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Matt_Zukowski
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Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 01, 2009 03:15 Post subject: Matt's Minerals |
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Aquamarine Baltistan 5.3 cm
I like this piece because it has a complicated, asymmetrical termination (pinacoid on one side and pyramidal on the other) and has some etched dihexagonal faces along the prism.
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 01, 2009 03:26 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Kunzite Urucum Mine, Minas Gerais,11.4 cm
This piece is complete all around with interesting etch features. The etching also forms these rectangular channels that go into and sometimes right through the xtal. Note in picture 2 a green thread run through one of the channels. In the main body of the xtal, the channels have a 120+/- degree bend.
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 01, 2009 03:50 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Will try to do a number of specimens with one post.
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Kyanite Barra de Salinas District, Minas Gerais longest xtal 13.5 cm
Many of the xtals on this piece are terminated.
This evening's brews somehow got into the picture. |
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Kunzite Urucum Mine, Minas Gerais 10.7 cm
This complete, etched xtal has both kunzite and hiddenite areas within. |
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The narrow section does not conduct light like the rest. This suggests a repair or worse. However, when you look at it closely, it doesn't look repaired. No fluorescent glue shows under UV. |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4905
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jun 01, 2009 08:59 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Matt,
It don't looks repaired to me. Many pegmatite's specimens have natural breakage and posterior recrystallization.
Jordi
_________________ Audaces fortuna iuvat |
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 08, 2009 22:13 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Jordi - I have been learning how to photograph minerals and now consider the photos I uploaded to be lousy. Would you please delete this thread so i can start from scratch? We just hired a fellow who is also a photographer and he has been showing me all kinds of things. I know I am getting better, but still want to experiment with some other of his suggestions before i come up with what i consider final pictures.
Sorry for hassle and thanks.
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4905
Location: Barcelona
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Posted: Jun 09, 2009 02:11 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Are you sure Matt? I am very reluctant to delete anything because I consider that every post and every picture provide some value to FMF.
In your case them can serve very well to see the process in which your photographs are becoming better... If you wish I could move the whole thread to the Off-topics section and rename it as (for example): "Starting doing photos of minerals".
Jordi
_________________ Audaces fortuna iuvat |
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 09, 2009 21:10 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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If people don't mind seeing the evolution of my photography, I'd be happy to show it. When I figure out what new things I have done to improve the pictures, I'll put them in a post with the next batch so people can know how the differences were obtained.
Thanks.
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Gail
Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 5839
Location: Texas, Lone Star State.
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Posted: Jun 09, 2009 21:29 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Matt,
Please leave your photos as they are, they are really enjoyable and I would like to watch your evolution. Thanks for sharing!
_________________ Minerals you say? Why yes, I'll take a dozen or so... |
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Tracy
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 551
Location: Toronto
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Posted: Jun 10, 2009 07:57 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Matt, I like your photos very much. You may not be pleased with them, but they're much better than mine... :-/ I envy you for having the opportunity to learn about mineral photography, and to refine your skills.
Please post some more!
- Tracy
_________________ "Wisdom begins in wonder" - Socrates |
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Jon Mommers
Joined: 07 Jun 2008
Posts: 68
Location: Melbourne. Victoria
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Posted: Jun 10, 2009 08:28 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Matt,
I'm with Tracy, I too take a terrible photo, please keep them coming. I would be very interested in seeing your "photographic evolution" and learning your techniques and thereby improving my own skills.
Cheers
Jon
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 10, 2009 19:25 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Thanks for encouragement all.
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 02:54 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Here goes batch 2. But before I upload more min picts, thought I'd show you how i am taking my pictures and give you some ideas I think make sense. Don't mean to imply I am good or anything, but the challenge of taking good min picts has caught my attention.
1) Dark backgrounds are generally better for my setup (fluorescent work lights). I use mostly black poster paper from Office Depot. I got the lights at Home depot - they use fluorex bulbs.
