My Diamond Pics

[dancingmelimel]

To give my diamond-obsessed self something to do, I''ve tried to photograph my new diamond. I probably should have done it out in the sunlight, but I''m paranoid about the thing rolling away in the grass. So with digicam, loupe and desk lamp, these were the best I could do. Mind you, the background should be white, so I didn''t do too terribly well. (Any photography tips would be welcome.) The stone, as you can imagine, should also be whiter.

.82, ACA H&A, I si1......mmmmmmmmmm......

 

[dancingmelimel]

Some of you have gotten much better shots, so perhaps you can advise me. Here's pic #2......

 

[dancingmelimel]

I realy should have cleaned the diamond first! Can't keep my hands, and general lint, off the thing!

-Melissa

 

[dancingmelimel]

Okay, here's my second attempt. This time I braved the outdoors, in early evening light, and then adjusted brightness slightly in photoshop. (The background was looking blue-gray instead of white. Still is, but less so.)

-Melissa

 

[dancingmelimel]

And angle #2.... Trouble avoiding blurry edges inside loupe. Still, I like the spot that Is in focus.

 

[dancingmelimel]

And I couldn't resist this....

When I took the indoor photos, I had to try a shot of this postage stamp, which sits on my desk. This is a photo my dad took.

(You can see I did not follow in his footsteps.

)

 

[Kamuelamom]

mel, I think you did great with the pics. Try playing with all kinds of lighting. MelissaCT on DT had tips on the *really* techincal stuff, like filtering her flash. How? Tape a piece of white paper over the flash. I certain conditions this worked perfectly for me.

I *love* the stamp photo. Your dad is very creative.

 

[Mara]

Wow Mel the ACA arrows in the first pic are very evident. Great job with the loupe! I can't use my digicam and loupe quite that well!

 

[dancingmelimel]

Thanks Kamuelamom, Mara. I guess I did okay, but I obviously need to try in real sunlight. Mara, so far I actually haven't been able to take a focused pic without the loupe. My macro feature ought to work perfectly well, but it can't seem to figure out how to focus on the diamond. For some reason it works with the loupe though.

Go figure.

I'm trying to take a little break from diamond obsession.....Catch up on my life! So it may be a couple days before I try pics in sunlight.

-Melissa

 

[dancingmelimel]

Okay, I managed to hold off until the afternoon!

Sunlight makes a BIG difference, but it's really hard to get shots that are focused! For one thing, both the brightness on the stone, and the brightness on the screen make it really hard to see what you're going to get. For another, it's so hot out right now that I could only get my husband to stand there holding the diamond for so long while I tried to get a decent pic. Then you throw in trying to get his hand holding the diamond, my hand holding the loupe, and my hand holding the camera all lined up and steady at the same time.....Oy!

Now, this stone is an si1, but a really really good one.....appraiser would have given it a vs2, and I have a really hard time finding the inclusions under a 10x loupe, so I think there's some weird optic thing going on, (as well as some dirt.) Perhaps someone can explain diamond optics?

Here's the first pic:

 

[dancingmelimel]

An attempt to capture the arrows, but not aligned quite right.

 

[dancingmelimel]

And one more...... I'd still love technical suggestions.... wish I had extra lenses for my camera like Nate!

 

[dancingmelimel]

Forgot to put the pic in that last post....Here we go...

 

[bht122]

Wow, your diamond looks great! Have you been able to see any tint at all? Have you decided on a setting yet?

 

[dancingmelimel]

----------------
On 7/15/2003 7:12:26 PM bht122 wrote:

Wow, your diamond looks great! Have you been able to see any tint at all? Have you decided on a setting yet?
----------------

Thank you very much! Yes, there is a visible tint, but face up only barely. I can't wait until it's set so that I can compare it with friend's rings. (Favorably, I expect, regardless of color.)

AGS graded it I si1, but the appraiser I took it to thought it was borderline I/J, but also borderline vs2/si1, so that's really a wash. At any rate, he also thought it was a wonderful stone and congratulated me on making the choice to get it online.

(Whiteflash testimonial story to follow soon, btw.) And I am extremely happy with it! Once I get it set and can compare, I'll be able to give you a better answer, but I'm certainly happy with my decision so far.

As for the setting, that's a pain in my ***. I am now 99.9% decided that I'm having it custom made, so now I need to choose who will make it, and there's a whole other saga involved with that which I fear I must start yet another thread about. It's such fun learning things the hard way.

-Melissa

 

[jlim]

dancingmelimal - here are a few more tips for you. Don't try to take photos under bright light if you really want to show what the diamond looks like. Taking under bright sun will only caused it to over-exposed certain areas and underexposed others. DO NOT use a flash either. Sure you can diffuse the flash with tissue or a proper flash diffuser, but certain part of the diamond and/or ring is going to *bounce* the flash more than others. So, you'll end up with the over/under exposed situation again.

Instead try diffusing your light source. So, if you have a lamp, do not point it directly at the diamond. Point it away and diffuse it with a white plastic bag for example (make sure it doesn't get too hot and burn the bag. If your digicam has a macro distance of 1cm, it would be good. If it is 12cm, you can't really get an closer. For lighting it is best if you can make your own lightbox. I'm going to try this in the future.

Click here to read more about this Homemade Light Box

 

[dancingmelimel]

Hi jlim!

Thanks for the info! So if I'm understanding correctly I need lighting that is both bright and diffused.....I tried bright, and I tried diffused, but not together thusfar.

My other problem is that I just finally checked, and the macro distance on my digicam, (which I clearly didn't buy with this feature in mind,) is 16cm. Perhaps if I get a decent magnifying lens, with less magnification but more viewing space than my loupe, I'll get better results.

Any more suggestions?

-Melissa

 

[caratgirl]

Jlim, great information. Now maybe I'll get off my butt & take some shots. Thanks a bunch.