botanybyyen

[botanybyyen]

Okay it's time for another plant- this time featuring Prostanthera incisa (Lamiaceae)! And now diving deep into anther lore, because their anthers are really cool. They're basically clasped together and only seperate after being disturbed by a pollinator. The filaments and connective parts are white/pink while the theca are a vibrant purple (the theca is the part where the pollen is formed). They are speckled with pollen that look like grains of rice. Really gorgous plants to look at under the microscope.

[botanybyyen]

Maybe it wasn't a good time to try lowering my antidepressant dose

[botanybyyen]

Brain has been bad, so I drew a Siphanta acuta (leafhopper/plabthopper). I love these guys so much, they have vein patterns to look like leaves and little red snoots. 😭 Gonna turn him into a sticker.

[botanybyyen]

Those 400 photos ended up making 27 finished images! The power of focus stacking. 😅

Focus stacking isn't for the faint of heart (or disc space). This was like 30 min of shooting and there's 400 photos. 😬

[botanybyyen]

Focus stacking isn't for the faint of heart (or disc space). This was like 30 min of shooting and there's 400 photos. 😬

[botanybyyen]

This is what they look like on the wild! They are so SMALL. They are so pretty! These ones I found on some Acacia fronds ❤️❤️❤️

When I'm not experiencing excruciating existential dread or playing with plants I draw bugs. This is a juvenile Ellipsidion australe cockroach native to Eastern Australia and they're super sweet and pretty.

Then I turned him into a sticker because no one stopped me 🕺

[botanybyyen]

When I'm not experiencing excruciating existential dread or playing with plants I draw bugs. This is a juvenile Ellipsidion australe cockroach native to Eastern Australia and they're super sweet and pretty.

Then I turned him into a sticker because no one stopped me 🕺

[botanybyyen]

This is the reproductive parts of Swainsona sericea, a pea plant native to south-eastern Australia. Featured here is its curved style with a line of hairs on its inward side (which are COVERED in yellow pollen grains). The very tip of this is the stigma, which is where pollen needs to get to and germinate for the plant to make seeds. This species is considered endangered in Victoria (FFG Act), where I live, but I was lucky enough to grow some plants from seed for a reintroduction project in my undergrad. The blurry background is its petals!

Taken under a microscope with my phone and then focus-stacked.

[botanybyyen]

Know your insect antennae!

[botanybyyen]

A bit about my macro photography: I use a dissecting microscope plus my phone camera! One photo can be made up of 5-15+ seperate shots at different focal lengths and focus-stacked in Affinity Photo to make them extra sharp. But yeah, all taken with a microscope and phone. 😄 🔬

[botanybyyen]

Hi, I'm Yen! I'm (currently) a Masters student who works on the conservation of threatened plant taxa (with a special focus on clonality, reproductive sterility and pollen). I started taking photos down the lense of a microscope in my undergrad in 2020, right at the start of lockdowns. Since then its morped from rough microscope shots to me making focus-staked images like this lil guy (which is a Callistemon flower bud opening up).

I've been on tumblr since 2015 mostly meme sharing and figured it was time to post like...my actual work, which deserves its own page.

Before we get too far, free Palestine. I'm non-binary and queer. I'm an immigrant who moved from the US to Australia in 2015. I have diagnosed cPTSD, anxiety and depression. Not tolerant of intolerance.