best way to photograph stones?

[starz1]

Will a digital camera do it?

 

[stone-cold11]

yes, use the macro mode.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-to-take-good-photos-of-your-diamonds.102989/

 

[Lorelei]

Just one thing I would add, be prepared to get many dud photos when shooting diamonds, out of many you might only get one or two good shots to begin with but practise makes perfect and keep going!

 

[dragonfly411]

I just wanted to chime in here really quickly. Your results will depend on a few things.

The camera's macro mode: not all digital cameras have a great macro setting. Trust me, I've learned the hard way. If your camera's macro setting isn't the best it'll be a bit testier to get great photos.

How you're taking photos. Hand shots are sometimes harder because our bodies naturally quiver and move.

The photographer. You have to know how to focus, and find the right lighting.

Generally speaking, the digital should be able to do it yes!!

 

[kenny]

More light is better.
Lights placed on both sides of the camera may work well, but make sure the bulbs do not shine directly onto the lens.

Even in the macro mode the depth of field (distance range that is in focus) is still dependent on the aperture (the hole or the iris in the lens).
When there is tons of light your camera will automatically do one or both of these for you:

1. Block light with a faster shutter speed - this is groovy because a sharper pic will result from less effect of camera movement.
2. Block light with a smaller lens aperture - this is groovy because the smaller the hole the deeper the range in focus.

Don't hand hold your camera.
If you don't have a tripod put camera on table and move diamond till it is positioned.
Set your camera's timer to take the picture.
Both these improve sharpness by reducing camera shake.

Move the diamond so it is as close as possible to your lens and still in focus.
Do this by trial and error taking many pics, downloading them into your computer and looking at the result on your full size computer monitor.
When you finally get it, measure that distance from the diamond to the front of the lens for future reference.
Doing this uses maximum pixels in your camera for maximum resolution.
This is smarter than not doing it and depending on cropping in closer after the pic was taken - that is dumb because it uses fewer pixels than the former.

Experiment with different attractive backgrounds - not to bright or dark since your camera will be exposing for it.
Also keep in mind the environment and lighting dramatically affects how your stone looks.
Consider making or buying a white light box.
Cut out the middle of the sides of a strong cardboard box and glue thin white pillow case material to line the inside.
Place your lights outside the box to get that soft even lighting you seen on better diamond vendor sites.

Use the white-balance setting to match your camera to your light source, sunlight? cloudy? Fluorescent? Old fashioned light bulbs (tungsten)?
When you do this the color will look correct instead of all yellowish or bluish.

Oh, and don't be afraid - your camera's owners manual is your friend.
A good place for it is next to your toilet - then you will learn to use your camera in small repetitive lessons.

 

[Lorelei]

More light is better.
Lights placed on both sides of the camera may work well, but make sure the bulbs do not shine directly onto the lens.

Even in the macro mode the depth of field (distance range that is in focus) is still dependent on the aperture (the hole or the iris in the lens).
When there is tons of light your camera will automatically do one or both of these for you:

1. Block light with a faster shutter speed - this is groovy because a sharper pic will result from less effect of camera movement.
2. Block light with a smaller lens aperture - this is groovy because the smaller the hole the deeper the range in focus.

Don't hand hold your camera.
If you don't have a tripod put camera on table and move diamond till it is positioned.
Set your camera's timer to take the picture.
Both these improve sharpness by reducing camera shake.

Move the diamond so it is as close as possible to your lens and still in focus.
Do this by trial and error taking many pics, downloading them into your computer and looking at the result on your full size computer monitor.
When you finally get it, measure that distance from the diamond to the front of the lens for future reference.
Doing this uses maximum pixels in your camera for maximum resolution.
This is smarter than not doing it and depending on cropping in closer after the pic was taken - that is dumb because it uses fewer pixels than the former.

Experiment with different attractive backgrounds - not to bright or dark since your camera will be exposing for it.
Also keep in mind the environment and lighting dramatically affects how your stone looks.
Consider making or buying a white light box.
Cut out the middle of the sides of a strong cardboard box and glue thin white pillow case material to line the inside.
Place your lights outside the box to get that soft even lighting you seen on better diamond vendor sites.

Use the white-balance setting to match your camera to your light source, sunlight? cloudy? Fluorescent? Old fashioned light bulbs (tungsten)?
When you do this the color will look correct instead of all yellowish or bluish.

Oh, and don't be afraid - your camera's owners manual is your friend.
A good place for it is next to your toilet - then you will learn to use your camera in small repetitive lessons.

Great post Sir Kenneth but I am a bit concerned as to what you are photographing by keeping your camera by the lavatory...

 

[kenny]

Oh, all kinds of crap.

Oh you crazy lady. Hahaha.
Not the camera.
The owner's manual!

 

[Lorelei]

Oh, all kinds of crap.

Oh you crazy lady. Hahaha.
Not the camera.
The owner's manual!

ROFL!!!!!

 

[kenny]

Oh I forgot - turn off your flash.

 

[risingsun]

I have a Sony Cybershot. Not a recent model. I do use the macro mode and turn off the flash. In certain lighting conditions, the diamond is so bright that I get a white blur. I don't see this in the viewfinder, but discover it when I view the pic on my computer. How can I know that what I see in the viewfinder is accurate?

 

[kenny]

I have a Sony Cybershot. Not a recent model. I do use the macro mode and turn off the flash. In certain lighting conditions, the diamond is so bright that I get a white blur. I don't see this in the viewfinder, but discover it when I view the pic on my computer. How can I know that what I see in the viewfinder is accurate?

The viewfinder is probably too small.

Today's automatic cameras decide the exposure settings for you.
Generally don't have to learn or think any more - but often they get it wrong.
That's when it's time to learn and outsmart our dumb cameras.

Fancier cameras have more sophisticated ways for the operator to tell the camera exactly WHAT to expose for.
Check your owner's manual for terms like spot metering, or center weighting.

Generally cameras pay more attention to the brightness of what's in the center, but in an averaging way.
There are 2 ways cameras control how much light gets in.
1. How long the shutter is open (shutter speed)
2. The size of the aperture (hole) in the lens, also known as the f-stop.

Cameras try to adjust these two to achieve what they call 18% reflectance (so the pic reflects 18% of the light striking it).
Of course this is absurd since the brightness of stuff in virtually every pic varies.
So it's an average.

If your diamond came out pure white chances are everything around it was quite dark and the camera set the exposure mostly for those dark areas by letting lots of light in.
This made the large dark background brighter and pushed the exposure of your diamond up beyond the brightest light that your sensor could capture.
This resulted in the diamond looking like a burned-out white blob.
Your solution may be to put the diamond on lighter things so the camera adjusts the exposure for those lighter things which are closer to the brightness of your diamond.

 

[risingsun]

Kenny~ when I say viewfinder, I mean the panel on the back of the camera. It's quite large. It sounds as if I need to find a different background for taking the picture. One where the overall lighting does not have an extreme range of dark and light. Am I understanding you on this? Thanks for your help

 

[kenny]

Yes, try to find a lighter background so that will be what your camera exposes for.
Depending on the angle of view you may also need to put the diamond on something just as light too.

Camera LED displays are often too small for making critical evaluations.

 

[risingsun]

Yes, try to find a lighter background so that will be what your camera exposes for.
Depending on the angle of view you may also need to put the diamond on something just as light too.

Camera LED displays are often too small for making critical evaluations.

I will give it a try. My best pics are taken outdoors under partial shade, but it is freezing outside and the indoor shots are more difficult for me to find the best background.