pporky
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2007
Posts: 1,932
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Post by pporky on Jul 10, 2009 4:57:44 GMT -5
Once again I am blown away by your post, That would be on eof the best tumbles That I have seen, flawless material, wonderfully shaped, killer polish and exceptional photography, congratulations on a fantastic result allround. Isn,t it a shame that you couldn't put them in the world championship, well done... ppork
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Post by NatureNut on Jul 10, 2009 8:58:01 GMT -5
I so enjoyed this Steve. And I learned about what I could possibly achieve if I practiced more patience with my own tumbles. Thank you for giving us a 5-day treat of eye candy. I know you explained your innovative methods of photography to me, because we have been discussing the topic in PM's, but I think everyone might be interested in how you photographed them. Jo
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NorthShore-Rocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2008
Posts: 1,004
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Post by NorthShore-Rocks on Jul 10, 2009 11:00:23 GMT -5
Thanks everyone!!!  Well... I was shooting all the individual rocks just like the group shots. Using a black drop cloth over an appropriately sized round flower pot, can etc. depending on the size of the group or rock. This was working for groups that are shot a little bit farther away, but the close-ups were showing too many hairs, fuzzies, and dust. Way too many do-overs because of this. So, I wanted to eliminate the drop cloth from touching the rock, but keep the dark background. The rocks are sitting on the end of a cut-off hollow fishing pole. Most of the time it disappears, but you can faintly see it in some of the shots above. I've got 3 different sized rods for different sized rocks and they all are about 18" long. I sanded all the finish off the rods down to dull graphite. The base the rods fit into is just a length of 4x4 with holes drilled in it to fit the rods. The holes were drilled at about a 45 degree angle at the very end of the 4x4. This gets the end of the rods away from the end of the board so it's not in the photo. The end of the rod that the rock sits on is cut at an angle so the rock sits level. I cupped the end of the rods to make it a bit easier to set the rock on the end and be able to rotate the rock a little for glare. When shot from above, the angle creates space so that the rod isn't directly lit or in focus. The flat finish of the graphite absorbs light instead of reflecting it. It almost always disappears when lit correctly. (Usually from the sides and slightly above) Quit Laughing!!! ;D It's simple but kinda hard to explain. I took some photos of the set up with bwcachick's camera, here's a few.     See the rod in the upper right of this photo?  |
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Geo-Ing Crazy
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2008
Posts: 238
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Post by Geo-Ing Crazy on Jul 10, 2009 12:07:22 GMT -5
Wow, you really go to great lengths, and the pictures are great! and, no, I did not see the rod in the upper right of the last photo. Even after you said where it was, I had to take a second look :-) Just Great! Thanks for showing your technique.
Barb
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Thunder69
Cave Dweller 
Thunder 2000-2015
Member since January 2009
Posts: 3,105
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Post by Thunder69 on Jul 10, 2009 15:34:46 GMT -5
Totally awesome....John
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Post by Bikerrandy on Jul 10, 2009 21:15:10 GMT -5
That's undoubtedly one of the finest batches of tumbles ever posted here, amazing stuff!!  |
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rockerfellerz
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2008
Posts: 120
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Post by rockerfellerz on Jul 11, 2009 10:38:49 GMT -5
Wow! What an outstanding effort! Every one of those is done to perfection and the photography is excellent. I'm really enjoying this post. thanks for all the tips and the inspiration to do more with my own tumbles.
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