Today's Obsidian

[JoJoDapyro]

I picked up about 40 pounds of obsidian on Thursday. Here is one from today. This stuff isn't clear like other obsidian. And it has a lot of inclusions. One today was a crystal. Too bad it was on the edge.

[Trapper Rob]

Nice little triangle JoJo.

[JackCrafty]

  Cool.

[mullet]

Nice point, Joe. That looks like the same kind I brought back from Soda Springs, Id.

[JoJoDapyro]

It doesn't show very well, but this one is more grey. Some is very black, with almost a glittery look to it.

[magick.crow]

I do photo work as part of my job so I was hoping some tips might help with the photos.

Never use the flash on the camera!

Think about shadows. If you don't understand shadows get an egg and a bright small light and start shooting that egg in a dark room.

Textures and bumps often look best with the light running across the surface like at sunrise or sunset.

Never hand old the camera if you can help it! Sometimes the best way to do this is with the timer that makes the camera take a photo after 15 seconds or so. Unless you have great camera or LOTS of light you don't want to handhold the camera ever.

A normal camera will pic the main or center subject (depending on the camera setting) and make that thing 50% grey. That means half way between black and white. This means if you take a photo of a pure snow it will look 50% gray on a black and white photo. IF you take a photo of a solid black surface it will also look 50% great! You can't tell the photo of black from the one of white! Modern cameras often have good programming to help the beginner get it right and they might take the photo right, if you are LUCKY. To fix this problem you can use manual and play with the settings (start with what the camera thinks is good) and go up a setting at a time until the colors look right to you. This is often a real pain for wedding photographers because they have to take photos in dark places of people dressing in black and white! Taking black stones with a light background or back light can give you the same problems. One of the great things about modern cameras is that you can see your result right away and fix them!

This is the book to get. Note there is an older copy that is 10 cheaper and it is the one that I have. No idea what you get for your extra 10 bucks.

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic-ebook/dp/B00S1DD870/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1439426264&sr=8-2&keywords=light+magic+photograph

having a great camera will make life easier in the dark but you don't need one at all.  I do most of my shots with a nikon d50 that I got on ebay for 50$ I want a d7200 but who has that kind of cash??

Hope this helps someone. If you have question please ask me!

[JoJoDapyro]

All I have is my phone. No choice but to hand hold it, and my model has an issue with a processor, no flash equals a purple swirl all over the photo. Thanks for the tips. I'll try them!

[caveman2533]

Are you picking this up from a local source. Thats a good amount of stone to practice with. Looks like good grade material.

[JoJoDapyro]

It is from Utah. A guy about 20 minutes from my house collects it and sells it to me. I'm not sure why he does. The local rock shop charges up to $8 a pound. This guy charged me $.90 a pound. He told me for the right price he could give me a lifetime supply. I told him that wouldnt be a good deal for him. It is about a 2 hour drive to collect it. Each way. I'll go back for more soon. It is all over softball size, good color.