Show me your garnets!

[cushioncutnut]

Those are gorgeous Harriet! AJ, Mochi, and Chrono,... you gals are killing me!!!!

 

[icekid]

Date: 4/20/2009 11:07:58 PM
Author: Chrono
I need professional photography tips from Mochi and AJ so my stones don''t look so cruddy.

Don''t be discouraged! We love any and all photos

Your spess looks seriously wonderful! Definitely radioactive.

Did you take a TON of photos?? I take loooots and just post the ones that come out nicely.

 

[chrono]

Date: 4/21/2009 8:44:29 PM
Author: icekid

Date: 4/20/2009 11:07:58 PM
Author: Chrono
I need professional photography tips from Mochi and AJ so my stones don''t look so cruddy.

Don''t be discouraged! We love any and all photos

Your spess looks seriously wonderful! Definitely radioactive.

Did you take a TON of photos?? I take loooots and just post the ones that come out nicely.

Thanks and no, that''s all I took. I guess I need to take more pictures then erase the bad ones.

 

[mochi]

Chrono, your spess is just stunning and HUGE!!

 

[chrono]

Thanks Mochi. You ladies inspired me to try again and I did...until the battery died on me.

The thing I hated the most was the sun playing peek-a-boo with me. When it came out, I had to go in. When it went behind the clouds, I had to come out. Geez, I was a nervous wreck carrying all those gems in and out of the house!

 

[Gailey]

Date: 4/19/2009 12:19:47 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 4/19/2009 12:06:29 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
Love the collection Yingh! I still LOVE that malaya...mmm..so dreamy.
You said you ordered malaya''s from Multicolor before? How did their garnets compare to the pics online?

I know the question was directed at Yingh, but I thought I''d give my experience since I ordered a Malaya from MC.com. I think you really need to know exactly what you are looking for because I didn''t care much for the Malaya I got. It wasn''t the color I expected, and shipping back to MC.com is VERY EXPENSIVE and RISKY (I know firsthand), so really make sure you know what you want. You have to do a lot of sifting through MC.com to find a treasure IMO, but I hear good things about them regardless. I did get a very nice sphalerite from them. I recently returned my heart shaped grossular to them. It cost $25 to ship it back, and I couldn''t insure it due to customs, and had to put it in a flat padded mailer in bubblewrap (so it couldn''t be felt). I finally got my refund, but I lost $25 in shipping to send it back, and I lost out on the additional shipping costs for them to send it to me. You will not be reimbursed for any S&H costs.

Wow great thread, I''ll post some more comments later on, but I just wanted to add my 2cents to TL''s remarks.

I''ve just received two little malayas from Multicolour. I only ordered very cheap stones (I needed a pick-me-up!). One is a heart, the other an oval. I didn''t have huge expectations about cut, but was hopeful on colour. I''m not disappointed. The heart is a bit on the dark side, which is a shame because I wanted to bezel it. The oval has a window, but again the colour is not bad. When I get my act together and a new camera, I''ll post come comparison shots. My advice to anyone considering Multicolour is twofold: don''t spend an awful lot of money - to start with anyway; and pick stones that are more saturated than you actually want. I wish I''d chosen something that was far pinker, then I might have ended up with the shade I was seeking. I thought carefully about whether or not I would send them back if they were not quite right and picked a price point accordingly.

 

[chrono]

Date: 4/23/2009 11:32:34 AM
Author: Gailey

Date: 4/19/2009 12:19:47 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 4/19/2009 12:06:29 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
Love the collection Yingh! I still LOVE that malaya...mmm..so dreamy.
You said you ordered malaya''s from Multicolor before? How did their garnets compare to the pics online?

