Name: Dirk Vermaire
Picture title: Embryonic
Category: Manmade World
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Independent Consultant

Dirk says:
‘As a chemist I find it intriguing to see how precipitates or crystals are formed on a small scale and the shapes they take. As a photographer I love the abstract images that are formed, and it is fun to see how different people look at them and what they see in them. The human brain always seems to make associations and two people will often have totally different associations when looking at the same image.

Five drops of a sodium oxalate solution were successively flowed into a thin layer of copper sulphate solution surrounded by oil. Copper oxalate is formed as tiny crystals (approx. 30µm) that reflect the polarised light differently depending on their orientation. The image shows the crystal distribution. As the oxalate is added, crystal formation starts and develops as the two solutions mix. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for the image to develop completely, after which it slowly fades as the crystals dissolve again. The oil lights up as orange.’

Technical information:
Canon EOS R
Canon EF 100mm f/2,8L Macro IS
ISO 800
f/9
1/30sec
Accessories: Tripod, Canon Drop-in Filter Mount Adapter EF-EOS R with Circular Polarising Filter, LED panel light with polarisation film.
Post processing: Basic adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop. Helicon Focus 7 for focus-stacking six images.

Website: visualchemistry
Behance: dirkvermaire