Some finds from Lowmead

[Bundy Ben]

Ohh... My other hobby is actually lightning photography, we usually do about 20,000 over the stom season locally. Mostly at night after work so for the last 3 years winters have been spent plotting high open areas with good visibility. Especially on roads with lots of trees. Proston/Murgon area spawns some great storms so have been down most of the roads. Our travel area is roughly the burnett basin but occasionally sneak out as far as Dalby, mitchell, Taroom, and Middlemount.

 

[ktmman]

That sounds like a fun hobby.
I used to live on Hines road just outside of Proston at the top of the hill.Used to see some great storms from up there.
You can see all the way to the Bunya Mnts from there.

 

[Bundy Ben]

Yeah, like all hobbies, takes a lot of groundwork & practice to get it all right but when you do it's all worth it.

 

[ktmman]

Woah,that is a great shot,must of been stoked when you got that one.

 

[richo966]

just don't get hit by them it really hurts 8.(

 

[Mackka]

Hey Bundy Ben I love the photo. Can I ask what your settings were to get it?
Cheers
Mackka

 

[Bundy Ben]

Hey Bundy Ben I love the photo. Can I ask what your settings were to get it?
Cheers
Mackka

Sorry KTMMAN I know this is off-topic, will return after this.

Makka... The basics for "after twilight"
Must... Have a tripod/stable platform.
..... Have camera in manual mode.
.... Have a your lens switched to manual focus & focussed..,(usually adjust focus on star, moon or distant light source)
ISO... Depends your distance from storm/ligthning, as a rough guide if storm is 50km away run about 200-400
Shutter speed ... Depends on frequency of lightning, as a rule though, if there is one clear bolt of lightning every 30-60secs, then I minute will be fine. If there is 3 or more, drop shutter speed to 30 seconds.
Fstop at f4
The closer the Lightning/brighter the Lightning the lower the ISO & higher Fstop (up to 11 if very close)

Remember, this stuff will kill you in a flash, your car is safest place & lightning can strike up to 30km out from the storm.

Youtube has some ok tutorials & Facebook has a few great pages Bundy Thunder hunters - BTH is the local page, (mine), higgins storm chasing, South Brisbane storms & Central queensland storm chasers... Most will help get you started, a great forecast page is BSCH.com.au
Cheers

 

[Lefty]

Yeah, like all hobbies, takes a lot of groundwork & practice to get it all right but when you do it's all worth it.https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/5203/1434107400_image.jpg

Bloody good photo there Ben!

I used to take a lot of landscape pics, thought once I started faceting I would be able tot ake good pics of stones - nope, must be a few tricks to capturing scintilation etc

 

[Lefty]

Few bits from Lowmead yesterday. This one is nice and clean, very few cracks or inclusions. This will probably facet a stone at least twice - perhaps three times - the size of the biggest one I faceted from that site so far. Might even be more than one stone in it.

A scepter, amethyst sprouting like a mushroom from the side of a smokey quartz crystal.

 

[Lefty]

Just polished a window on a crystal my auntie found yesterday to see if it was worth cutting for her - there's a phantom inside it. Not the most well-developed one but still interesting.

 

[ktmman]

Looks the goods Lefty,your doing well to find some nice cutters.
I'll deff be going up in 2 weeks,see if we can all get together and find some keepers then.

 

[Bundy Ben]

Some nice little pieces there lefty.
Dropped in there late this arvo & was surprized at how many new diggings were up there.
Got a late invite to look over some private land to the west of the deposit so spent the day bush bashing. No signs at all but at least cleared a few question marks I had in my head.

How did you go at Windera KTMman?

 

[ktmman]

Not to bad Ben,a lot of grass and the creek is full but snagged a few pieces.I posted a few pic's on the Windera thread.

My damn brother is an Amethyst magnet,even though we were nowhere near lowmead he still found an agate with a druzy Amethyst crystal top on it.

How did you manage to get on private property,do you know the guy or just got lucky?

 

[Bundy Ben]

Friend of a friend, but just all regrowth and pretty bland granite in steep county. No alluvial country & only a small block but had to take the opportunity.
Will check out the Windera thread shortly.

So much country... So little spare time.

 

[Lefty]

Yeah, stuff won't be everywhere, just in pockets and patches here and there. But you have to take every opportunity to check out potential new sites

Half-finished one of the stones auntie found yesterday, another smokey amethyst. Standard brilliant seems to be the best-loooking cut for the stuff. Will post a piccie when done.

I'd like to get back down beofre I head up north in a few weeks, see how I go.

 

[Lefty]

Smokey amethyst found by auntie last weekend, finished at 1.45 ct. A bit bigger in dimensions than the weight makes it sound owing to quartz not being very heavy. It came out a much lighter-coloured stone than I was expecting, you can just see a very pale tint of purple. Others I have cut have been a much deeper purple than that.

 

[Bundy Ben]

Very nice Lefty...very nice.

 

[Lefty]

Cheers Ben - it does show a little more colour on a white background....

 

[Bundy Ben]

Yeah, that comes up nice on the white background. Might have to comission you for a few cuts down track.

 

[Lefty]

I'm sure I can do that