Mineral Photograph

From Mindat

Table of contents

1 Locality 2 Minerals 3 Type of Photo 4 Description

Locality

If the locality is not filled in (it will be if you add the photo from the locality display page), you can enter either the full name, a partial name or the locality number. Hitting the "Check" button will allow you to choose the correct location. You can enter just a portion of the locality string here, but if you type in a partial locality where there are too many possible locations, the program will not accept this.

Minerals

The most prominent (or the mineral that you are trying to illustrate) should go on the first line (If it was already not entered).
Additional associated minerals should be filled in the following fields.

After you have entered the mineral - click on the "Find" Button and select the mineral that you were trying to enter. If there are too many possible matches for the mineral, it is possible that it will not be in the list.

Type of Photo

You are able to select one of the following types to categorize the photo. Most mineral photos will be either a Full view or closeup.

Types:

1. Mineral Photo (full view)
2. Mineral Photo (close-up/photomicrograph)
3. Mineral Photo (close-up/photomicrograph using layer software
4. Thin section (normal light)
5. Thin Section (Polarized Light)
6. Polished Section
7. TEM
8. Cathodoluminescence
9. UV Fluorescence (Short Wave)
10. UV Fluorescence (Medium Wave)
11. UV Fluorescence (Long Wave)
12. Interference Figures
13. Mineral in situ
14. SEM
15. Polished Section (Polarized Light)
16. Stereo View

For mineral labels - please see "other" category. These should be entered as "child" photos of the main specimen.

Description

The description should include the following:

1. A scale of the photograph is then entered (preferably in metric units, mm or cm). You can use the width of the photograph (ie. horizontal field of view is 5mm; or horizontal fov 5mm) or largest crystal is 3.0cm high. Coins are probably not a good size guide since most people would probably not know what is the size of a particular coin.
2. If there are a number of minerals on the photograph, you need to describe which crystal is which mineral (ie. green mineral is malachite, red is cuprite) since many site users would not be able to differentiate between minerals. You can also differentiate them by habit or a statement such as calcite on quartz.
3. You should also include other information such as habit or pseudomorphism if these are applicable.