are all images of a common house fly, Musca dominica.

This image shows the multiple hexagonal "ommatidia" that make up Musca dominica's compact eye. What is visible is the actual cornea of the ommatidia. Scanned at nearly 3000x magnification.

This image is showing the area between the head of the fly and it's thorax. Quadrant 2 shows the proboscis of the head.

My Time at Appalachian

2009-02-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

I have not done a lot of photography since I left RCC, but I have definitely kept busy. I am apart of research cluster in the microscopy facility here at Appalachian, and below are some samples of images that I have taken with the different equipment up here:

This is an image of BPAE (Bovine Pulmonary Artery Epithelial) taken on a confocal microscope. The confocal microscope uses lasers from different wavelengths to excite particular dyes. These dyes can be "injected" into certain anatomy, and after exciting them with a specific wavelength of light, they become "excited" and visible. Here,the BPAE cells were labeled with MitoTracker® Red and BODIPY® FL phallacidin to show mitochondria and actin filaments.

The Following images are from a compound microscope. These were used in a research presentation for my microscopy cluster at the SNCURCS (State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium)in November of last year. The final poster presentation is shown as the last image.

Clinorchis Sinensis (Human Blood Fluke)
Anterior sucker and oral cavity

Trypanosoma Gambiense (40x magnification)
This little parasite causes African Sleeping Sickness and is contracted from the bite of the Tsetse Fly

Oral Smear (40x)

These are cheek epithelial cells covered in bacteria, with a visible bacteria strain

Fundus Photography - PDR & Asteroid Hyalosis

2008-07-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is a composite of two fundus images taken of THE SAME patient, a 39 yr. old African female. The left image is ocular dexter and the right image is ocular sinister. I just thought the differences between the two were pretty interesting.

The right eye(left image) shows proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR), while the left eye(right image) shows extreme asteroid hyalosis.

ZEISS Fundus Camera

Fundus Photography - Optic Disc

2008-07-23T11:23:00.001-07:00

This is just me messing around during free time at work. This is a triple composite. First, the background is a composite of all of the disc photos I have shot since working at the WFUBMC Eye Center. Then I put a fundus image of an optic disc with papilledema in front of that and masked some areas.

This is actually super corny, and I am usually against stuff like this. But whatever.

All shot on ZEISS Fundus Camera

Fundus Photography - Malignant Melanoma

2008-07-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, it has been very busy at my internship, and I have been trying to sort everything out for graduation as well.

Anyways, here is an image of a malignant melanoma attached to the retina of the right eye in a 20 yr. old Caucasian male. Another was found in the left eye, but was about 1/20th the size of this one. If you look close enough you can really see the detail within this tumor. The retina itself is out of focus, but only because I wanted focus on the tumor.

ZEISS Fundus Camera

Slit Lamp - Keratic Precipitates

2008-06-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is a photograph of Keratic Precipitates located on the inner endothelial layer of the cornea. This patient had a bad reaction to silicon oil used after a cataract removal and these precipitates formed.

KERATIC PRECIPITATES: Inflammatory cells and white blood cells from the iris and ciliary body that enter the aqueous and adhere to the innermost corneal surface (endothelium).

What is seen where the lens should be is not actually a cataract, because that was removed, it is actually part of the reaction to the silicon oil building up anterior the lens.

Slit Lamp - Post Traumatic Scleritis

2008-06-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

Another Slit-lamp image taken of a patient with Scleritis after trauma. Most patients we shoot on the Slit-lamp are photo-phobic (extremely sensitive to light) because of their anterior pathology, and it is not often you have a cooperative patient. They always pull away after every shot and complain. For this patient, we had to have three people in the room; myself, taking the photos, and two technicians forcing the patients head forward and pulling the eyelids open.
Also, sometimes the doctors will come in the camera room and want to watch, which was also the case for this patient, who was to immediately go into surgery after I finished the photographs. No pressure.

SCLERITIS: Inflammation of the Sclera

Slit-Lamp Camera:
Nikon D100's

Slit Lamp - Pterygium

2008-06-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

Below is an image of what is called Pterygium. The "P" is silent.

PTERYGIUM: An abnormal, wedge-shaped growth on the bulbar conjuctiva, often related to sun irritation.

Slit-Lamp Camera:
Nikon D100's

Macular Nevus

2008-06-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is a nevus located beneath the macula in the choroid layer of the eye.

NEVUS: (Mole) Small, flat, usually pigmented benign tumor made up of specific cells called nevus cells; found in skin and eye tissues.

Zeiss fundus camera

The Operating Room: DSEK

2008-06-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is a shot taken in the operating room during a DSEK procedure.

DSEK:
Descemet's Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty.

