I like to think that with the passage of time people only ripen instead of get older. We grow wiser, gain more knowledge and develop in one area of life or another.

For me the time for development has come and I decided to chase more advanced photography skills. This resulted in the purchase of a new camera and I slooooowly adapt and explore its capabilities while my „old” little Lumix has been put on the sidelines – it now proudly remembers all the struggles and advencements we achieved up until now.

This post is a small compilation of some of my favourite pictures I captured with the Panasonic Lumix LX-100. (It’ll be fun to look back at them in a couple of years!) You can find some pictures of the first "photo studio" setups I used and some early pictures with this piece of technology in the previous Photography article here - some of those make me laugh looking back. :-)

Enjoy!

This Calcite was one of my first specimens which I intentionally field collected in Eplény, Hungary (about 8x5 cm) and it was one of the very first specimens that I photographed back in 2018 when I bought the camera.

Not the kind of selfie one would’ve expected in 2018… I was experimenting with remote control in an abandoned quarry in the break of a collecting trip.

I hope your eyes do not bleed (mine do!) looking at these pictures about this Quartz specimen. It was one of my first trials with photo editing programs on a single picture (left) - I think it was an HDR merge and some smudging around... On the right I inserted a photo of the same specimen after I learnt more advanced photo editing techniques and how stacking is done.

A cute little fella was crawling around after a little rain when I collected at one of my favourite localities in the Zemplén Mountains, Hungary. :)

My very first stacked and edited specimen photo which I dared to release to the public eyes was about this cute Schorl-Spessartine combo specimen. Eventhough the specimen is not perfect I like it and the photo enough to open the Rockaholik site with it.

When learnt how to do the stacking I started experimenting with reflections. On the left side I experimented with a piece of glass under the Fluorite (Berbes) specimen, but I also started to understand more and more how it can be imitated by photo editing - like the Calcite on the right.

My lucky (or rocky?) stars were perfectly aligned when on one of the first Mineral Talks Live this a-mazing Fluorite could be won from Crystal Classics. After receiving it I made a selfie and a photo of the specimen (lighting can be highly improved!). It was definitely one of the most memorable moments of my life.

This photo was one of the few where I felt utmost pride. Not only because I really admire this Utah Wulfenite specimen but also because it turned out exactly as I imagined it eventhough I was at the beginning of my photo editing journey. I will definitely try again with the new camera setup.

The rest of these specimens are important because of the work I put in to capture them. The Amazonite was a milestone for me in photo editing and the Morganite is well… it’s something I fell in love with waaaay before I got the chance to purchase it. And I did my best to bring out the details as much as I could.

Stay tuned for more content soon! If you liked this post, have a question or input feel free to contact me via the Rockaholik Facebook page or the contact form.