The underside of the cover of the compost tank allows me to observe Dicyrtoma fusca. It cohabits here with Dicyrtomina saundersi throughout the winter. The small size of these springtails makes it difficult to shoot pictures. In order to get a correct magnification I have used a 24mm lens, mounted the reverse way and with the aperture blocked at F/10. This aperture is a trade-off to increase the depth of field while keeping enough light through the viewfinder of the DSLR camera. The use of flash light is mandatory. In order to increase the depth of field on these high-magnification pictures I have started to use the "focus stacking" method. This picture is the merge of 8 shots each with a small focus shift. I have used the CombineZP software which has kept the sharp areas of each shot. You need then to make some manual corrections to remove the artefacts. You can clearly see here the very short third article of the antennae, the dark dorsal line, the yellow marking on the flank and the long and thin white claws.

This picture is the merge of 9 shots each with a small focus shift. For this you need a springtail which remains totally immobile during at least one minute. This not clearly visible to the naked eye but the merge of pictures often shows a movement of the antennae. This is where you need to make some manual corrections, but only by copying and pasting areas of the original photos.

This picture is the merge of 6 shots each with a small focus shift.

I had initially listed this picture as the dark form of Dicyrtomina saundersi, but with a closer look you can see the dark dorsal lines and the yellow markings on the flanks.

All the specimens I observe show rows of white hairs on the face.

The colour of this springtail provides a very efficient camouflage on some dead leaves.