2) With light, the softer and more diffused the better. For some reason, i want to risk using the French word doucement, pardon me if I missuse this word. I taped thin white cloth over the lights - doubled over the overhead lights and a single layer over the side light. So much of this seems to be about getting the light right.
3) You can get depth if you use lighting from different angles - especially important for gemmy material. In some cases a small flashlight can be used to backlight a gemmy area.
4) Clean specimens thoroughly. Every bit of dust or dirt shows up amazingly well through a lens.
I use a Canon XSi with a Tamron 90 mm macro. The XSi has this cool feature called "live view" that lets you control the camera from your computer while seeing what the picture will be. I do final focus on the computer before I press the shutter.
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 03:21 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Batch 2. Note that these pictures have not had any post processing. I intend to learn to use Gimp - an open-source version of photoshop.
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Kunzite Urucum Mine, Minas Gerais 11.4 cm |
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This piece is complete all around with interesting etch features. The etching also forms these rectangular channels that go into and sometimes right through the xtal. Note in pictures two lengths of fishing line pushed through two of the channels. One line goes through a straight channel and the other goes though one of the channels that has a 120+/- degree bend. |
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Fishing line going into one of the bent channels in main part of piece. |
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Fishing line emerging from the bent channel. |
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Fishing line through straight channel near top of piece. |
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Aquamarine Baltistan 5.3 cm |
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I like this piece because it has a complicated, asymmetrical termination (pinacoid on one side and pyramidal on the other) and has some etched dihexagonal faces along the prism. |
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 04:06 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Grossular Lake Jaco 4.5 cm |
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Wonderfully complex Lake Jaco garnet. Xtal is transulcent. |
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Pyrite Nanisivik Mine, N. Baffin Isld 8.8 cm |
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I love complicated xtal shapes. These cubes are modified by a nice assortment of faces. The faces that parallel the edges of the cubes are not simple dodecahedral faces - there are two of them at a shallower angle than the dodecahedral face. I doubt any of the corner faces are octahedral - too many of them. |
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Pyrite Nanisivik Mine, N. Baffin Isld 5.4 cm |
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What about this crazy pyrite! I wonder what misery this one had to go through to end up this tortured looking. |
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 04:31 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Kyanite Barra de Salinas District, Minas Gerais longest xtal 13.5 cm |
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Many of the xtals on this piece are terminated. Hope Jordi doesn't mind me memorializing some of my favorite adult beverages in my pictures. |
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Gold Round Mountain Mine 3.0 cm, 3.6g |
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I know Peter would prefer to see strange and interesting specimens, but this one is typical of the locality. But hey - it's gold! Even if i get a better one, I'll still keep this specimen because it is my first nice xtaline gold. |
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Jason
Joined: 31 Dec 2008
Posts: 254
Location: atlanta
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 04:43 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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nice pics Matt.
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 04:54 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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more again
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Rutile Graves Mtn, GA 5.3 cm |
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Large rutile xtal without matrix. The red you see in the pictures is from light entering the xtal and bouncing back. |
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Kunzite Urucum Mine, Minas Gerais 10.7 cm |
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This complete, etched xtal has both kunzite and hiddenite areas within. Note the triangular etch features. |
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John S. White
Site Admin
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1295
Location: Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 05:31 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Matt:
The morphology of the pyrite from the Nanisivik mine was well described by Bob Gait, et al. in the Mineralogical Record, vol. 21, p.515, 1990.
_________________ John S. White
aka Rondinaire |
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GneissWare
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 1287
Location: California
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 14:02 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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Matt,
You have good taste in minerals, and good tasting Belgian ale.
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Matt_Zukowski
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 709
Location: Alaska
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Posted: Jun 13, 2009 15:42 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals |
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John - excellent article. What do you think, are the faces on the corners trapezohedral and the faces along the edges pyritohedral?
Also, the tortured specimen appears to be similar to figures 32, 33, and 38 (epitaxial pyrite on pyritized marcasite), with maybe some features like figure 36 (iron cross twin). What do you think?
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