Pair of Quartz Crystals -- Take 2

[Mike Buckley]

These are the same quartz crystals that I photographed in color in this thread. Manfred suggested in that thread that it might be nice to photograph them in a high-key style. I don't really think of the style shown below as high-key, but he did get me thinking that I had always photographed the crystals in a rather colorful style and that it might be fun to use a standard bright-field style that I regularly use when photographing transparent glass.

The tabletop is glossy black acrylic. The background is translucent vellum with a large continuous lamp of five bulbs shining from behind it toward the subjects and camera. Converted to black-and-white even though there was only the slightest bit of color in the crystals.

Viewing the image at the largest size in the Lytetable makes the detail a lot more enjoyable.

[ashcroft]

They look very interesting objects. They must be quite difficult to light with those angles. I do prefer this BW version to the colour. Good shot.

[tbob]

This looks brilliant in black and white; really emphasizes the light transmission through the crystal structure.

I suppose there is no hope of buffing out the the opaque bit on the upper left face of the larger crystal ?

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Rob and Trevor!

I suppose there is no hope of buffing out the the opaque bit on the upper left face of the larger crystal ?

There is actually no part of either rock that is opaque; everything is either transparent or translucent though I appreciate that you wouldn't know that from viewing photos of them.

Even though the area that you mentioned is translucent, the lack of transparency isn't caused by something on the surface that can be buffed out. People who understand how crystals are formed would be able to explain what causes the translucency in some areas and transparency in other areas but I don't know anything about that stuff.

The various tones are caused by the physics of light having to do with direct reflections and the family of angles. If you change the position of the light source, the subject or the camera, the family of angles pertaining to each surface on the rocks changes and that can change the entire look of the subjects. Making just one change can cause areas that appeared bright to appear dark and vice versa. My process is to use fixed positions of the light source and camera and to change only the position of the subjects until their appearance is appealing.

[Mike Buckley]

For those interested in the Zone System created by Ansel Adams, according to Nik Silver Efex Pro software all of the first ten zones (0 through 9) are present in both rocks though the middle zones are by far the least prevalent. Zone 10 is present only in one place -- exactly where I want it -- the background area in the very center of the image where the two rocks form a sideways "V".

[mknittle]

Very nice Mike.

[Jill]

For those interested in the Zone System created by Ansel Adams, according to Nik Silver Efex Pro software, all of the first ten zones (0 through 9) are present in both rocks though the middle zones are by far the least prevalent. Zone 10 is present only in one place -- exactly where I want it -- the background area in the very center of the image where the two rocks form a sideways "V".

This took a few hours out of my day and I took off to read about the zone system. The internet is so good

Nice photo, many shades of grey.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks to Mark, Jill and John! Apologies to Jill for taking so much time out of her day.

[KimC]

Lovely Mike. They look wonderful in B&W.

[chauncey]

The Zone System that you mentioned Mike...I would submit that most of us utilize it on a subconscious
level, whether it be in color or a B&W image. I'm liking the color ones better, they tend to exhibit more personality...if rocks can have personality.

[Loose Canon]

Great shot as usual Mike.

So, did the crystals balance in the fashion you presented because it looks like they wouldn't? Which I consider good "styling".

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone!

So, did the crystals balance in the fashion you presented because it looks like they wouldn't?

Interesting that you should ask! No adhesives or other materials were used to make the photo, but a considerable process was required.

The bottom crystal easily balanced as is. I photographed the top crystal by itself in November 2013 and decided at the time in my makeshift studio that it wouldn't balance as shown in this photo. Then yesterday I was toying with every imaginable angle in my home office. (That's far less makeshift than my studio except that my office has no cup holder. Gotta fix that!) I noticed that I could easily get the crystal to stand as shown on my office desk even though that had never happened in my makeshift studio.

I placed it on my tabletop again in my makeshift studio and still couldn't get it to stand up. So, I simply tilted the tabletop ever so slightly so it would stand up. Then I got the idea of trying to make it stand up on top of the larger crystal and to position it as far to the right as possible without it falling off. I liked the diagonal and the perception at least to you and me that the top crystal is precariously balanced.

To achieve ideal display of the surfaces of the crystals, I had to turn the two crystals sometimes together and sometimes independently while ensuring that the top crystal didn't fall. I'm such a klutz that I'm quite pleased to report that it fell only twice. Even so, I haven't had the heart to closely inspect the surface of the glossy black acrylic tabletop, which as you know is extremely easy to scratch.