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Taking wing images

honeybee (Apis mellifera) wings____________________
Wing images provided to DrawWing should be at resolution 2400x2400 dpi or more. In order to obtain high quality images of insects wings I recommend using photographic scanners. Before scanning the wings should be detached from insects bodies and mounted in glass photographic slide mounts. The mounted wings should not touch each other. To prevent wings movement you can use small amount of 70% alcohol. You should not scan the framed wings until the alcohol evaporates, otherwise, there will be visible droplets.
I use:
  • Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED scanner
  • automatic slide feeder SF-210
  • Rowi 260 and Reflecta GL mounts

You can download examples of wing images obtained using this equipment.
Some people obtained good results using flatbed scanner equipped with transparency adapter. In this case wings can be placed on the scanner and covered with piece of glass. If you are using digital camera or microscope equipped with camera you need to make sure that the image background is uniform. The images should be taken in transmitted and not reflected light.


tape mounted wings____________________
An example of incorrect wing mounting
DrawWing will not work correctly with images of poor quality. The wings should not be mounted using transparent plastic tape because of air bubbles formed below the tape. Moreover the wings should not touch each other.
reflected light____________________
A wing image taken in reflected light. Background is not uniform. There are bright reflections along the veins. Some veins are not visible.