In order to separate individual, in particular biological, objects from a, in particular biological, preparation the use of a support device is proposed in which a laser light absorbent membrane (1), for example of polyester or polyethylene-naphthalene, to which the biological preparation for processing is to be applied is retained and tensioned, preferably together with carrier means (2) located thereunder, for example, a glass object carrier or a thicker membrane, by means of a retaining device (3, 4) configured in particular as a frame, so that a compact unit is provided. The support device according to the invention is particularly suitable for isolating individual biological objects from a surrounding biological material by means of laser irradiation and for catapulting said biological objects into a collecting device. The combination of a laser light absorbent membrane (1) and a laser light transparent membrane (2) as support for the laser light absorbent membrane (1) is particularly advantageous.