I asked to see the sapphires that were being planned on being used.. here are the pics of a few set. I'm trying to decide if they're a bit on the dark side or not. The side view pic they look brighter. Maybe it's the black background and or lighting.
Wow! That is gonna look great on your hand!! I've seen DZ on ebay and have several of their OECs in my watched items list and one fairly vintage looking semi-mount too. Super cool that they do custom. It looks great so far. I also liked the other one you started. It is hard to tell from the CADS to wax to real life. The real life end result looks so much softer and detailed than the stark precision CADs and also like people have said, they have extra "metal" to account for polishing etc. Your ring is already looking super; and I can't wait til you have on your hand! omg the wait must be torture
A black background enhances colour. This is why many opals are photographed or videoed against a black background, to make the colour stand out more. Generally speaking, sapphires look best in diffused daylight (shade) and the least best under fluorescent (or sometimes incandescent) light. So if you really want to judge their colour and know how they hold it in various lighting you'd need a photo under at least those two light sources. For such small stones, it's not a huge concern.