This procedure is done to replace and repair the tissue of the cornea. Instead of a corneal transplant that damages many endothelial cells and takes a long time to recover from, this procedure takes a donor cornea endothelial layer and places it through a small incision, allowing less recovery time as well as a lot less damage to the corneal cells. The following image shows the step by step process, from the donor cornea in the first image, to the placement and unfolding of the donor corneal layer, to the injection of an air bubble to hold the graft in place for proper healing position.

*This same patient had a cataract removed and an IOL (Intra-Ocular Lens) inserted just minutes before the DSEK procedure.

Nikon D70x
ISO:200
105mm micro w/ PN-ll extension tube
F/16 w/ ringflash 1/2 power

Cataract Composite

2008-06-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

This image is a composite of 4 images taken on the slit-lamp camera. Each separate image is called a red-reflex image, because you are lighting the posterior of the eye, and focusing on the anterior lens, so the cataract can be viewed somewhat like a silhouette. So two of the photos were at the nearest plane of sharp focus, while the other two were at the farthest plane of sharp focus. I used Photoshop to mask them together to show the full depth of the cataract.

Definition of Cataract: Opacity or cloudiness on the crystalline lens, which may prevent a clear image from forming on the retina.

Slit lamp: Nikon D100's
ISO: 200
F/22 w/ constant flash

Pyogenic Granuloma

2008-06-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

This is an external shot of a pyogenic Granuloma. A breakdown of what exactly this means:

Pyogenic: Producing Pus.

Granuloma: Dense collection of cells consisting of various inflammatory types.

THEREFORE: This is a growth of epitheliod (skin) cells, filled with pus.

Nikon D70x
ISO:200
60mm macro
F/22 @ 1/80

Finally....

2008-06-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

Oh blogger where art thou? It's been about three months since I have even looked at one of these bad boys. I decided today that I will begin posting again due to the completion of my biology classes as well as the completion of my college admissions stuff. So in other words, I'm bored.
Most of what I'll be posting from now on is likely to be relative to my internship at Wake Forest University Eye Center as an Ophthalmic Photographer. I am not going to go into depth describing what is in these images, but only simple explanations for easy understanding. I hope everyone enjoys them.
This first image is a fundus(the inside) image of my own eyes. These were taken by David Miller, a co-worker of mine and a graduate of RCC. The photos are in sequence, right eye, left eye. This is also referred to as OD(Ocular Dexter), OS(Ocular Sinister).

Brad Bogden: A Portrait Profile

2008-02-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Espresso News/Mosaic Books Soundslide

2008-02-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

"Acrylic Canvas"

2008-02-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

A canvas with mixed acrylic paint. Shot 1:1 using a Vivitar 285 and a make-shift soft box. The specular highlights were very difficult to control because of the various angles, as well as the glossiness of the paint. I love the colors though, so many more attempts in due time.

Nikon D200
ISO: 400
F/22 @ 1/125th
55mm with 27.5mm extension tube

"Class Ring Emblem"

2008-02-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

Close up of my high school class ring cross country emblem shot in studio on chrome. I liked the light on the upper body of the he/she. I shot this with speedo strobes, with the light over top shooting through a diffusion screen with fill cards below reflecting upwards. 4:1 ratio.

Nikon FM2 on Fujichrome
ISO:100 (old film, actually around 75)
F/16 @ 1/60th
105mm lens all out w/ 190mm of extension

"Macro Cleaner"

2008-02-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

The nozzle of a squirt bottle. I have been trying to capture a bit of action in my recent macro set-ups, so I attempted at freezing the water coming out. Therefore, I used a vivitar 285 set on manual, and fill cards for the opposite side. 2:1 ratio.

Nikon D200
ISO: 100
F/16 @ 1/125th
105mm lens w/ 52.5mm of extension

Match-fire

2008-02-07T18:55:00.001-08:00

A matchstick photographed in my apartment using Alien Bee strobes on either side, with gobo's flagging light off of the background. Depth of field was shallow, but I felt the actual flame carried the image. Around 2:1 ratio.

Nikon D200
ISO:100
F/8 @ 1 second
55mm w/ 108mm extension

Toenail

2008-02-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

A piece of toenail just after being detached from the toe. A product of Hematoma, which caused the nail to fall off in its own time. This was shot with Alien Bee strobes, and tissue paper as a soft box. 4:1 ratio.

Nikon D200
ISO: 100
F/11 @ 1/125th
55mm, 227.5 mm extension

Asheboro Boulders

2008-02-06T07:06:00.001-08:00

"Rosary Skull"

2008-01-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

A skull on the bottom of an antique rosary. This was shot with the same camera set up as the below mushroom bead. This time I back lit through a diffusion screen and put a little fill light onto the front. 2:1 ratio.

Nikon D200
ISO:100
F/16 @ 1/60th
105mm, 102.5 mm of extension

"Macroshroom"

2008-01-31T18:56:00.000-08:00

This is a glass bead I shot for macro. I used the bellows, a 105mm, and an extension tube. Lit with a speedotron strobe from above through a diffusion screen. Lots of fill cards around the sides, and a black gobo for shading the background. This is 2:1 ratio.

