The Diamond Ring Project: A How-To Guide
All images © Terry Blackburn - 1997

Follow these simple steps to zoom in on your own 'Diamond Ring':

1. Start with 'Big Ben'. Zoom in to any portion.
2. For this particular example, the area being zoomed into will always appear at the center of the image.
3. As you zoom in, begin looking for a 'bennie', which is a small replica of 'Big Ben'. In this example, the large bennie at the top would be a fine candidate, but I chose a much smaller one at the center of the image.
4. Here's the target bennie from a little closer.
5. Now, zooming in a little closer, zero in on an area that, on 'Big Ben', would have regular smooth striping, like the sample to the right. Notice how the image on the left exhibits a great deal of 'feathering' in these normally smooth areas.
6. Here's a closer view of the 'feathering effect' that all bennies seem to display.
7. Pick one of the tendrils threading through the striping. Notice a number of lumps or nodules on the thread. By this time we are approaching the maximum zoom capabilities of some fractal generating software, so, pick a big nodule to conclude our search.
8. Here's a closeup of a nodule. To the right is the same nodule with colors adjusted to reveal inner structure. We will continue to zoom using these colors. Now, an astute observer will be struck with the uncanny resemblance of this image to one of a Julia image that might result from data taken from 'Big Ben' in an area analagous to our zoomed area on this 'bennie'.
9. We're almost there. Right there in the center is our target.
10. Here we are!

With practice and experience it should be possible to select the desired characteristics of the final result with a great deal of accuracy. Have fun!

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