Bowl of liquid oxygen.
Liquid oxygen is blue, beautiful sky blue (though the blue of the sky has nothing to do with the fact that oxygen in liquid form is blue). But it's not really quite this blue, except under certain viewing conditions. OK, I feel guilty, I admit it: The blue in this picture is slightly enhanced. But it really does look very blue, even this blue, when you're seeing it for example under a blue sky out of direct sunlight, or under certain kinds of lights, like the metal halide lights in my shop. I wanted to capture that amazing blueness for my periodic table poster, and I admit, I helped it a bit in Photoshop. This is a shameful thing to do, and I'm sorry. (In case you're wondering, the only other samples in my poster that have had any color adjustment applied were gold and copper, which for some reason were just not looking gold or copper colored in print, even though the samples do very much so in person. In those cases, as in the case of oxygen, I tried to make the pictures look like the samples looked to me, even if that meant tweaking the colors compared to what strict application of the measured white balance would require. Color is a tricky thing, and sometimes you have to bend the rules to remove the lies the camera inserts.)
This sample to represents its element in my Photographic Periodic Table Poster. The sample photograph includes text exactly as it appears in the poster, which you are encouraged to buy a copy of.
Source: Claudin Welding Supply
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 15 April, 2006
Text Updated: 20 November, 2008
Price: $15
Size: 8"
Purity: 99%
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