Help understanding cause of distortion in Hearts image

[MikeTheRock]

Hi,

First post here, but I wanted to say this is a great forum with a vast amount of excellent information. After much reading and searching I haven't been able to find an answer to this question, so I was hoping someone here could help.

In the attached photo, what might be the cause of the missing arrowheads in the Arrows image and the distortion in the Vs/chevrons in the Hearts image? In particular, I'm wondering what causes the twisting of the Vs/chevrons. My understanding is that the 75% LGF of this diamond will cause the Hearts to be close to the Vs, especially if the LGFs averaged closer to 73% (and so were rounded to 75% in the GIA report), but I still can't find information explaining what causes a twist in the Vs.

It is a GIA 3Ex with 40.8 Pav; 34 Crown and 58 table if that matters in the analysis.

Sarin scan shows all Pav are 40.7 except one is 40.8. Crowns are: 34; 33.8; 33.9; 33.9; 33.8; 34.1; 33.9; 34.2.

I'm wondering if there is any way to tell if this is facet yaw, or if the camera was just off axis.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

[Karl_K]

mostly its looks like a setup problem, arrow picture the diamond is tilted and alignment is off, heart photo alignment is off.
To get a true image the diamond must be centered in the scope and level, the lens centered over the scope and the lens parallel to the top of the scope.
There may be some yaw.
Do a google search for Yaw site:www.pricescope.com and you should find some interesting reading.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Yaw%2Bsite%3Awww.pricescope.com

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

I am going to concur with Karl here - it is a very tricky thing to get really good photos.

 

[gr8leo87]

It's really tricky to take hearts images as slight disorientation will not result in a perfect hearts image. The perfect hearts image that you see on some vendor's websites is taken with a very expensive setup costing in excess of 5000 dollars.

 

[gr8leo87]

And then there's post processing - that can hide many some irregularities like facet yaw.

 

[gr8leo87]

Hide some of the irregularities **

 

[WinkHPD]

You can have a little fun with this if you take away the camera and just use your eyes. (When looking through the scopes and loupes, it is always best to leave both eyes open, even if you are only using one. If you spend too much time with only one eye open it can result in HORRIBLE headaches.)

Try to center the diamond exactly in the scope and with the table up view, tap the platform in which the diamond is sitting until the diamond appears to be perfectly level. Now look through the viewer. Move your head very slightly left and right, forward and back, etc. You will see that in some places you will see the perfect image, but in most, you will not. You can observe the "twist" will go in different directions based on where your eye is.

If you have to have your eye way to one side or the other to see a perfect or close to perfect image, then either the stone is not centered in the device or it is not level if you are looking at the face up view. If when your eye and the diamond are both centered and if the diamond is level when looking at the face up view and the images still are wonky, then you can be pretty sure it is the cut, not the position of your eye.

Experiment a little while it is in the proper setup and move your head just a tiny bit here and there and watch the twisting and distortion of the image. Now imagine doing that with a heavy camera that magnifies the image many times and highlights the tiniest of imperfections in alignment until they make even a perfect diamond look not quite right and you see the problem that all of the vendors are faced with in producing the images you all love to use to analyze the stone you are thinking about.

Hmmm. I thought I had sent this out Wednesday, before I left Thursday to visit my daughter and her family which includes two of the prettiest and most captivating granddaughters you can imagine. It is still relevant, so I am posting it anyway.

Wink