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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 13:05 Post subject: Smithsonian 2012 |
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I had the chance to spend time in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Naturally I went to the mineral hall. I took a few pictures, which for the most part do not overlap with ones already taken. There some some duplicates, but since the picture is different, it seems worth posting anyway.
I hope you enjoy. And please remember this is a crowded busy museum with all minerals behind plastic which is ioften scratched and somewhat dirty - so make allowances for the photography :-)
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Note the lens cap in the middle bottom for scale. Michigan copper |
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 13:12 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Quartz from Namibia. Again there is a lens cap in the bottom center for scale. |
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Baryte from Cumbria, England |
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Baryte from Cumbria, England |
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Dolomite from Eugui, Spain |
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Powellite from Nasik, India |
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Baryte from England (no more specific locality provided) |
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Pyrite from Navajun, Spain |
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Fluorite from La Collada, Spain |
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Rhodochrosite from Silverton, Colorado, USA |
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 13:24 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Galena and calcite from the Ozark Lead Mine, Missouri |
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Fluorite from Dalnegorsk, Russia |
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Wulfenite from the Glove Mine, Arizona |
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Calcite on sphalerite with fluorite from Elmwood, TN, USA |
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Ferro-axinite from Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil |
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Large Stibnite from Japan |
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Zircon from Alteelva River, Norway |
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Fluorite from Cumbria England. |
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From a shape display showing how similar garnet and tourmaline can be. |
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Fluorite on quartz from Uri, Switzerland |
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Duftite in calcite from Tsumeb |
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 13:28 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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These are all from the same display case, showing that one mineral can have many different shapes
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Another from the same display |
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Apologies for the focus. I almost left it off, but it is part of the many shapes of calcite story. |
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 16:08 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Wulfenites from their One Mineral Many Shapes case.
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 19:35 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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The above wulfenites were part of a suite of "one mineral many shapes" Here is the whole case.
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 19:39 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Ok, now on to the case called "Mineral Friends"
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 19:46 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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These two are form the India Minerals Case
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Mesolite and apophyllite from Poona, India |
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 20:25 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Now from the zeolites case
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 20:43 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Now from the Silicate Gallery
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Sugilite from South Africa. This was fun listening to a group of women try to pronounce. They saw me photographing it, so assumed I knew something. One asked me how to pronounce it - I told it it was named after Dr Sugi ... so .... |
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 21:21 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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From the phosphates, Arsenates, and Vanadates Gallery.
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 707
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jul 21, 2012 22:02 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Thanks to the Simonoffs (Jessica? Bob?) for another series of photos from another place displaying minerals. Separately, I have been reading about Googles efforts to photo/map the insides of museums, just like with their Street View app. The Simonoff picts prompted me to go see if Google had mapped the insides of the mineral hall yet. What i found instead was a wonderful app from the Smithsonian that does the same thing. Go to:
https://www.mnh.si.edu/vtp/1-desktop/
(link normalized by FMF)
Look to the upper right of your screen and click on the button marked "second," which will take you to the second floor. Clicking that button also brings up a map, and you can click on any of the blue dots in the hall of minerals to fly to that location. When you walk around, you sometimes see a camera icon that you can click to bring up better photos of areas.
I have just spent the past fifteen minutes virtually walking around the Smithsonian, trying to put the excellent Simonoff pictures in context. Much FUN!
I wonder when Google or other museums put similar things up on the web.
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Tobi
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 4112
Location: Germany
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 02:52 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Thank you for this wonderful pictures!
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4900
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 03:55 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Tobi wrote: | Thank you for this wonderful pictures! |
Absolutely! ;-)
Good pics by the way....
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John S. White
Site Admin
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1295
Location: Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 04:48 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Bob:
Those are some of the best photos that anyone has posted of minerals on display, very nice work! It is not easy to obtain such fine photos of minerals behind glass.
_________________ John S. White
aka Rondinaire |
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bugrock
Joined: 24 Nov 2008
Posts: 137
Location: Michigan
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 07:36 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Agree these images are great for objects behind glass. Can you share your methods?
Did you edit these images to avoid reflections?
George
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 09:06 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Wow thanks everyone! What a wonderful thing to see first thing in the morning. I have taken photos at the Smithsonian before and gotten glare (even somehow gotten photos of myself instead of the case contents). I tried using my hand and/or paper as a diffuser and still was not happy. So I took these without flash, as an experiment, to see what would happen.
I set the camera to Av mode. This pinned the aperture to my selected setting, f4, since that would let it in the most light. Then I turned the ISO to the lowest number that allowed enough time so the shutter would stay open for more than 1/60 of a second. For most cases that was 800, but for some it was 1600, like the cat's eyes that will be posted later on. Then I braced as best I could for each shot. When the first 2 were minerals ok, I shot the rest. I also found that placing the camera lens against the plastic - yes lens touching the plastic GENTLY - eliminated almost all reflections of me, other guests and kids doing things I won't mention.
In Photoshop, I use white balance and unsharp mask automatically on all pictures. I found that in all cases where the color still looked wrong, after white balancing, Auto Color Correction seemed to fix it. There were a small number of pictures that had glare from the plastic, probably because of a picture being taken behind me. After some experimentation I found that gamma correction reduced or eliminated the glare when it was not too bad. Several of these pictures, however, were not fixable by me without doing artwork, so they are not posted. Unfortunately, one was a Les Farges pyromorphite that was incredible. There were a few shots that were embarrassingly crooked, Photoshop has a fix for that. I try very hard to use ONLY tools that keep the picture honest and avoid those that create artworks. The tools I listed are really the only ones I know other than cropping :-)
I hope that doesn't disappoint you or ruin the photos for you. But I have found Photoshop to be helpful when used in small doses. I have tried very hard to make accurate pictures of the minerals using these tools and these tools only. And I threw out about 2-3% of the pictures as not salvageable. I honestly think the biggest help was in getting the best picture within my skill initially (no flash, Av mode, camera against the plastic), since only a small number of shots were rescued by gamma correction..
Bob
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 10:23 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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How about some more
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Had to get a second shot - closer. I LOVE this piece. Ok I love most of the pieces ... |
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Another closer view of the prior piece, since I think this one is pretty special as well. |
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 10:28 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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Bored yet? These are from the carbonates and borates case
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simonoff
Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 161
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Posted: Jul 22, 2012 10:30 Post subject: Re: Smithsonian 2012 |
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From the Oxides Case
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I will post this one, however, I am not happy with the way it came out |
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Oh no, out of focus ... oh well, sorry everyone |
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