[Leica] Fossils and Minerals - help!

[dorysrus at mindspring.com (Don Dory)]

Douglas,
Go back in the archives and retrieve the relatively new stuff from Eric
Welch.  His last job was buying and taking photographs of gemstones and
whatnot.  I suspect that his email has not changed and he could help a
lot.

Don
dorysrus@mindspring.com

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf
Of Douglas M. Sharp
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 11:50 AM
To: leica@freelists.org; LeicaReflex; Leica Users Group
Subject: [Leica] Fossils and Minerals - help!

I've been trying to get some decent shots of fossils and stuff I
collected in 
the UK over the past couple of years. Somehow they just don't seem right
to me.

Any suggestions please on a) lighting
                           b) backgrounds
                           c) point of focus - front, middle or ???

Taken with a Leica Macro-Elmarit 100/4 at f16

I've seen transparent crystals shot against black velvet backgrounds and
they 
seem to have an "inner light" how do I get this effect?

Would very much appreciate any ideas, hints or references.
Douglas

http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/pyrites2
Iron Pyrites with natural lighting from left, artificial from back
right.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/Pyrites_copy
Iron Pyrites with natural lighting from left, artificial from back
right.
b/w version

http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/Ammonites_copy
Bedded ammonites (8mm diameter) lit from top left, normal room lighting.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/ammonite
cross-section of a filed chamber in an ammonite fossil, daylight from
left

http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/ammonites
Raw and cut and polished ammonites - showing external and internal
structure
daylight from left

http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/urchins

with this last shot I'm trying to show the similarity of a fossilised
sea urchin
and a modern one. I've tried all sorts of angles and lighting but it is
always 
just dead boring. It just doesn't work.


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