Photoshop Distilled: Basic Black and White Image Adjustment for Microscopists

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Ready or not, digital imaging in the microscope lab is here to stay. While I am one of those fogies who insist that digital images are nowhere near as good as photographic prints, I've also bowed to the inevitable, and begun to find ways to assist clients in our multi-user facility with their digital imaging needs. We can acquire digital images from our FESEM, with a CCD camera on our EFTEM, from our light microscope with a CCD, and from a flatbed scanner. Clients use their images for image analysis, transport to others scientists via the Internet or World Wide Web, for reports, slides, overhead transparencies, and publication. Generally, these images need to be manipulated for use, just as one wouid manipulate a photographic print in the darkroom to correct any deficiencies in exposure or area of view.