Making Rock Images: Pt. 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I have started to make some abstract rock images after seeing some of Mark Graf's abstract gallery. I have also bought Bill Atkinson's book Within the Stone, which is absolutely gorgeous. After several sessions of trying, I have learned several tricks that have worked for me without buying any new equipment and thought it might be of interest to share them in a few blog posts....if I have time to process some images more fully I will display some of them as well.

Hurdle #1: Finding Rock

This one is pretty easy. Log onto e-Bay and search for Jasper Rock, Agate, Flint or any other type of rock you would like to photograph and start bidding. Bid on pieces that have been cut so that the surface to be photographed is flat (so that the entire surface can be in focus at once). It doesn't matter if the surface has been polished or not. As a matter of fact it is probably better that it is not. The reason is that the polished pieces have typically been cut for jewelry....that means that they often are not flat and, in addition, the pieces are smaller. You want a flat surface and the largest piece possible in order to search around for and isolate different compositions.

Oh, and now that I shared that with you, do me a favor and don't bid against me on anything!

In the next post I will talk about focusing without buying a copy stand.