Most Recent Program Information
January 2025 Program
-Mike Pabst presented a program about Wildacres, which is a mineral-related educational camp near Little Switzerland, NC.He will be teaching a class there in May on mineral photography. He mentioned there was minor damage there from Hurricane Helene, but the camp is available.
(Kelly L mentioned that he attended a faceting class there several years ago, and that it was fun and informative....with great food!)
Accommodations are in cabins and there's lots of story-telling and sharing experiences among the attendees. Mike showed a few photos from the website https://efmls.org/wildacres/ with a list of classes. This year's session is May 12-18 and costs $485. Refunds are available if cancellation is completed by April 12.
Classes available this spring include: Cabochons, Chainmaille, Faceting, Silversmithing, Wire Wrapping, and Photography. Jack explained the class on Precious Metal Clay involves using natural metal-infused clay that is heated in a kiln to produce a metal-coated edge on cabochons. Only certain minerals will accept the metals, which may be copper, silver, gold, or iron.
Michael displayed the equipment (photo) he uses to take exquisite photos of micro-minerals. He uses his iPhone for general photos and for those he takes in museums; he adds a macro lens that has a long focal length to his OM (Olympic digital camera) to which he can also add a Raynox supplemental lens. There is no mechanical shutter on this camera which helps avoid vibrations and blurry photos. He uses a stereo microscope to which he adds a microscopic eyepiece through which to take pictures. A tripod and/or a WEmacro focusing rail is necessary for preventing shakiness during shoots. A round figure for all this equipment is about $3500. That's actually a fair price for years of photography use!
The photos he takes are professional quality. To see some of the photos Mike has published on mindat.org go to: https://www.mindat.org/photoscroll.php?frm_id=pscroll&cform_is_valid=1&searchbox=michael+pabst&submit_pscroll=Search
After years of using previous versions of manual cameras, Mike is very impressed with the advancement of technology to the photography world. He has used trial and error to finesse his techniques. (There will be lots of blurry unused photos, but when that crystal clear one is produced, a feeling of success abounds!)
A computer with Photoshop is a must for those best shots, as color, light, and backgrounds can be adjusted. There are also software programs to instantly do photo "stacking" of a mineral which takes a series of pictures at very small increments; 5 microns for example is equal to 200 steps per mm! The pictures are then sorted and blended by the software so the best view can be produced. The computer can also be hooked to the camera so that photos can be remotely taken. Once the photo is on the computer, its resolution can be changed by cropping and magnifying.
Mike displayed a sample of Pauladamite under the stereoscope, with various photos showing different FOV (field of view) of this mineral. One photo had a FOV of .25 mm! He also had a sample of Jouravskite with various photos. (to go with tonight's "J" mineral theme) Oftentimes, a mineral will display various color hues simply from the mineral itself, even under the same light source. The angle that the viewer uses can also affect the hue.
Mike showed some photos of minerals from the JMU mineral museum using his iPhone, the OM camera, and with the macro lens. Each was unique. He suggested placing the camera/phone lens onto the glass surface to photograph a specimen in a case so the glare from the glass will not show.
THANK YOU, Michael for this wonderful explanation into the world of photographing minerals. We wish you the best with the class you'll be teaching at Wildacres. Those students will certainly be educated!
{For those of you who may not know Michael, here is a link to his page on mindat.org - https://www.mindat.org/user-27958.html
