Cuprite

Cuprite

Cuprite is a minor ore of Copper, Copper oxide: Cu2O.  This sample comes to us from Morenci, Arizona.

This is my best effort at photographing it from early last month, September.  I have been trying for two years.  I must thank my brother for suggesting cross polarization to eliminate the bright highlights.  I added some filters within the Fotodiox Portable Studio, LED 440 that I use.  I added a linear polarizing filter to the softbox filter already in use.  I than added a circular polarizing filter on the lens, adjusting it for minimal reflections.  I had to add an additional light because all the polarization filters reduce the amount of light available.  I found the the Clar Surface Series 24B LED helpful in solving this problem. This process is awkward when shooting focus stacks as I have done here. This stack contains 149 captures which were combined in Helicon Focus software.  It is difficult to see the effect as I rotate the filter because of the super shallow depth of field.  I suspect that I may be able to do better when I have more patience. 

I learned that Cuprite is rarely used for jewelry because of its lack of hardness.  It was first described by Wilhelm Ritter Von Haidinger in 1885.  There is only one place worldwide which yields crystals of enough quality and size to be gem quality.  It is in Seeis, Namibia.

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