Send Me Your Thunderegg Pics!

Email Me!!!!

As I started collecting thundereggs, It quickly became apparent that an in any way comprehensive collection would be dependant on two things: Winning the lottery and opening a museum. To the best of my knowledge, there doesn't really exist a really comprehensive online resource on thundereggs. That is why I decided to expand this website from its original concept as a catalogue of my own collection and invite people to submit images of thundereggs for publication here.

All images published will be accompanied by a link or banner link to the sender's website/email/shop address - whatever you want. That is your call.

This is a non-profit site, of course. I am not looking to buy pictures (i spend enough money on the actual stones!) - but the benefits to all concerned are obvious. The resource grows in its scope (making me happy), the people who send in pics get free advertising for their website etc (making them happy) and the general public gets to see more thundereggs (making the whole world happy!). And all of this can only be a good thing. You can also list thundereggs that are for sale, complete with price and contact info if you want. The site has become fairly popular and enjoys a high google ranking when searching for the word 'thunderegg'. And of course - the more pics you send, the better advertising you have! ;-)

What to send:

Well - errr - almost anything really, so long as it is a thunderegg! Any thunderegg would be considered, especially if it is unlike anything already here. A new location will make you especially popular - and give me a new country and I will eat out of your hand! Detail shots are optional. If the specimen has the potential for a good close-up detail shot, don't stop yourself.

Guidelines

In order to maintain quality, please note the following guidelines for images. I will reject any bad, blurred or strangely exposed pics as I want to keep this site as high quality as possible.

• Pics should be sharp and clear.
• Pics should ideally be taken in daylight or under a daylight bulb - or at least should represent the true colours as accurately as possible. Some artificial lights can produce fabulous colours that blow your mind - but then the realization comes that hey!, they just don't look like that! I am after realism here, as far as possible.
• Pics should be a MINIMUM of 700 pixels across and compression should be low. Thundereggs deserve quality pics.
• Pics should not have any copyright warning or watermark obscuring the thunderegg. I hate watermarked images with a passion and secretly want to spank any photographer guilty of obscuring their pic with one. You can mark it somewhere where it wont get in the way by all means though. In a corner perhaps or using a panel across the bottom.
• Copyright remains with the sender.

There are a few things one can adjust and tweak to compensate for photos that are ‘dull’ coloured if that is a problem – Gamma Correction especially can sometimes be really magical process for waking up a picture and I have no problem with such tweaks in this case. I DO NOT regard it as a ‘falsifying of reality’ here to tweak the picture a little to make it as close to the original as possible and to bring it to life. Cameras themselves always lie (yes they do! Take a pic of a thunderegg outside, then one under a fluorescent tube and see what happens - uggh!). Surely the aim here is to create as accurate a representation as possible, not bow to photographers codes of honor! The crucial thing is to have the picture as sharp and as detailed as possible, because that is the one thing that cant be restored. Don’t worry if the files are huge – I prefer a big file that I can work with and shrink over a small one that doesn't show enough detail. I can easily size them and reduce them myself and find a balance between a great picture and something that will actually open on a web page!

An alternative technique that can produce very good results is to scan the flat face of a thunderegg on a flatbed scanner.  I was doubtful at first how well it would handle such things as caves and clear agate – but when I tested it I was surprised to find that it handled it extremely well! A scanner can produce extremely high-resolution shots and can sometimes almost become a kind of microscope. The drawback of course is that, with the scanner lid open (as it must be), it takes a beautiful and detailed scan of all the dust and threads and smears on the scanner – which seem almost impossible to get rid of completely. But one just does the best one can with this - and a few touches with Photoshop or Paint will take care of the black areas.  Some Gamma Correction can be useful here as well to make up for the fact that scanned images can come out a bit bright. 

With your pics, please include:

• The Location, if possible. If it is a location that is not already on the site, please tell me all you can about it and where it is, so I can set up the info accordingly. If it is on the site already, please feel free to give me any new info you want.
• The thunderegg's measurements. Also detail anything specific that you want to be said about the stone.
• How you would like to be credited. eg: 'from the collection of [your name]' - from the [your shop name]' - whatever you want really. Send me a banner if you want.

Thundereggs For Sale

I am quite willing to list stones that are for sale, provided that the transaction remains solely between you and the buyer. This will be the simplest possible setup, as this is primarily a gallery rather than a shop. A for sale listing will be included in the gallery just the same as a normal listing - and also possibly on the special news page dedicated to sales. The listing will contain whatever info you send me and a contact link or email - either to your own website where people can buy it, or an email link so they can contact you. It will be necessary to let me know when an egg is purchased so I can remove the 'for sale' notice, which I will try to do as quick as possible - but I take no responsibility for any mess-ups caused by people wanting to buy eggs that are already sold!

For now, this is a free service in exchange for high quality pics (which will remain on the site even after sale as a gallery specimen) - though hey, I wouldn't say no to any discount if I wanted to purchase a few of them myself! ;-)

I strongly recommend that anyone who wants to take advantage of this has a paypal account and a dedicated email address that is connected with it since, though I encode email addresses on the site, I cannot be responsible for spam that might flood in as a result of publishing your personal email address.

Email Me!!!!