Pair of Quartz Crystals

[Mike Buckley]

These rocks are made of quartz crystal owned by a good friend and previously her father. He was a rock hound and traveled to many states in search of gemstones. He cut, shaped and polished them in his shop. The rocks are cut from a cluster of crystals and are otherwise completely natural.

The tabletop is glass covered with diffusion material. The background is a blue gradient printed on PVC material lit from below by a small continuous lamp covered with multiple layers of diffusion material. The tabletop is lit by light reflected from the background and direct light emitted from the left rear by a medium continuous lamp covered with a diffusion sock as well as two Moroccan Pink gels and one Dark Blue gel to produce the purple tones. The white balance tint was changed slightly to enhance the purple tones.

The cropping was done only at the top and bottom to make a square format.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[mknittle]

Very nice mike, the background looks great.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful capture! My Mom has one of these so I know what they look like in real life. I especially admire how you captured all the sides/irregular shape of the crystal (is that from lighting from the side and above?), and the beautiful purple blue colours... I also adore the complimentary blue background.

For some reason I wish the base were lighter, to see more of the reflection, although I'm not sure why...

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, folks!

Christina: The edges of the crystal define the shape. Those edges are defined by the bright light reflected from the background; the process is essentially the same as lighting clear glass using a bright background, whether produced by direct light shining through translucent material or by light reflected from a bright surface.

[Manfred M]

Interesting shot, Mike. The quartz really picks up and refracts the colour of the table and the background. If you hadn't told me that these were quartz crystals, I would likely have asked what they were.

I have always thought of quartz as a very light coloured rock, so this is a very unusual interpretation of quartz. I wonder what it would look like if you took a high key approach?

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Manfred!

I have always thought of quartz as a very light coloured rock, so this is a very unusual interpretation of quartz.

The quartz is essentially translucent to transparent with very little perceptible color of its own. The image shown below is a color photo that I made a long time ago of the rock on the left side of the first photo. I'm presenting it here with the color cast removed that I had intentionally added during post-processing so you can see its appearance without the added color.

This image displays the rock on an opaque black tabletop except for a hole in the tabletop covered by the rock. The sole lighting is a 5500K lamp shining from below through the supporting layer of fundamentally clear glass (though it's thick enough that it displays the green tone), the hole and the rock. As you can see, the rock displays very little "color."

[Brownbear]

Thank you Mike..

Reading up on side lighting and defining shape and that is why I asked. The colours look just like my Mom's crystal... Maybe it is an amethyst rock... (ie; it is not a piece of jewelery) but the colours and irregular shape are the same.

Thanks, folks!

Christina: The edges of the crystal define the shape. Those edges are defined by the bright light reflected from the background; the process is essentially the same as lighting clear glass using a bright background, whether produced by direct light shining through translucent material or by light reflected from a bright surface.

[Mike Buckley]

Reading up on side lighting and defining shape

Everything about that pertaining to opaque objects goes out the window when transparent and translucent objects such as quartz crystal are involved.

[Downrigger]

I think it is quite an amazing image, Mike. I am struck by the appearance of light emission by the crystals. It is as though they are capturing light we cannot see and re-emitting it in a fashion particular to their own unique arrangement of facets. I see this in your second-posted image as well. I wonder if something more pure - as in finely manufactured glass - would do this as nicely as these crystals with their perfect imperfections.

[NorthernFocus]

The set up that you describe is fascinating. The crystal on the left seems to lend itself better to this effort. That is it transimits the light better and the angles show up much better. I like the old version that you posted too.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Mark and Dan!

The crystal on the left seems to lend itself better to this effort. That is it transmits the light better and the angles show up much better.

I think that's because its breadth is considerably smaller. As a result, there are larger portions relative to its size that are transparent (that allow the light to pass through it unobstructed), as opposed to being translucent and riddled with characteristics that make it perhaps less attractive from a photographic standpoint.

[dje]

Very good Mike, I like it. Creative setup with very effective result. Nice work

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Dave!

[Loose Canon]

A cool shot Mike! Typical for you.

The BG is gorgeous!

[JBW]

These rocks are made of quartz crystal owned by a good friend and previously her father. He was a rock hound and traveled to many states in search of gemstones. He cut, shaped and polished them in his shop. The rocks are cut from a cluster of crystals and are otherwise completely natural.

The tabletop is glass covered with diffusion material. The background is a blue gradient printed on PVC material lit from below by a small continuous lamp covered with multiple layers of diffusion material. The tabletop is lit by light reflected from the background and direct light emitted from the left rear by a medium continuous lamp covered with a diffusion sock as well as two Moroccan Pink gels and one Dark Blue gel to produce the purple tones. The white balance tint was changed slightly to enhance the purple tones.

The cropping was done only at the top and bottom to make a square format.

Terry, aka 'Loose Canon' just suggested I take a look at this shot. He is right it shows me just how crucial the BG is and how much I have to learn.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Terry and Brian!