Nikon D200
ISO: 100
F/16 @ 1/60th
105mm 102.5mm extension

Macro: Top-Sider

2008-01-24T19:32:00.001-08:00

My shoelace eye was the subject in this macro photograph. I lit this with two speedotron heads. One hitting a diffusion screen on the left and the other front lighting with a green gel on it. This macro ratio is about 1.8:1.

Nikon Nikkormat E100G Chrome
ISO: 100
F/11 @ 1/125th
105mm micro lens with 122.5mm extension

Macro: Toothpicks

2008-01-24T19:17:00.001-08:00

Another macro photograph, this time of some wooden toothpicks. This was shot with chrome. Huh? Chrome!! Oh.. This was actually really easy to light, I just used a speedotron, pointing it downward onto the scene. The ratio is around 2.85:1, or 2.85 magnification.

Nikon Nikkormat E100G Chrome
ISO:100
F/11 @ 1/60
105mm micro lens with 218.5mm extension

"Aeshna Isosceles"

2008-01-17T09:20:00.001-08:00

This is Aeshna Isosceles, a dragonfly. I shot this lady with the pb-6 and pb-5 bellows, two extension tubes, and a 105 micro lens. I used Speedo strobes and a homemade soft box to light her, while placing green and red reflective paper under her for accent colors.

Nikon D200
ISO:100
F/22 @ 1/250th
105mm micro w/ 340mm extension

"Hemangioma"

2008-01-17T07:44:00.000-08:00

This was another "first attempt" in the macro scene. The image is of epidermis on the posterior 3rd phalange. I used the PB-6 and PB-5 Bellows and two extension tubes. In all, there was 470 mm of extension and an 85mm lens, creating roughly a 10:1 ratio. The red granules in the skin are hemangioma, or marks caused by blood vessels close to the skin. I used Speedotrons pumped to F/64

Nikon D200
ISO:100
F/16 @ 1/125th
85mm lens with 470mm of extension

Over Break

2008-01-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

Over the break, I photographed some kitchen interiors that will be used in the showroom of Apex Cabinet Company in Apex, NC. Itwas my first time lighting large interiors on location, so I learned a lot. I used 2 alien bee strobes and 2 broncolor minipuls for the overall light, and then had 2 flashes optically slaved for detailed area illumination. I used a 35mm digital, so it couldn've looked better shot large format, but I was in a hurry.

Nikon D200 - ISO:200 - F/16 @ 1/15th - 19mm

Macro: 1st attempt

2008-01-14T05:35:00.000-08:00

This was one of my first attempt shots for our macro-photography course. I used the pb-6 bellows, two extension tubes, and the 105 mm micro lens. In all, there was 280.5 mm of extension. I set up the butterfly with a blue piece of foam board behind, which had white spots on it. I was attempting to have the sky look as if it had clouds in it.

Nikon D200 - ISO:100 - F/22 @1/250th

Christmas Musical

2007-12-12T14:57:00.001-08:00

Heather Fenske sings a solo during Apex Baptist Church's annual Christmas musical during a matinée performance Saturday the 8th. I didn't light this, but I know the guys who lit this.

Nikon D200
ISO: 800
F/2.8 @ 1/90th
255mm

Portrait: Caleb Douglas Moore

2007-12-12T14:38:00.000-08:00

This portrait is of my nephew Caleb Moore. He wouldn't sit still until I finally let him play with my banjo, so thats why he has a banjo. I shot this with a white lightning set with attached umbrellas in the living room of my parents house.

Nikon D200
ISO: 400
F/ll @ 125th
100mm

Hair-mask assignment

2007-12-04T23:32:00.001-08:00

Hair mask assignment for Digital Class. This was neat to do, even though the backgrounds weren't the best choice. The model was lit with a Farrell light and fill, while the background was lit with three speedo heads.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/16
62mm

Portrait: Kathryn Tune

2007-12-04T23:20:00.000-08:00

Image of Kathryn Tune for the long term portrait assignment. This shot was for the subject's "hobby" portrait, which is climbing. I used a vivitar 285 w/ softbox and available light. Shot on Howard's Knob,in Boone, N.C.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/8 @ 125th
17mm

4x5 flower macro

2007-11-28T18:17:00.001-08:00

This is a shot of a Black Eyed Susie I did for Large Format portfolio. I attached 3 4x5 Sinar Bellows together to get the macro affect. I used the Farrell strobe to light it and hotlights to focus. Don't ask how long it took to focus 3 bellows.

Sinar F-1 4x5
ISO:100 T-Max
F/16 @ 64 pops....yea
210mm w/ 3 bellows (1000mm?)

