Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - Macro Bands
If you don't know what an agate is, let me tell you that it is in my opinion one of the most popular stones among every #rockhound. Agates are quite beautiful, none quite like the other! Many agates don't even look like agates until you take a closer look. In some cases, a much closer look. Are you a #rockhound? Share your finds to the #rockhound tag! I manually curate the tag and upvote them! Sometimes it may take me a while as I am also curating other stuff but I tell you, this curating stuff is great! Sometimes I get a penny for curation rewards and I have to say it's better than free bitcoin faucets so I'm satisfied!
So I was on my way into the Medical Center about 2 months ago with the wife for a checkup and the outside landscaping around the building has a bunch of rock beds instead of grass. As I was going in there, I saw there were two patients (a couple) looking around the beds for agates. We walked right by them and as we did I looked down and saw what I thought was an agate. I was in a hurry though, and I didn't want to exactly intrude on their agate search where they've been looking for 5 minutes and I come in and grab the nicest agate in the whole bed, so I left it for them to find. Deep down inside, I was hoping they wouldn't find it.
Lights Off
I told my wife "Oh my god I saw an agate, I hope they don't find it!" She wondered why I didn't just grab it and I explained it to her. I calmly and anxiously went about my appointment thinking about that agate. It looked so weird that it might not even be an agate but I'm certain it's something good! As we walked out, I quickly walked over to where I saw it and to my surprise the couple didn't find it! "Amatures!" I thought. While I was glad they didn't find it, I wasn't even sure it was an agate. I decided to share it with you today and I typically don't get the chance to fully observe an agate til I decide to take pictures of it. After all, looking at it through the viewfinder with the macro lens gives me a lot more detail than using my naked eye, and I typically don't use the jewelers loupe to check out rocks before I post them. Of course, the first test: Does it glow? And the answer is yes. Way too thick to be fully illuminated, you can still tell that it glows which means it's not just a boring old rock!
You can click on the images to view full screen!!
Through the 60mm Macro Lens
The way I have this set up (and above) makes it look like a ring of fire!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
No Shine
Here is the rock without shine in all its glory. This is how it looked when I saw it laying on the ground. The only difference is I had the brightness of the sun to show me. I just knew it had to be an agate but even while observing this rock without any shine added to it, I still wasn't 100%.
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
Through the 60mm Macro Lens
I typically don't go into too much detail when it comes to macro shots without the shine, but I was looking for bands and couldn't really find any. There is one spot I see now in the non-macro shot but I only notice it now because of what I saw after I added oil!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
Shine
It wasn't until I added the oil that there was an unbelievable amount of bands just popping out at me. The final call is that this is an absolutely wonderful agate! I can't say I find many agates like this one, but I am certainly happy that couple didn't spot it. It really made me smile because of how good I've gotten at finding agates. It was just a short 2-3 years ago that I didn't even know agates were easily found around here and I couldn't have picked a better place to live as a #rockhound! My #rockhound desires have been basically dormant up until recently!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
Through the 60mm Macro Lens
Just like the title says, these are some macro bands indeed! Enjoy the tiny lines! It wasn't easy getting them and to be honest a few of them didn't come out as good as I thought but I hope that you like them anyways! I also couldn't help but notice the letter P in one of the shots! It's always nice when I find a letter in a rock and have always wanted to find letters A-Z. I found Z a while ago but have since lost it. Now I have a Macro P! Enjoy!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
You can click on the image to view full screen!!
How Big is it?
Precious Metal to go with Precious Rock! Nothing too fancy, just a copper penny!
| Flashlight Settings | ISO 100 35 mm f/4.5 1/100 sec |
| Settings both Lights Off & On | ISO 800 55 mm f/5.6 1/50 sec |
| Camera | Nikon D3400 24 MP |
| Lens | AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR |
| Lens | AF-S Micro NIKKOR 60mm 1:2.8 G ED |
| Location | Superior, WI |
Fun Fact: I took a total of 198 pictures of this rock bring you the best quality! It takes me about 45 minutes to take the pictures, another 45 minutes to pick the best ones and re-scale them, plus another 20-30 minutes to make the post!
If you have a DSLR camera to take picture of your rocks with, these settings are very dependent on lighting but if you understand the basics of the settings you can get the same results! While I've tried with good phone cameras and even a jewelers loupe, the best results come from my trusty DSLR lenses!
Lately the moon has been hiding on me and I've neglected to check the site that tells me when the moon should be visible in my area. Well tonight I got stuck doing a run by myself (I take drunken patrons home in their vehicles and typically have a follow driver to take me back home). Tonight I ended up 5 miles away from my car so I only had one choice in order to not lose any money: jog! On my 5 mile jog back to my car, I noticed the moon and noticed that it's rising super late at night (or early in the morning) so by the time I got home it was clear skies and ready for a picture!
Taken on 6/8/2018 @ 4 AM CST
Thanks for stopping by! God Bless!
Previous Rock Posts
Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - Little Bubble Agate
Older than 7 days
good for viewing, not for voting!
none
May
Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - May Rocks
April
Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - April Rocks
March
Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - March Rocks
February
Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - February Rocks
January and Beyond
Lake Superior Rocks & Gems - January Rocks [and 2017]
When I joined Steemit I made the decision to always Power-Up my earnings. For now, payouts are set to 50/50 but you bet I will convert & Power Up! Besides internal transfers, I have never cashed out and don't plan on it! Power-Up only!
@bitfiend
Great finds from Lake Superior, I hope to find agates one day. Amazing the different rocks found all over america.
@rockhounds commented on my rock blog and mentioned you. I see you resteemed some of my posts, thanks much!!!
I would like to know how you embed photos that are clickable "You can click on the image to view full screen!!" Can you share that code with me? I usually just drag and drop images into the message body, how do you do it?
See ganking never pays in the long run you did the right thing :D
That one has so much surface pitting it's hard to see the bands although I do believe you they are there and you took great pictures. Do you ever spin them in those polishing barrel things?
No ganking took place while finding this agate. Yeah the surface pitting is all over the place, but you can see the bands a bit. Not always easy getting perfect shots when I'm holding the camera trying to stay still. I got a tripod and now I just need a stand that will put the rock at the perfect height so I can use a shutter clicker.