File:Tough as Diamonds (52609958477).jpg

Previously I had photographed rough natural diamonds that fluoresce blue and yellow as a light source for a micrometeorite. The diamonds themselves, however, are an amazing subject. Resting on a first-surface mirror, it took roughly a half hour to get the two crystals to rest properly together. This is a 406-image focus stack taken with a Mitutoyo Plan APO 10x objective.

Stacking this many images is a challenge. To capture the focus slices, an automated rail is vastly preferred to any manual approach. I have used and love the Cognisys StackShot for years, but my current go-to focusing rail is the Novoflex CASTEL-MICRO: <a href="https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1675563-REG/novoflex_castel_micro_auto_step_motor.html/BI/8924/KBID/10335/kw/NOCASTELMCR/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xNOCASTELMCR" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1675563-REG/novoflex_caste...</a> . It is, in a word, expensive. You’ll need to get the appropriate cable release for it as well. For larger subjects, such accuracy is not required, but when you get into 10x and beyond magnifications, stability is important.

Processing is also important as well – these images were combined with Helicon Focus, made by HeliconSoft – a Ukrainian company based in Kharkiv. If you have any use for focus stacking software at all, please check them out: <a href="https://www.heliconsoft.com/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.heliconsoft.com/</a> . I typically use “Mode B” for subjects like this, which is a depth map algorithm. In this case, multiple renders with the radius slider set to various points from 3 to 20 were used, which is helpful to get maximum surface details on non-opaque subjects.

My last update on Ukraine was recent, but many things are always happening. In a somewhat surprise move, Germany has agreed to provide Ukraine with one of their Patriot Air Defense systems, after the United States had promised to do so. These are some of the best surface-to-air missile defense systems in the world. Russia just lost a further 5 MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) units in the past 24 hours, systems which have been a key component in their war strategy. Ukraine is gaining strength as Russia becomes weaker and more desperate.

The aid from allies doesn’t stop. The US is also sending Sea Sparrow missiles as part of a ground-based anti-aircraft system. Russia uses attack helicopters along with fighter jets and bombers to destroy civilian targets daily, but these are anything but stealthy aircraft. The RIM-7 Sea Sparrow has active radar homing with a range of 19km, which will help keep the front lines safer. Normally they’d be mounted to ships, but Ukraine has no navy. At the start of the war, they sunk their only battleship (the Hetman Sahaidachny) to prevent it from being used by the enemy.

Russian troops have gained a small amount of ground around Soledar ( <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/jhMPZnWpesWMHUbK9" rel="noreferrer nofollow">goo.gl/maps/jhMPZnWpesWMHUbK9</a> ) which is Northeast of Bakhmut, one of the areas that has seen the most intense fighting of the war. The front lines in this area have nudged back and forth constant in recent months, and the region is responsible for the majority of the Russian casualties. It’s a battle that Russia will not win – their soldiers will all die trying. It makes me think that this might even be Putin’s intention: why cater to criminals in prison when you can just send them all to their deaths in Ukraine? Economically, it makes sense – if you’re an inhuman monster.

From a distance, a protracted combat zone like can be seen in satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies ( <a href="https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1611242193120813058" rel="noreferrer nofollow">twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1611242193120813058</a> ). All that’s left are blown-apart concrete shells of buildings. If this looks like some of the devastation you’ve seen in Syria and elsewhere, understand that Russia was responsible for that as well. When you get closer, the impact is so much more powerful. How many lives lost or destroyed? Shelling on January 4th killed two civilians in Bakhmut – imagine, through all this, that you still had to live there. Or that you didn’t want to leave your home to looters. You had nowhere else to go, but to stay in hell on earth. Today, Russian shelling in Kherson has killed six people, including a twelve year old.

So much of the news these days is filled with the asinine antics of US politicians and celebrities. The only mention of most Western media is the possibility of a Christmas ceasefire (Orthodox Christmas is January 7th). Even if Putin claims to want a ceasefire, every single negotiation he has done was in bad faith and full of lies. Tomorrow is Christmas for many, though in a move to distance themselves from Russia, many Ukrainians have begun celebrating on December 25th.