Hanging Off the Bones of a Post

 Fencepost of the Week #231

Photogrammetry of Very Small Things

 Exciting progress on 'photogrammetry of very small things' this evening: I have devised a simple, but effective rostrum for photographing tiny subjects from every angle. 

 

 Rostrum made from a flower pot, 2 cardboard circles and a wine cork. Lighting from a very small torch fastened to the rig by a rubber band; there is a white sticky label on the light to make the lighting more diffuse.

A shrivelled, dry Cladonia caespiticia specimen. Small... and very frilly. The ruler is cm, not inches.

A really quite detailed 3d model generated from 60 photos taken from various angles. This time I used Apple's free 3d Scanner App which is easy to use and the results seem okay so far. 

Here is one of the 60 source photos used to construct the 3d model:

Here's a link to the resulting 3d model: https://3dviewer.net/#model=https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2o33u6wbjwsqj07to1p32/CladoniaCaespiticiaModel.zip?rlkey=3vmlxhudxoatpm6d366zzw46s&st=bz8nymih&dl=0

 

 ...and a second one: Cetrelia cetraroides. This one was done on a cloudy day with no artifical light sources. 3d view here.

 

 You can also download the model files and use them with your own 3d software here: dropbox. If you have VR, why not try sticking it in there, and blow it up to the size of a house! =o)

 

Keeping It Green

 Fencepost of the Week #230

Rewire

 Fencepost of the Week #229

Snow Pole

 Fencepost of the Week #228

A 2m high wooden post by the side of the road, painted in black and white bands to indicate the line of the road in deep snow.

iNaturalist Population Maps

 It's not perfect data by any means, but you can make some pretty interesting insights by browsing iNaturalist's species maps.

As someone who was very enthusiastic about reptlies growing up, it was always perplexing to me how I could never find any reptiles near where I lived in Central Scotland. Whenever I went on holiday I would find plenty, but not at home. As you can see from the iNaturalist data, I am not alone in finding reptiles to be scarce in the Central Belt.

Adder - Vipera berus - iNaturalist observations.

Slow worm - Anguis fragilis - iNaturalist observations

Also, Slow worms *really dislike* Italy:

Bleached n Blobbed

 Fencepost of the Week #227

Sun bleached wood and blobs of moss. Lovely.