What's your favourite mineral specimen TODAY part four, Gail Style

I say Gail style because I felt like I lost the feeling of "ownership" of the part three, and I am here to push part FOUR with a BANG!
So, come on all of you, let's drag out those beautiful minerals, take photos and tell me why you just love love love them today!
Who's going to step up to the plate first? Don't be bashful.

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

Gail, love your style and very happy to post on here. Every one will be glad the Captain is back with a bang. lol

My Fav today

Calcite
Biggenden
QLD, Australia

Take care and to all the Mothers, have a gr8 day.......Trev

Bingo, Trev is the first!
Really nice Calcite too. It always seems like nature was sending off firework sprays when these calcites were grown. An absolute explosion of growth!
Who's next ?

Cheers, "Capt" Gail

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

OK, I'll bite. Here's my contribution for today.
Mike SHaw

Great piece, Michael. Here is my Santa Eulalia Mimetite, 4 cm tall from the Potosi Mine:

Michael and Eric, great mimetites!
I think that most people will agree that there is something very collectible about mimetite, beautiful pieces both of you!

Here is one for me today, it is on our kitchen table and I was having lunch with Jim and had my camera handy. Joe and Sue Kielbaso, and Sue's daughter Virginia Oliver were here for a visit to see our collection this morning. You know when you show your pieces you suddenly see them through your visitor's eyes? Well, that's what happened with this piece. I really love it, today at least!

Barite ( Oak stone ) Polished.
Arborlow, Youlgreave...just over the hill from Youlgrave, the original locality, and is also known as petrified oak.
Derbyshire, England, U.K.

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

Eric, great mimetite!

I would like to share with you new acquisition to our collection - aquamarine from China:
[www.mindat.org]

This specimen is not very big but extremely aesthetic.

Tom

-------------------------------------
"Spirifer" Geological Society

Nice mimetites, Mike and Eric. Here's another mimetite, from San Pedro Corralitos, Chihuahua, Mexico. 4.9 cm x 4.6cm.

Neal,
Very nice indeed!

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

Gr8 Mimetites Neal, Eric and Mike.

My fav today is another Queensland specimen i got off D.McColl in 97

Diopside
Mt Elliott Mine
Selwyn
QLD


Come on every one, lets see more gr8 minerals....trev

An apple a day keeps the doctor away!

(Prehnite with Epidote, Kayes region, Mali; diameter about 20mm.
Stereo view attached in footnote.)
Enjoy, Gerhard

Since I am still processing the same batch of fluorites as yesterday, my favourite from today comes from the same lot...

Octaedral purple fluorite with green fluorite on limestone from Catron CO., New mexico

An apple a day...
That's amazing!
Trevor, you are really getting your photos to end up top notch, well done!
And Philip, your photography is amazing too, it looks as though your minerals are floating and almost ethereal.

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

A pyromorphite from Sardinia.
[www.mindat.org]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2009 04:10PM by Mauro Astolfi.

Wonderful specimens everyone. Philip, what size of the fluorite? And please share how the photo was set up to make the specimen appear in a light circle surrounded by black. Almost looks like it was taken through a microscope.

Today's specimen is an epidote from Prince of Wales Island. 2.6 x 3.4 cm.

Mike Shaw

GREAT photos of amazing specimens everyone!

Here is a thumbnail specimen of butterscotch coloured sphalerite fresh out of the Dundas quarry May 10, 2009

Let Episode Four go on,

here my fav for today (sometimes it looks like an octopus and sometimes like a mountain, ...)


Calcite and Quartz

from

Pfingstwiese Mine, Bad Ems, Germany

Glückauf and Greetings
Michael

Michael,

The size of the specimen is roughly about 3,5cm on 3cm with xls up to 5-6mm.

Photography setup:

Sony Alpha 200 DSLR
Stock 18-70 Wide angle sony lens
F-stop: f18 with automatic shutter release
White balance set to 6000K
2 Daylight bulbs + White translucent plastic background

Software:

GIMP: Cut out the specimen with the magic (or intelligent) scissors and paste it on a black background. Now the edges of the specimen will look "overdefined" because the original pic was taken on a white background and the process to cut out the specimen is flawed most of the times. To soften them up is to take a light form of the dominant colour of the specimen (or plain white) and select the gradient tool. Select the option VG to transparent and a Radial shape. Be sure to select the background layer and not the specimen layer and define a start point somewhere in the dead center of the specimen and draw a line to the point on the specimen that spans the biggest length compared to that center. Most of the edges will now be well inside the "halo" of the specimen on the photograph and the edges will look smoother again. That is about it! Convert your image to JPEG and you are done! So no microscope involved ;-)

Gail: Thank you very much for the compliment, I really appreciate it!


Michael Shaw Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wonderful specimens everyone. Philip, what size
> of the fluorite? And please share how the photo
> was set up to make the specimen appear in a light
> circle surrounded by black. Almost looks like it
> was taken through a microscope.
>
> Today's specimen is an epidote from Prince of
> Wales Island. 2.6 x 3.4 cm.
>
> Mike Shaw

Wow what a beautiful find Maggie

here is a cassiterite, one of my faves on muscovite from China...from the Dave Bunk room in Denver in 2008
Glad to see the faves back on board the good ship Spann again...