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new camera-better pics...

m76steve

Brilliant_Rock
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Dec 21, 2008
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605
just got a new camera & the pic resolution is sooo much better-just a small example of the present small camera technology-i think its impressive for the price-this is alexandrite under incandecent & daylight-steve...

035.JPG

040.JPG
 

PrecisionGem

Brilliant_Rock
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Resolution looks good Steve. See if there is a color balance control. With the color balance set correctly, the light grey back ground should be the same color in both pictures. If you can't control the color balance in the camera, then you can make an adjustment in most photo editing software such as Aperture or Photoshop. If you photo contains a white or gray area, you can select this a spot in this area and the software will color correct the whole photo to make this area white or gray.
 

cellentani

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Definitely an improvement in the resolution! What camera did you get?
 

Treenbean

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Feb 25, 2010
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Much improved Steve! Can't wait to see the re-shoots. :naughty:
 

m76steve

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Dec 21, 2008
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the camera im using is a nikon coolpix L110-bought on sale at best buy for $210.00-easy to use-very good for closeup pics & really good resolution-puts my old camera to shame-the old one was only 3-4 yrs old-i love tech & its getting better-by the way-its made in vietnam-steve...new pics r on the way-steve...
 

kenny

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Yes the resolution looks better but I second Gene's suggestion.
When you tell the camera what kind of light you are using the color comes out correct.

Look in your owner's manual for white balance.
 

zeolite

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I disagree. If your goal is to get a perfectly matched background between two different light sources, this is a good suggestion. if your goal is to get the photo to exactly match the gem under that lighting, I find that this doesn't work.

When I first saw some cc gems offered by a vendor, and saw that the neutral background under different light sources didn't match, I that he was cheating.

Below is one of my cc garnets, photographed first under daylight fluorescent and then under GE Revel incandescent, and then combined in one picture. I completely ignored matching the background, I just manipulated the photo in my raw converter, and then in Photoshop. The photo is reasonably color accurate. The actual gem is somewhat more intense under both light sources.

712713garn2.jpg
 

zeolite

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Then I took the exact same two pictures, completely ignored the actual gem color, and only tried to match the white background. The resultant picture does not match in hue nor saturation, to what I see when I view the gem with my eyes.

bgrndMatch.jpg
 

zeolite

Brilliant_Rock
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To get a bit ridiculous, I took the green (daylight color) garnet and manipulated it to make a nice ruby! Much cheaper than buying an actual ruby!

greenToRed.jpg
 

kenny

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Setting your camera's white balance to match the light source you are using is a good thing.
Is is always perfect?
No
But doing it is better than not doing it.
We see zillions of pics on PS that are yellowish from people not learning about this subject.
It is not hard to do and makes your pics look much better and true.

Using a white or gray colorless background is a handy and sensible way to see how well it worked.
If the white or gray background does not look white or gray it is sensible to use software to correct the color using software if you have it so it does look white or gray.

Sure, some camera's white balance settings may not precisely match your particular light source since camera settings are usually a single color temperature but light bulbs, fluorescent or tungsten, can vary in color temp.
Even daylight varies in color temp at different times of the day and with different weather conditions.

I think introducing another variable (a gem that changes color) may be confusing things for people wanting to learn the basics of taking better pics.
Actually, to document the color-change of CC stones I think it is extra important to use the same white or gray background in both pics.
Then when the background of both pics looks the same white or gray you can be confident the stone's color is more true to how that stone actually does look under that particular light source.

In the pics above the stones themselves could have changed color because of the change from daylight to incandescent.
Plus it is possible the background was itself a different and more yellowish color for the second shot.
But the gold itself also looks less gold in the daylight shot.
That makes me pretty sure the white balance setting was not set to the light source.
 

m76steve

Brilliant_Rock
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Dec 21, 2008
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605
kenny-very true for colorchange stones-changing the light can change other factors within the pics-thanks - steve...
 

LD

Super_Ideal_Rock
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As somebody who has tried (and failed miserably) to accurately photograph colour change gemstones, I completely agree with Mr Zeolite. It's impossible to get the background to match and keep the colour/hue of the gem accurate in both lighting conditions. It just doesn't work. I don't know why and don't profess to understand photography at all but I do know what I see and what gets me the most accurate photographs. I concentrate on the gems and not the background.

