flower - gem pics

[zeolite]

Golden sapphire, 3.28 cts, native cut:

 

[zeolite]

Flame spinel, 2.23 cts, native cut

 

[zeolite]

Tanzanite, 13.99 cts, native cut, jacaranda flowers

 

[zeolite]

Pink sapphire, 1.52cts, Vietnam, precision radiant cut

 

[movie zombie]

great photos! brings out the best in the flowers.....and the stones, of course!

mz

 

[klewis]

Those are magnificent photos Zeolite. Are there more?

 

[Cind11]

Oh my goodness!!!! Those are fabulous photos and the stones of course are not too shabby either. I particularly love the tanzanite. I want to dive in that pool of blue!

 

[Linda W]

Gorgeous pictures. Love the color of the stones.

 

[D&T]

Beautiful striking color. do you have more pictures?

 

[Nomsdeplume]

That golden sapphire is to die for!

 

[mercoledi]

These are just amazing, thanks so much for sharing them with us!

 

[innerkitten]

Fantastic stones. Love the pics!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Amazing stones, and they paired with the perfect flowers! Gorgeous!

 

[T L]

Wow Mr. Zeolite,
I didn''t know you had a soft sensitive side to you with all these flower pics!! LOL!!

Beautiful stones and pictures!! Thank you for sharing.

 

[princessplease]

Wow, awesome gems!!!!!

 

[CharmyPoo]

Wow wow! They are all gorgeous. I love that tanzanite.

 

[Fly Girl]

Sweet gem shots. Love the similar flower colors. I''ve been noticing that my garden flowers are colored like the best gemstone colors...clear sharp colors with no muddy greys or browns. Lovely way to emphasize this.

 

[Catmom]

GAH!! Each one is just GORGEOUS!!!

 

[zeolite]

Everyone, I’m glad that you enjoy the pictures.

Klewis: Those are magnificent photos Zeolite. Are there more?
D&T: Beautiful striking color. do you have more pictures?
LTP: Amazing stones, and they paired with the perfect flowers!

I actually have many more gems than flowers in my garden. In these pictures, I picked the flowers first, and then matched the closest gem color to the flower. I was walking through my neighborhood today, and spotted some new flower colors. I’ll pinch a blossom or two, and then match new gems pictures to the new flowers.

TL: I didn't know you had a soft sensitive side to you with all these flower pics!!
Yeah, it also shows in my symphony performances.

Now for the stories. Gotta have stories to go with the gems:

Cind11: I particularly love the tanzanite. I want to dive in that pool of blue!
Charmypoo: I love that tanzanite.

Tanzanites in the early 1980’s were priced 3 times as high then as now. Factoring in inflation, they were 6 times as high. The color then was much better, however. Around 1988-1990 Tanzania nationalized the tanzanite mines, and a flood or poor peasants swarmed in, Tanzanite production greatly increased, and prices crashed. I bought this one in 1990, when there was a huge selection of Tanzanites on the market.

Tanzanite, after heating, shows purple in two directions and blue in the third direction. Face up blue tanzanites are rare, because almost all crystals will yield a larger stone in the purple direction. This is one of the few ones cut to show blue. It was also photographed in daylight, when all tanzanites shift more toward blue. Its color is as fine as a top kashmir sapphire, and the large size helps deepen the color.

Kribbie: That golden sapphire is to die for!

I bought it 1986. One gem dealer must have had $1,000,000 in golden sapphire inventory. He had over 100 golden sapphires in my size range, and I could only afford one. So I selected from many dozens, and found the best cut one.

Flame spinels: a trade name for extremely rare spinels, usually from Burma, that possess intense color and at the same time, outstanding brilliance. I feel that flame spinels are the only other natural gemstone that can stand up to the color intensity of the finest Paraiba tourmalines.

Vietnam pink sapphire: I was in North Vietnam, in a remote corner, near the border with Laos. I was there to set up a ruby cutting factory. A man approached me, offering to sell me two “spinel” crystals. In a split second, I guessed that one was a sapphire. I bought both crystals and wondered for the remainder of the trip if I was correct. When I got back to the U.S., both were cut into fine gems. I measured both after cutting. I was right that one was a spinel (I need to post a picture of it), and the other was this sapphire.

 

[Lovinggems]

Interesting stories and gorgeous photos.

 

[ma re]

Wow, great photography skills! Amazing gems too.

 

[megeve]

Wow, love th pics and the gems!!! Loving forward to more!!!

 

[mochi]

WOW...those photos takes my breath away!!

 

[zeolite]

Color change spinel, 2.24 cts, Sri Lanka, daylight color. It changes to lavender under incandescent light. GIA Reseach did a complete chemical analysis on this gem. Native cut with considerable window. I''m sure recutting would weaken the strong color change.

 

[zeolite]

CC pics

 

[QueenB29]

Wow!!! I''m so jealous: of your stones, your flowers, and your photography skills!!!!

 

[zeolite]

Thank everyone about the fine photography comments. It is just a good camera, macro lens, tripod and an overcast day with gentle lighting.

1.07 ct hot pink sapphire, from Sri Lanka.

 

[klewis]

Zeolite - I remember you had some photos on a thread here showing your gem photography set-up and I must find that and study it properly this time because these flower & gem photos are have inspired me to better my terrible attempts at gem photography. One thing I''m interested to know - how close is the lens to the gem when you take those pics?

 

[zeolite]

Date: 8/1/2009 5:36:21 PM
Author: klewis
Zeolite - I remember you had some photos on a thread here showing your gem photography set-up and I must find that and study it properly this time because these flower & gem photos are have inspired me to better my terrible attempts at gem photography. One thing I''m interested to know - how close is the lens to the gem when you take those pics?

Here''s the thread:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/gemstone-photography.113142/

Toward the bottom, it says the front of the camera lens (100mm macro) is 5 3/4" from the gem. But all of the pictures in this thread are just daylight; no diffuser or artificial light is used.

You might notice that my pictures are sharp and there is a range (front to back) where everything is in focus. This is because my advanced camera (digital single lens reflex, DSLR) allows me to manually choose the lens opening. So I choose f16, which is very closed (small lens opening), which lets in very little light. It keeps good focus (front to back) but requires long exposure (about 1/4 second), which requires a tripod.

 

[klewis]

Thank you for the link to that thread.