FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

Matt_Zukowski · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 737 Location: Alaska

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.

Matt_Zukowski · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 737 Location: Alaska

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.

Matt_Zukowski · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 737 Location: Alaska

Will try to do a number of specimens with one post.

Jordi Fabre · Posted: Jun 01, 2009 08:59 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals

Matt,

It don't looks repaired to me. Many pegmatite's specimens have natural breakage and posterior recrystallization.

Jordi

Matt_Zukowski · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 737 Location: Alaska

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.

Jordi Fabre · Posted: Jun 09, 2009 02:11 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals

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

Matt_Zukowski · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 737 Location: Alaska

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.

Gail · Posted: Jun 09, 2009 21:29 Post subject: Re: Matt's Minerals

Matt,
Please leave your photos as they are, they are really enjoyable and I would like to watch your evolution. Thanks for sharing!

Tracy · Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 551 Location: Toronto

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

Jon Mommers · Joined: 07 Jun 2008 Posts: 68 Location: Melbourne. Victoria

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

Matt_Zukowski · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 737 Location: Alaska

Thanks for encouragement all.

Matt_Zukowski · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 737 Location: Alaska

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.