Sorry if this sounds incredibly basic and ignorant of what can be achieved but it's my experience!
 

kenny

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Now I want a color changing gem to see this phenomenon.
It sounds like I need to learn something.

Which gem would be a good but inexpensive subject, either changing hue a lot or moving to the opposite side of the color wheel or whatever most challenges accurate photography?
 

LD

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Anything that changes to the other side of the colour wheel (and shows both colourways strongly) will be more expensive than the "norm". You also get varying degrees of change. For example, a fabulous alexandrite will change from forest green to purple red. A poor example will be a grey/brown green that turns to a wishy washy pink (not lovely or recommended). Interestingly, you may want to get a rubbish alex because it has another phenomenon that it may not change colour at all - no matter what lighting you view it in BUT take a photo of it and it will always appear to be the purple/pink incandescent colour - when in reality all you see is yucky green. I've got an example of this - let me see if I can find it and post up. So with Alexandrite DO NOT believe photos!!!

If you can find a Garnet with a red/green change this may be a good one to try to photograph. Typically they are expensive and more difficult to find. For most colour change gemstones, the better the colour change the more challenging it is to capture the daylight colour. Incandescent isn't a problem. For example, with my high quality Alex I have NEVER been able to capture the daylight green.

Colour shifters i.e. not across the colour wheel but to the colour to the side i.e. purple/blue, purple/pink, are easier to photograph and are cheaper to buy! Even I can photograph them so it may not be challenging for somebody who is camera savvy.

Not sure that's helped but at least it gives some pointers.
 

LD

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Here you go ........... this is how to lie with photos!!!

The first photo below is what I see IRL. It NEVER EVER changes to any other colour in any other lighting. It's green. That's it. Oh, by the way, this is a great example of rubbish Alexandrite. Top photo is taken in daylight where you would only see green.

The bottom photo is one that I took in incandescent lighting and you can see for yourself that it appears to show a colour change. Believe me, I moved the camera away and only saw green - it doesn't change at all - it's only green. Took another picture and there was the colour change again. I've seen this so many times with Alexandrite that I stopped buying from photos a long long time ago and only buy where there's a returns policy!!!

Alexandrite Blue Purple_1_1.JPG

Alexandrite Green1_1_1.jpg
 

kenny

Super_Ideal_Rock
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FWIW that "white" leather looks like it is leaning towards pink in the lower pic.

Is it the same leather?
Is it white in real life?

If so when I see this my brain just cannot get past it.
Those 2 pics cannot be said to document the gem's color change if the white background doesn't match.

Whatever the gem does the leather is not color-changing leather and if it doesn't look the same in both pics adjustment is needed. This would serve as proof that color memory must be off if you are adjusting the bottom pic for the gem color you remember.
 

PrecisionGem

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I took Steve's incandescent photo, and using just "Preview" on the Mac, color corrected the background. Here's the result. I'm betting this looks closer to what Steve sees when he looks at the stone.

Photographing color change stones is very difficult, since typically the types of lights used are rather different, so it's hard to get the same brightness and reflections from both. I see that many websites shoot just one image, and then Photoshop in the color change. If the do this honestly, then I think this may be a good solution.

m76steve035.JPG
 

cellentani

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I don't understand why the background needs to match exactly in different light sources. I agree that it's imperative to use the same background in all photos, but to my eye, a piece of white paper in natural light will be a different hue than under incandescent light. Why shouldn't the photos show this as well? Photos with white balance correction rarely look like they were taken in incandescent light - it looks more like fluorescent or LED light. Sometimes, I will post edit to match the color of the background in the photo to what I see in person, but never to the color of the background in a different light.
 

PrecisionGem

Brilliant_Rock
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The backgrounds don't and won't match exactly. The idea is the get the tint away. In the old days of film, you bought daylight film, or tungsten film. The other option was to use filters. If you were shooting with daylight film, and needed to take a few indoor shots, then you had a blue filter to correct the light. The idea in the digital age is the same, you set the color balance in your camera depending on the type of light, or leave it on automatic on some camera's and the camera will adjust the color balance to match the light. More sophisticated cameras have a program mode, where you have either a white or gray paper and make an exposure off the paper. The camera then adjusts to make this image neutral in color.
 
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