SOS! NEED PICS OF D, E, F & G DIAMONDS STAT!

whitediamonds · Jan 3, 2004

Hey Yall!
Please post your pictures of your diamonds / of colors
d, e, f and g. Preferably taken in daylight so I can see the differences.
Can decide between the colors! Want super super white color from all sides!!!!

THanks a lot! Muchas Gracias! Merci! Duncashin!

DiamondExpert · Jan 3, 2004

Not a practical solution to your problem...a photo of 4 well cut rounds shot face up, side-by-side would probably look identical in color.

As a rough "rule of thumb", my personal preference is.............

For a round of excellent cut, if you want a really, really white looking stone of 0.5ct. and less you could go with D,E,F... for 0.75 - 1.5ct. stick with D or E...above 1.5ct. keep it D.

Just curious, why you want it to be super, super white from all sides?...once a stone is set you don't see it from the pavilion side (the way diamonds are color graded) - but you may see it from the side with some settings.

You will save some $ if you go with the apparent color to your eye in the face up position.

Mara · Jan 3, 2004

You want to be able to discern what sort of color you need or don't need in a stone? Go into your local neighborhood store that sells 'ideal' cut stones or similar and line 'em up. Pictures will never tell the true story. Lighting and photography are not the way to figure out which color diamond suits you best. Get into a store and see stones in person.

But if you feel like looking at some pictures of stones, you will find all you need in the Show Me the Ring Forum where everyone posts their ring pictures....they would be the same pictures everyone would post here anyway.

From what you have said in other posts, I have a feeling you'd only be happy with a D color stone. That way you can be SURE there's absolutely NO COLOR from ANY possible angle.

Good luck!

valeria101 · Jan 3, 2004

Not sure wether you will really settle only for a D color (unless you know that knowing there is a whiter shade out there will make you diamond a burden). But the pictures below are trying to show that diamond color is not well represented by pictures. The "pairs" were taken from two websites (the rounds from one source and the princesses from another) and neither the good intentions or the professional approach of the sources is a disaster: it is simply not feasible to capture those slight color shades.

Colored Gemstone Nut · Jan 3, 2004

Gary, Mara, & Val give sound advice...

Diamonds are viewed through the pavilion when grading body color...

The hues are very subtle but gradually make an impact as you move down the color scale...

Gary points out face up and once set, depending on the metal you use will also have an impact...Bring all other things into the picture like handcream , hairspray, and other oils a diamond will rarely display it's graded color...

Cut has the Greatest impact on diamond performance and the dispersion of spectral colors ...

Body color will make an impact if you have an eye for it and have a lower graded stone next to a D, but face up especially in the color range you are looking at, you will be hard pressed to see a difference..

The difference between D, E in most cases takes a run through the colormeter and is even hard for some professionals to distinguish the small nuance in hue...

A well cut face up diamond will always impact a stone over body color..If you absolutely have to have a D..than maybe trade a little off in clarity and get yourself a VS-2 or eye clean si-1 to save yourself some money...

Hope the chart helps...

valeria101 · Jan 4, 2004

HELP!!!!

Isn't there color added in the pictures with the most "colored" diamonds? Maybe a more technically knowledgeable person can prove/disprove this. The progressive yellow-ness of the background and pixel patterns got me thinking. After all, something that yellow would border "fancy intense".

Besides, just another example may show what I mean. At the bottom of this link there is a picture of a fancy light yellow near a D: and the fancy yellow is not nearly as "yellow" as the "M" in the pictures above. The same author posts one more down HERE with an intense yellow looking faded against the "O" above.

Of course, the general conclusion remains that *PICTURES FROM THE NET ARE NOT A DIAMOND GRADING TOOL*. This post is just a parenthesis...

fire&ice · Jan 4, 2004

From the pics, the D has body color. So, one is too assume that all the color is off. But, the scale & subtle color diff. seems to be in line.

Colored Gemstone Nut · Jan 4, 2004

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On 1/4/2004 6:42:40 AM valeria101 wrote:

HELP!!!!

Isn't there color added in the pictures with the most 'colored' diamonds? Maybe a more technically knowledgeable person can prove/disprove this. The progressive yellow-ness of the background and pixel patterns got me thinking. After all, something that yellow would border 'fancy intense'.

Of course, the general conclusion remains that *PICTURES FROM THE NET ARE NOT A DIAMOND GRADING TOOL*. This post is just a parenthesis...
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Hi Val...The picture is just shown as a representation. The proper background and lighting environment is also crucial. A master set of stones is used and there is also a device called a colorimeter, which I mentioned earlier./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

Keep in mind that the variation in your monitor also might play a role in how body color in these pictures are perceived.../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

Your examples are also comparing diamonds, which cross over into different nuances of grading./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

The main difference is colorless/near diamonds are graded through the pavilion and fancy colored diamonds are graded face up through the crown. Cut influences the color quite a bit especially in a fancy colored diamond face up. Certain diamonds which might be graded a "low color" through the pavilion are graded a fancy color face up. Hue is crucial. The shape and cutting style can affect the intensity or evenness of color. When cutting fancies, certain tricks of cutting angles can darken the appearance or intensify the color in the face up position. /www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

A faint to light color other than yellowish or brownish is considered a fancy color. The GIA D-Z scale is used to grade diamonds with yellowish & brownish tints. Fancies are beyond the D-Z color scale./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

The examples you use are noted but in comparison to the pictures I posted they were pictures taken to represent color in a controlled environment face down perpendicular to the girdle. The stones you point example to are shown face up and were graded in a different environment using a different method of grading because they are fancies.../www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

In recent years I believe the GIA has adopted new grading criteria when grading fancies and reports are coming back more stringent than in years past.

The GIA color grading system is a consistent representation to stone grading if used properly and interpreted correctly.

/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

Mara · Jan 4, 2004

This is from Garry aka CutNut... Here ya go.

valeria101 · Jan 4, 2004

That is exactly what I expected to see, Mara! Those surely give a good intuition of what a J 'color' looks like vs. a D unless one spreads nail polish on the monitor

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