mikecable Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 I got tired of working with my Walnut Clay material, so I decided to take a quick look at some Stone City Formation matrix I obtained from Silverphoenix in a trade. I have more than ten pounds of the material, and these are just a few of the results from less than two ounces. I only picked out the unbroken specimens I could see with my 1.5X cheaters. The photos were taken with a FujiFilm FinePix 4200. The scope pics are through a Bausch and Lomb Stereozoom 4 at 7X, using the automatic camera settings and a Seben afocal mount. The pictures with the scale are using the SuperMacro setting on the same camera. I'm using a cheap copy stand with an x/y focus rack and a ring light. I've got the lens about two cm away from the specimens. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 A few more, slightly smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Those look great! You able to get that matrix out of #4807 to see if anything is in it? Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Nice! And great pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snolly50 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Great photo work! Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Nice photos, Mike. Be careful; that formation is so rich in fauna that it has sucked collectors in - never to be heard from again. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Beautiful fossils, Mike.. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 Great photo work! I took your suggestion and included some photography info. I like the depth of focus I'm getting with the FinePix on the SuperMacro auto setting. Not bad for a $170 point and shoot. I can manually change all of the settings (aperture, shutter speed, etc), but I haven't really experimented with that aspect yet. The only thing the camera lacks is the ability to save in the RAW format. But for the price it can't be beat, and is as close to a DSLR as I need right now. It also has a 30X optical zoom, and various burst shooting settings, but I haven't tried them yet either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snolly50 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 I took your suggestion and included some photography info. I like the depth of focus I'm getting with the FinePix on the SuperMacro auto setting. Not bad for a $170 point and shoot. I can manually change all of the settings (aperture, shutter speed, etc), but I haven't really experimented with that aspect yet. The only thing the camera lacks is the ability to save in the RAW format. But for the price it can't be beat, and is as close to a DSLR as I need right now. It also has a 30X optical zoom, and various burst shooting settings, but I haven't tried them yet either. I think your report of camera equipment and technique was great. I even made reference to it in my entry to the other topic, "Hybrid Post." The results with your Fuji are really nice. It sounds like a versatile camera and it's hard to find any fault with its application in the macro mode. If you are like me, producing those images just adds to the fun and accomplishment of the total fossil activity. Plus, in collecting the very small good photos make easy display possible. My new Nikon and the Olympus E-330 I traded in on it, both produce RAW images. I have not fully explored that aspect. I do know that my daughter, who unlike her dad is more than just a casual photographer, shoots in RAW only. More stuff to master - that's a good thing for an "older" guy. 1 Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 More stuff to master for us "older" guys is a good thing. My wife just wishes I wouldn't buy more stuff before I've thoroughly mastered the old gear. And that I'd get rid of the old gear. I'm looking around myself as I write, and can count seven microscopes. Since I'm a part-time educational consultant for teacher workshops I can write a lot of my EBay and Amazon purchases off on our taxes, and the kids do get a lot of benefit from my home lab experiments and field trips in the classroom. But I'm very guilty of being a gearhead and/or a hoarder. Thanks for the compliments on the extreme macro photos. I think they came out nicely as well. I doubt I could do the same with a living subject. Plus I never want to carry that much camera gear into the field. For the field I'll stick with my $40 point and shoot FujiFilm FinePix. If it dies in the mud I won't cry--it's captured thousands of pictures. Which leads me up to my philosophy of photography. I took a graduate level course at UT Austin in American modernist photography. Mostly folks like Edward Weston, Mann Ray, Walker Evans, WeeGee, Alfred Stieglitz. I learned that there tend to be two styles of shooting. Style one--more based on studio photography, but not necessarily--frame and perfect every shot, getting it as close to perfect as possible in one shot. Style two--more based on the work of field photographers, and/or photojournalists--punch the shutter button every chance you get. Experiment, play, take 500 pictures, and throw out 498 of them. I tend to fall into the second school. I look for happy accidents in photography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snolly50 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 More stuff to master for us "older" guys is a good thing. My wife just wishes I wouldn't buy more stuff before I've thoroughly mastered the old gear. And that I'd get rid of the old gear. I'm looking around myself as I write, and can count seven microscopes. Ha! I understand completely. My wife is very tolerant of my "interests." However, when I bring home something shiny she is apt to opine; "Another example of more money than sense!" 1 Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Nice photos. Shooting RAW pix has a couple advantages and disadvantages Pro: the dynamic range of the picture is greater than the other formats. The camera does not process the RAW images as it does JPEG, there is no loss of picture information Cons: The RAW images must be processed and saved in another format to print. The image files are much larger than JPEG files. Fewer images per sd card, must be processed to use. Slower camera speed when shooting rapid pix. (the bigger the file, the slower the camera works) Need software that will process RAW. Better images, more work. JPEG is processed as you shoot by the camera firmware and usually does not require processing to use and print. Smaller files, pix shot at 8megs will process /compress to 2-3 meg pix. Universal sharing and software. Sharper detail. Tons of software to manipulate the images. Cheaper cameras. Solution: if your camera will shoot both formats try them on the same images and see which you prefer. Hope this helps. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go. " I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes "can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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