Unknown Mineral Crystals (ID is Vanadinite)

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beetleman
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Unknown Mineral Crystals (ID is Vanadinite)

Post by beetleman »

This is a specimen someone gave me years ago. I never did find out what it is. The picture is a stack of 25 shots for good DOF using Helicon Focus. Whole specimen is 5cm (2") long.

Image
Last edited by beetleman on Mon Oct 23, 2006 4:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

I have something similar to this. Can't remember what it is called though. Got it in a plastic box of mineral samples from one of those rock shops around here. Sharp image Doug. :D

MacroLuv
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Post by MacroLuv »

:shock: Looks like somebody threw bricks into the lava.
The meaning of beauty is in sharing with others.

P.S.
Noticing of my "a" and "the" and other grammar
errors are welcome. :D

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

Ponder this...does doing a stack on something like this make it look bigger than it really is. When you stack an insects head, you still know the insect is very small. If I stack a small rock, this rock could be a large chunk of rock 15 lbs or more. Can you really tell it is small without less DOF or me telling you that the specimen is 2 inches???? :-k Maybe a dime in the picture, off to one side????
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

beetleman wrote:Ponder this...does doing a stack on something like this make it look bigger than it really is. When you stack an insects head, you still know the insect is very small. If I stack a small rock, this rock could be a large chunk of rock 15 lbs or more. Can you really tell it is small without less DOF or me telling you that the specimen is 2 inches???? :-k Maybe a dime in the picture, off to one side????
Yep, stacking does make the object look bigger. And nope, we have no idea how small this thing is, if you don't tell us.

It's really interesting how thoroughly most people have learned to interpret shallow DOF as "small". You show them a picture of a model shot normally, they say "small". You show them a picture of a model stacked for unlimited DOF, they say "big". You show them a picture of a whole city with the foreground and background artificially blurred, and they say "small" again!

I saw a brief article about this a while back. The pictures seemed pretty compelling. <Sound of rummaging through Google.> Oh, yeah, here's an article about the guy: Olivo Barbieri’s model world. And here's maybe even a better set, inspired by the first: 10 Tiny Tokyo Photos.

Your idea of using a dime is right on the money (pardon the pun :roll: ).

For stuff this size, small familiar objects can give an immediate sense of scale. I've gotten good mileage from (ta-da!) a dime, a pencil point, one finger, and my whole hand.

But generally I have no idea how to convey scale for really small stuff, short of putting the subject in some completely unnatural environment like surrounded by table salt crystals. That's one of the reasons why I try to stick in a scale bar someplace -- otherwise, after a couple of weeks I can't tell either!

The problem is, being able to figure out the size is far different from being able to instantly see the size. Scale bars are cognitive -- slow and painful -- while comparison with familiar objects is perceptual -- quick and effortless.

What to do, what to do? I don't know. Anybody else have some good ideas?

--Rik

MacroLuv
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Post by MacroLuv »

rjlittlefield wrote:... What to do, what to do? I don't know. Anybody else have some good ideas?

--Rik
Well... :-k ... Just keep shooting? :D
The meaning of beauty is in sharing with others.

P.S.
Noticing of my "a" and "the" and other grammar
errors are welcome. :D

crocoite
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Post by crocoite »

Hi Doug

Vanadinite. From Morocco. Nice stack.

MacroLuv
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Post by MacroLuv »

crocoite wrote:Hi Doug

Vanadinite. From Morocco. Nice stack.
:shock: What is the difference? Are those crystals a local speciffic? Sorry, I'm dummy about crystals. :D
The meaning of beauty is in sharing with others.

P.S.
Noticing of my "a" and "the" and other grammar
errors are welcome. :D

beetleman
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Location: Southern New Hampshire USA

Post by beetleman »

Rik, thank you for your perspective (another pun) on this. I was just staring at this picture and started thinking about the perspective of it and the only thing that gave an indication of size was maybe the graininess of the backdrop I used.
I remember seeing some of Barbieri`s pictures of New Orleans after the hurricane, and I remember saying, "these are very cool models", until I read the article. I will try and use some kind of scale in future pictures and see how they come out.

crocoite wrote:
Hi Doug

Vanadinite. From Morocco. Nice stack.
Thank you very much for the ID Steve "Your the Man" :smt023 . Here is more info on Vanadinite:
http://webmineral.com/data/Vanadinite.shtml


Nikola Wrote:
What is the difference? Are those crystals a local speciffic? Sorry, I'm dummy about crystals.
There are places in the world that have very specific looking rocks and minerals that they are famous for in the mineral trade around the world. Sometimes you can tell, just by looking at the specimen, where it came from. Vanadinite from Morocco will look different than Vanadinite from the USA. I know people that can tell you what mine a piece of Turquoise came from just by looking at the color, the graininess, black lines that run through it and other stuff I don`t know about. :D
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

crocoite
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Post by crocoite »

beetleman wrote:Thank you very much for the ID Steve "Your the Man" :smt023
You are most welcome Doug

crocoite
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Post by crocoite »

beetleman wrote:Nikola Wrote:
What is the difference? Are those crystals a local speciffic? Sorry, I'm dummy about crystals.
There are places in the world that have very specific looking rocks and minerals that they are famous for in the mineral trade around the world. Sometimes you can tell, just by looking at the specimen, where it came from. Vanadinite from Morocco will look different than Vanadinite from the USA. I know people that can tell you what mine a piece of Turquoise came from just by looking at the color, the graininess, black lines that run through it and other stuff I don`t know about. :D
Zacktly

teva
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Post by teva »

crocoite: Are you sure about the name? My friend has written many books about crystals and he says it could be cinnabar - HgS (Mercury sulfide), that was named by Teofrast? Are this the same?
Thank you

crocoite
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Post by crocoite »

teva wrote:crocoite: Are you sure about the name? My friend has written many books about crystals and he says it could be cinnabar - HgS (Mercury sulfide), that was named by Teofrast? Are this the same?
Thank you
Hi Teva. Absolutely certain. Cinnabar is red but looks different. Here are links to some other images that should convince you:

First link - 270 images of vanadinite just from Morocco alone (various locales) --> http://www.mindat.org/photosearch.php?f ... mls=Search

Second link - Cinnabar images --> http://www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=1052

MESSAGE to any ADMINISTRATORS - I seem to be not getting any notifications (maybe my SPAM filter is working overtime!) and I don't have any that I used to get. I want to add responses from here to my white list but need to know what is after the @...

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

Hi Steve, I passed on your problem message to the higher-ups

I thought that this might be cinnabar also at first when I did a search for an ID. After looking at the links you just posted, I notice that cinnabar seems to like dolomite or calcite substrates. Seems like the vanadinite does not appear on these substrates. this one looks like it is on the dark Goethite like this picture http://www.mindat.org/photo-10942.html and this picture http://www.mindat.org/photo-42031.html
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

crocoite
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Post by crocoite »

beetleman wrote:Hi Steve, I passed on your problem message to the higher-ups
Thanks Doug

Problem appears to be fixed now (i had about 20 replies in my inbox tonight!).

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