#but we are learning something

I always envy those amazing glamor shots other folks can get of their rocks…. someone on another site asked for some high-quality images of the stilbite cluster and that made me sit down and figure out how to make my camera do the work. 

Turns out it’s: 

-Aperture priority, 1/13th - 1/8th shutter speed 

-ISO 100 

-Hi-def Image-stacking mode (my camera can stack three) 

-A tripod 

-A lamp and a cheap lightbox with a black craft foam backing 

-Manual focus 

-Kicking the cats out of the home office so they quit making things bump and shake 

My fancy Sony Cybershoot (AKA a point-n-shoot with an option for manual focus, not a DSLR-etcetc) managed to get these last night. Took a few tries, as the camera shows things overexposed on the screen; if I correct exposure for what I’m seeing on the camera, it’s underexposed on the monitor. 

Top to bottom, pink stilbite cluster, lemon calcite cubes, pink heulandite geode, quartz geode with calcite crystal, and my stilbite flower, which is still my favorite find! No post-processing, just as they came out of the camera, tiny jar lid for a shooting stand included :P