I know the question was directed at Yingh, but I thought I''d give my experience since I ordered a Malaya from MC.com. I think you really need to know exactly what you are looking for because I didn''t care much for the Malaya I got. It wasn''t the color I expected, and shipping back to MC.com is VERY EXPENSIVE and RISKY (I know firsthand), so really make sure you know what you want. You have to do a lot of sifting through MC.com to find a treasure IMO, but I hear good things about them regardless. I did get a very nice sphalerite from them. I recently returned my heart shaped grossular to them. It cost $25 to ship it back, and I couldn''t insure it due to customs, and had to put it in a flat padded mailer in bubblewrap (so it couldn''t be felt). I finally got my refund, but I lost $25 in shipping to send it back, and I lost out on the additional shipping costs for them to send it to me. You will not be reimbursed for any S&H costs.

Wow great thread, I''ll post some more comments later on, but I just wanted to add my 2cents to TL''s remarks.

I''ve just received two little malayas from Multicolour. I only ordered very cheap stones (I needed a pick-me-up!). One is a heart, the other an oval. I didn''t have huge expectations about cut, but was hopeful on colour. I''m not disappointed. The heart is a bit on the dark side, which is a shame because I wanted to bezel it. The oval has a window, but again the colour is not bad. When I get my act together and a new camera, I''ll post come comparison shots. My advice to anyone considering Multicolour is twofold: don''t spend an awful lot of money - to start with anyway; and pick stones that are more saturated than you actually want. I wish I''d chosen something that was far pinker, then I might have ended up with the shade I was seeking. I thought carefully about whether or not I would send them back if they were not quite right and picked a price point accordingly.

I like Multicolour’s GIA Munsell chart. It gives a very good starting reference point if you aren’t sure about the picture but you have to understand how to read it.

The letter is the colour, the 1st number is the tone and the 2nd number is the saturation.
If you want something light, for the first number, choose number 2 or 3. Medium tone would be 4, 5. Darkish stones will be 6 and 7.
For intensity of colour, the second number comes into play. If the result is 2 or 3, it’s a grayish. If you want something vivid and eye popping, for 5. A rating of 4 is also quite nice.

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 4/22/2009 12:59:59 PM
Author: Chrono
Thanks Mochi. You ladies inspired me to try again and I did...until the battery died on me.

The thing I hated the most was the sun playing peek-a-boo with me. When it came out, I had to go in. When it went behind the clouds, I had to come out. Geez, I was a nervous wreck carrying all those gems in and out of the house!

Chrono - You have great garnets, and I love that Glowing in the dark photo. Besides using a tripod (and sometimes I even use the tripod and a timer to get rid of any vibration from pushing the shutter button), I'm wondering if you might be able to crop your pictures? I zoom way in and crop my photos to get those close-ups. As you noted, the camera can only get so close before it won't focus.

ETA-Nevermind. I just checked your guess the gem thread, and you have lovely closeups. I guess I'm a day behind, here.

 

[chrono]

Date: 4/23/2009 12:06:47 PM
Author: Fly Girl
Chrono - You have great garnets, and I love that Glowing in the dark photo. Besides using a tripod (and sometimes I even use the tripod and a timer to get rid of any vibration from pushing the shutter button), I''m wondering if you might be able to crop your pictures? I zoom way in and crop my photos to get those close-ups. As you noted, the camera can only get so close before it won''t focus.

Flygirl,
I don''t have a tripod but hubby is thinking about getting one fairly soon. I tried using the zoom for the latest photoshoot and most of them don''t need much cropping and editing. Yippee! You can see my successes in the Guess the Gems thread here in CS.

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 4/23/2009 12:10:30 PM
Author: Chrono

Date: 4/23/2009 12:06:47 PM
Author: Fly Girl
Chrono - You have great garnets, and I love that Glowing in the dark photo. Besides using a tripod (and sometimes I even use the tripod and a timer to get rid of any vibration from pushing the shutter button), I''m wondering if you might be able to crop your pictures? I zoom way in and crop my photos to get those close-ups. As you noted, the camera can only get so close before it won''t focus.

Flygirl,
I don''t have a tripod but hubby is thinking about getting one fairly soon. I tried using the zoom for the latest photoshoot and most of them don''t need much cropping and editing. Yippee! You can see my successes in the Guess the Gems thread here in CS.

