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Dr. C. Mike Smith, Professor of Entomology, works with a small team funded by a modest grant to create the beginnings of a digital entomology lab. This work is in an early phase.
The Entomology Lab in Waters Hall is a space for students to study insect forms and functions.
Students use a variety of equipment to study insects up close.
Insects are divided by orders (and suborders) and families, with both common and Latin-based names.
K-State students use insect capture nets to collect specimens.
This is a set of Berlese funnels that use heat from light bulbs in the top of each tube to move very small insects from grass, leaf, and soil samples into vials at the bottom of each funnel.
The physical entomology lab includes a large collection of insects.
The design question was how to support students studying ENTOM 312 "General Entomology" by providing a similar digital experience to that provided by ENTOM 313 "General Entomology Lab".
Principal investigator, Dr. C. Mike Smith consults with his colleagues in his department and conducts research on the proper equipment. He decides on a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR with an EF 50mm f/2.5 autofocus macro lens.
John Cauthorn, a project employee, rigs a computer box with non-heat producing LCD lights, which he diffuses for an even light effect. He has a styrofoam setup to mount the insects without damaging them. In the background is a grid sheet for general 2D size measures.
This is a close-up of the photo box. The learning that happens on this project will ideally be part of a departmental skill set for future online learning endeavors.
A professional photographer, Waldo Berry (of iTAC) and John Cauthorn discuss the photo box setup. John set up the photo box with a mix of found and professional materials.
Even though plenty of work has gone into researching how the setup should work, there are some additional tweaks and dry-runs at image captures before the images are appropriate for the lab. This project is about building in-house capacity and skill sets as much as it is about capturing images.
John Cauthorn checks the image outputs, which are in extremely high resolution for analysis.
At the camera, John works to get the depth perception correct.This is challenging with such small objects as insects. Even with a high-end camera with a macro lens, he needs to get the image right. Manual focus allows for more precision in many cases.
This is an image of a tomato hornworm moth, Order Lepidoptera, Family Sphingidae. Note the wing patterns created by wing scales. The grid is a 25mm x 25 mm (background) image for general sizing.
This is a close-up of a Braconid Wasp, Order Hymenoptera, Family Braconidae.
Various units on campus have agreed to contribute insects to this project. Often, such goodwill and generosity are necessary for a project to proceed.
There is a microscopy setup that may be used for photographing very small insects.
Scales are captured on a leaf using the microscopy setup.
The selection of the proper insect to "stand in" for a certain order and family is important. The specimen needs to be representational, and it needs to be sufficiently fresh for the proper details.
Not all the specimens are fresh enough to photograph cleanly. This is an image of a Spider Wasp, Order Hymenoptera, Suborder Apocrita, Family Pompilidae.
This image shows an accurately pinned scarab beetle, just to the right of the midline.
This side view of a tiger beetle captures irisdescent coloration and rich textures, in addition to the insect's structure.
This is a side view photograph of a Horntail, Order Hymenoptera, Suborder Symphyta, Family Siricidae.
John makes sure that the insects are posed well to convey their form and structure. He takes specialized images of unique signature structures on certain types of insects.
The photography work is mentally intense and time-consuming. This requires both patience and a focus on details.
One critical element is getting the white color balance correct. The color white has to reflect as white. Initial batches are corrected at the digital photo post-production phase. Another challenge involves capturing the proper metadata and naming protocols.The work is recursive to get things right.
All images go through processing in Adobe Photoshop (to ensure quality). These cannot be batch processed because of the variations in the original images. Limited adjustments may be made through photo editing. Focus, for example, cannot be improved in any measureable way at this stage.
In a K-State Online workspace, the digital images are archived as both .tif and .jpg version for various potential uses in the future--in publishing, presentations, and in digital lab use. Templates and design files are stored, too.
The team is building internal sets of these images in order to create a more in-depth and high functioning digital entomology lab in future phases. Original from-camera (raw) images are archived to protect against "lossiness".
This is a side view of a Robber Fly, Order Diptera, Family Asilidae.
Here is an image of the underside of a praying mantis (female).
This giant water bug is photographed in detail, up close.
To create a layout with the multiple views of an insect from a variety of angles, Adobe InDesign is used to create a visual of these mixed views.
This is an image of a Swallowtail Butterfly, Order Lepidoptera: Family Papilionidae.
This is a multiple view of Sulfur Butterfly, Order Lepidoptera: Family Pieridae with the side view, the front, the back, the top, and the bottom views.
The digital imagery will be delivered as stand-alone informational works, but they'll also be captured in digital learning objects (DLO). These objects will be integrated as course assignments.
The current Digital Entomology Lab is a simple site with a simple listing of the insects. The team will be working towards ensuring a more functional lab with the help of Web developers in the near-future.
Planning continues for the desired website functionality to allow more information-rich interactions and learning for the Digital Entomology Lab site users.
Dr. C. Michael Smith has a Ph.D. in Entomology from Mississippi State University. He and his collaborators have been awarded over $4 million in extramural funding. His research group focuses on identifying genes in barley and wheat plants resistant to Diuraphis noxia. Smith has published widely.

This is a captioned photo album shows the steps taken to start creating a digital entomology lab at K-State.