Quartz & Pyrite Crystals

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 11:55 am

Here is a pic of a rock I have in my collection. you have clear quartz crystals and Iron Pyrite Cube crystals (fool`s gold) I Used natural light from the window. Both are stacked images using Helicon Focus for more DOF (about 26 frames each).

Field of view is 2 inches
Exposure 1/8
f6.3

Field of view is 1.25 inches
Exposure 1/5
f4.0

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:40 pm

Very nice!

Great textures brought out by the stacking and the light works well in all respects.

They're both good compositions, though I prefer the second one. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's that I always want to look closer, maybe it's that the left side of the first one strikes me as having less structure and contrast than the right. Perhaps a squarish crop would work well -- preserve that interesting big black block at the top while still taking some off the left -- hard to know without trying it.

--Rik

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:58 pm

Here is a 50% crop of the first one . Good call on this one Rik I like it much better.

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 1:18 pm

This is the Borg Collective! Prepare to be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctive to our own. You will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile!

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 2:01 pm

Great specimens Doug.

I used to have all sorts of pyrite crystals lying around and got rid of most of them. Now I am down to one large chunk that supposedly came from a mine somehwere here in NWC. Tons of the stuff around here though. Used to look for it quite a bit when I was a kid.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 4:02 pm

That crop looks good!

If you're into playing around with crops & such, you might try tipping the original image a bit to the right, say, um, 13 degrees or so, before doing a crop similar to what you did above. I'm thinking to place the two upper cubic blocks in the upper right corner of the crop, while the lower cubic block goes in the lower left corner. That would give a more strongly diagonal composition rather than the vertical feel that I get from having the cubic blocks all be pretty much centered. To avoid going outside the image area, you'd have to crop a bit tighter, but maybe the tradeoff is worth it. Again, it's always hard to know about crops without trying them.

I confess, I've gotten in the habit of composing many of my shots with some "sacrificial margins", knowing that I may want to rotate & crop later. My judgements about composition after the shot seem to be better than before it. (Wouldn't it be sad, the other way 'round?) Often I'll prefer to sacrifice a bit of resolution to improve the overall feel, even on something to be printed.

--Rik

crocoite · Post by **crocoite** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 2:34 am

Nice one Doug. Looks like a Peruvian specimen.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:32 am

And a hearty thanks to everyone. If I remember correctly Steve, it is a Peruvian specimen. I got a question...How good are the right angles on real nice pyrite cubes? The cubes in this picture are not that cubic. I don`t know personally, so this is not a guessing game

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:31 pm

Interesting objects, nicely photographed.

crocoite · Post by **crocoite** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:43 am

beetleman wrote:I got a question...How good are the right angles on real nice pyrite cubes? The cubes in this picture are not that cubic. I don`t know personally, so this is not a guessing game

Hi Doug

Although pyrite forms in what is known as the isometric or cubic crystal system, it can often look like it has rounded edges or form in habits other than a cube. The most common habit after a cube is a pyritohedron where each face has five sides. Some of the best cubes come from Spain such as this one --> http://www.mindat.org/photo-39784.html

The ones that look a little different do so for a variety of reasons. Have a look at this page when you have time --> http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/xtal/part3.html

and the main page if you want to learn about other crystal systems --> http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/xtal ... html#index

Have fun!

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:02 am

I'm fascinated that you can identify the source of a crystal by its appearance. Is this common in your field, or are these crystals particularly distinctive?

--Rik

crocoite · Post by **crocoite** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:55 am

rjlittlefield wrote:I'm fascinated that you can identify the source of a crystal by its appearance. Is this common in your field, or are these crystals particularly distinctive?

--Rik

Hi Rik

Probably a bit of both. Pyrite and quartz are both VERY common minerals (in fact, quartz is the most common mineral on earth) but sometimes, specimens from a particular location are quite distinctive. Peruvian ones being a case in point - although I couldn't tell you which part of Peru specifically - but probably Huaron. However, this is not always the case. Also, I found early on that I had an affinity for putting names to minerals and find it fairly easy to recall things that I have seen in the past. David Belamy (English botanist) once said that he got into it (botany) because he found that he could readily recall Latin names!

crocoite · Post by **crocoite** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:00 am

...forgot to add...

Next October (2007), I will be presenting at a mineralogical conference in New Zealand where the theme is minerals from volcanic rocks. I immediately thought of Zeolites of Tasmania as a title, but on reflection, decided instead to do a talk along the lines of "so you think you know where your specimen comes from" by comparing photos of specimens from different locations. There will be some surprises there for people. Unfortunately, unless you collected your mineral specimen in situ, that is in place, you can't be absolutely certain of its origin.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:42 am

Great information steve...I wish I could come and hear you talk...I would love to seee your country also

The link on the crystal structures is great...thanks again

salden · Post by **salden** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:44 am

MacroLuv wrote:This is the Borg Collective! Prepare to be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctive to our own. You will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile!

I love Star Trek..I have the movies..