I have a little Gorilla pod. Small, inexpensive, works great, and is about all you need.

 

[chrono]

OMG, it''s so cute!!!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I have a gorilla tripod too, very cute
Here''s Chrono''s tsav:

And her Spess ring:

 

[Harriet]

I love that tsavorite.

 

[Harriet]

Date: 4/21/2009 6:10:51 PM
Author: cushioncutnut
Those are gorgeous Harriet! AJ, Mochi, and Chrono,... you gals are killing me!!!!

They are.And their owner is a bad influence.

 

[blithesome71]

Sorry for the poor pic quality... this is a morning, indoor shot of my 3ct tangerine baby (Spess). Lol

 

[blithesome71]

OMG, sorry for that post. I didn''t know it would show off that big. My apology to other PSers

I''ll resize my photo from now on.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Date: 4/23/2009 6:36:35 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
I have a gorilla tripod too, very cute

Here''s Chrono''s tsav:

And her Spess ring:

Uh....WOW!!!!

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Harriet and Chrono

I am just getting time to go back through this thread. Thanks for the complements on my little green guy.

 

[chrono]

Blithe,
Your spessartite looks like a piece of candy. Great looking stone!

 

[Linda W]

Date: 6/10/2009 8:30:52 AM
Author: Chrono
Blithe,

Your spessartite looks like a piece of candy. Great looking stone!

I was going to say the same thing. It is gorgeous. I love the bright orange.

 

[icekid]

Date: 6/10/2009 11:56:57 AM
Author: Linda W

Date: 6/10/2009 8:30:52 AM

Author: Chrono

Blithe,


Your spessartite looks like a piece of candy. Great looking stone!

I was going to say the same thing. It is gorgeous. I love the bright orange.

I agree! What a color.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

I''ve never seen this thread before, but OMG, I love it!

I only have a pic of my set garnets - my John B Gemrite Red Malaya and my tiny (dark) Tsavs. These were both purchased when I was a bit . . unpracticed . . . with gemstone buying, but I still love them for their sentimentality. Now, to get jackets that fit the poor Tsavs!

 

[LtlFirecracker]

My other garnet

Night photo

Day photo

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Very pretty Spess Ltl!

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Thanks!

 

[blithesome71]

Thanks chrono, linda & ice kid

My apology for that huge post. I asked my mom last night which one she prefers bet. my spess & hessonite. She chose the latter because for her the spess doesn''t even look like a sparkling gem but more of a yummy orange candy, lol

Chrono, your gigantic fine color spess ring is to die for. I wish I''d have a treasure like yours someday.

 

[sleepyspinel]

Hi I hope its ok if I put up a few pics that I already posted so they can be in this great Garnet thread

 

[T L]

Date: 6/11/2009 10:34:16 PM
Author: sleepyspinel
Hi I hope its ok if I put up a few pics that I already posted so they can be in this great Garnet thread

Are you kidding!!?? Post away!

Gorgeous pics!

I was wearing my mint grossular and spess today, so as you can tell, I'm a big fan of your pics. I also have no color coordination.

 

[T L]

My pictures completely stink after SS''s, but here''s a little collage of my favorite garnets. Not like people haven''t seen these about four billion times, how about four billion and one times?

 

[chrono]

Date: 6/11/2009 9:26:29 PM
Author: blithesome71
Thanks chrono, linda & ice kid

My apology for that huge post. I asked my mom last night which one she prefers bet. my spess & hessonite. She chose the latter because for her the spess doesn''t even look like a sparkling gem but more of a yummy orange candy, lol

Chrono, your gigantic fine color spess ring is to die for. I wish I''d have a treasure like yours someday.

Thank you Blithe. I''m not happy with how the colour of the spessartite showed up in that picture. It looks so yellow and it doesn''t look like that in person. I’m going to have to try retaking a picture of it soon.