Heliophyllum infundibulum Horn Coral with Aulocystis

A fine Middle Devonian fossil specimen of a Heliophyllum infundibulum horn coral hosting another coral colony of Aulocystis transitorius. I found this coral in the Beechwood Member, North Vernon Limestone, Givetian Stage of Clark County, Indiana, USA and my cousin Kenny cleaned it with air abrasion. It looks so much different when I spotted it. One could tell it was a horn coral and had another coral colony but WOW he really uncovered a nice size colony on this specimen.

Thanks to Kenny for the pictures.

Horn Coral Image Processed with Helicon

Image of a horn coral that might be either a Hetrophrentis or Siphonophrentis of the Beechwood Member, North Vernon Limestone, Givetian Stage.  The new twist on these image is that they are composites of 2-5 images created by Helicon Focus 5.1. After using the software with just the default it was very quick to start producing processed images.  Right now I am using the 30 day evaluation version.  This program would be really nice to process microscope images.

The image below illustrates the difference between a DSLR camera with 50 mm macro lens image and the Helicon stacked image on the right.  One can see that the depth of field of the lens only lets the middle section of the horn coral to be in focus leaving the top and bottom views blurred.  If a series of images are taken which gradually brings sections of the object into focus, the stacking software can combine the focused sections to create a composite image. This effect can really be seen on microscope images where the specimen has lots of depth.  I do not have a fixed camera mount for the microscope so composite imaging cannot be demonstrated.

The image stacking software was produced by the Ukrainian company Helicon Soft Ltd.  From what I have seen so far, a very nice piece of software.  There is a stacking feature in Photoshop but I did not produce the results like those shown here.  Maybe I am using it incorrectly though.

Horn coral fossil is from the Middle Devonian Period and was found in Clark County, Indiana, USA.

Dolatocrinus vetusus Crinoid

This picture was taken of a fossil in the winning display case at the GeoFair 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

This crinoid calyx fossil is called Dolatocrinus vetusus from the Middle Devonian Period. It was found in the Beechwood Member, North Vernon Limestone from Clark County, Indiana USA.