Bobby Cox

2007-11-28T15:45:00.001-08:00

This is a portrait of Bobby Cox, in his newly completed log cabin. I shot this portrait to be included as part of my "Quick Hit" photo-story for photo-journalism class. I used white lightning strobes to light the background, and a vivitar 285 to light the subject.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/11 @ 1/125th
17mm

macro-picks

2007-11-20T08:48:00.001-08:00

The above image was shot for large-format portfolio. This was a macro set-up of colored toothpicks stuck in some Styrofoam. The light source was a Farrell light with some minor fill (too small of an object to noticeably accent). I Flügged a lot to show major distortion and fall-off.

Sinar F-1 w/ Kodak E100G Slide Film
ISO:100
F/16
65mm

"Outdoor Portrait"

2007-11-20T05:11:00.000-08:00

This shot was done for our Bio-Portrait class' "Outdoor" Portrait that we had to shoot on location, using flash, while balancing it with available light. For this particular shot, I used a viv-285 w/ soft box, coming in from the left, to light the subject (Kathryn), while placing the subject in the available sunlight's rays. I was attempting to have the sun come through as a hair light. This was shot in Blowing Rock, NC, off of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/8 @ 1/125th
80mm

Jimellos

2007-11-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

This photograph was taken at the end of last summer over break. It is scanned in E-6 film that I retouched and color-managed to look semi-antique. I liked the curve of the pool and the straightness of the subject (my girlfriend Kathryn). Shot with available daylight.

Hasselblad 500c
Fujichrome
F/22 @ 1/125
80mm

Metal

2007-11-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

This photograph was taken for small format portfolio, in which one object had to be metal. I grabbed a spoon from the kitchen and shot it, loving the detail in the texture, as well as the symmetry. I used two large diffusion screens lit with 750's, while gobo-ing the background hard, to keep light off of it.

Canon 5D Dental Kit
ISO: 100
F/22 @ 1/60
100mm EF

Grandmother Mountain

2007-11-07T18:32:00.001-08:00

This photograph is from Summer semester small format class, in which we had to create a "how to" video. My subject was "How to climb boulders", which was mostly shot on location in Boone, NC. The climber shown is Yonathan Lewit. I used a vivitar 285 on a light-stand for lighting.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/3.5 @ 1/60
18mm

Environmental Portrait: Ann Cutter

2007-11-07T18:19:00.001-08:00

This photograph was done for the "Environmental Portrait" in Bio-Communications Photojournalism class. Pictured above is Ann Cutter, a Biology teacher at Randolph Community College. I lit the scene using two vivitar 285's, one front/side lighting the subject, and the other behind the subject with a folded amber gel attached. I constructed the scene to be symmetrical, while still personalizing the subject through her surroundings.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/6.7 @ 1/60
52mm

Glass snail

2007-10-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

For our ending compilation of photos, we were required to have a glass photograph, so this is what I ended up with. This is a candle holder, open side down, covering a snail shell on black plexi-glass. I liked how the majority of the frame is actually the reflection of the glass piece. I used alien bees in studio, with diffusion panels surrounding the glass, and about 67.3 Gobos or other modifiers all through-out.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/22
112mm

Hydrogen-Oxygen-Hydrogen

2007-10-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

This was our "Water" assignment, where we had to photograph our perception of water. The goal was for the viewer to known right away what the photograph was of, and for the subject to be clear. I used 2 vivitar 285's on flash stands, each slaved(one radio, and one prism). I hung a bag of water over a bowl of water and poked a hole in the bag for the drip. The blue is coming from a blue set of lids under the bowl, and the background is a pillowcase.

Nikon D200
ISO: 200
F/8 @ 1/250th
135mm

Ehhhgggxactly

2007-10-25T10:43:00.001-07:00

This photograph was shot for our "Incredible, Edible, Egg" Assignment, in which we had to advertise an/or egg/eggs to show its importance and popularity. I chose to model my shot after memories I have pertaining to eggs, and their involvement with spoons in many old childhood games I played. I shot this assignment in the studio over a wooden table, w/ articulating arms holding the spoons up. The eggs were then hard-boiled and cracked on one side so that they would stand up on the spoons.

Nikon D200
ISO: 100
F/3.2
60mm

First Year Slide Show

2007-10-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is a quicktime movie we had to piece together for our first year digital class. It includes some works from my first year and before. All of the photographs were shot on film and then placed on the computer.

"chocolate"

2007-10-22T09:11:00.001-07:00

This photograph was shot for the "Chocolate" assignment, in which we had to come up with a scene that could be used as a cover for a story on how chocolate can be a healthy nutritional choice. I used speedotron strobes as the light source. The cup of chocolate syrup was held up by an articulating arm, and the rest was set up on a pedestal.

Nikon D200
ISO: 100
F/16 + 1/2
60mm