Why does my 1 carat round look blurry?

[girlygirl13]

I love my ring set and I'm not looking to change anything up, I was just wondering why I'm absolutely unable to get a clear photo of my center diamond. I see photos of rings and you can clearly see all the little facets on the diamonds, but that's not the case with mine. Doesn't matter what light it's in or anything, even the side stones look clearer. I unfortunately don't know any of the specs aside from the size, so I'm wondering if maybe the cut is what's causing it look blurry/murky?

 

[JulieN]

Have you tried cleaning it?

 

[smilligan]

What type of camera are you using? I can see the cut somewhat clearly if I look hard enough. Most of the amazing pictures taken here are done with high end cameras and/or by professional/hobbyist photographers. I'm not an expert by any means, but it seems like the camera is focusing on the wrong plane. It's trying to autofocus on the background instead of the diamond, which makes it appear blurry. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[girlygirl13]

Have you tried cleaning it?

Probably not as often as I should be. I bought one of those cheapo jewelry cleaners at CVS (Connoisseurs Jewelry Cleaner) and I'll toss the rings in there for a couple of minutes every couple of months, but that's it. Does it look dirty? Is there a cleaner you recommend?

 

[momma2boys]

How does your diamond look IRL? It very well could just be dirty if it hasn't had a thorough cleaning recently. I also agree with smilligan - to capture the clear faceting pattern of diamonds, high quality cameras with the appropriate settings are necessary.

I love your set, btw!

 

[JulieN]

any ultrasonic. clean your rings every day, or every other day. gunk really builds up. if you only clean your rings once every few months, go to your local jeweler and ask them to clean it and check the prongs. You should see a big difference.

 

[girlygirl13]

What type of camera are you using? I can see the cut somewhat clearly if I look hard enough. Most of the amazing pictures taken here are done with high end cameras and/or by professional/hobbyist photographers. I'm not an expert by any means, but it seems like the camera is focusing on the wrong plane. It's trying to autofocus on the background instead of the diamond, which makes it appear blurry. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I just use my iphone. I seriously hadn't even thought about that... I kind of assumed everyone takes photos with their phones. That's why I was thinking that everyone's ring is so pretty and clear, with a radiance from the light, and mine is kind of "blah" and flat looking. Looks like I may either need to invest in a new camera or maybe clean it better... thanks!

 

[girlygirl13]

How does your diamond look IRL? It very well could just be dirty if it hasn't had a thorough cleaning recently. I also agree with smilligan - to capture the clear faceting pattern of diamonds, high quality cameras with the appropriate settings are necessary.

I love your set, btw!

It looks super sparkly in "mall lighting" or dim lighting or around candlelight, but doesn't look as sparkly outside in daylight, that's when it kind of goes the most flat. Thank you for the compliment, all kudos goes to my husband for picking it out!

 

[girlygirl13]

any ultrasonic. clean your rings every day, or every other day. gunk really builds up. if you only clean your rings once every few months, go to your local jeweler and ask them to clean it and check the prongs. You should see a big difference.

thank you for your advice! I'll make a trip up to see the jeweler where my husband got my rings from, apparently he has a lifetime cleaning deal, I just haven't taken advantage of it because I didn't realize the rings needed to be cleaned that often. I'll also check out Bed bath & beyond if they have an ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

A LOT of us take pictures with our iPhones! But we do clean our rings a lot! I use the same jewelry cleaner you do about 3 times a week. Just sit the rings in it while you shower and get ready in the mornings, and then brush lightly and rinse with warm water and it only takes a minute, max! I only use the ultrasonic maybe once a month. But rings will look dull in a week when not cleaned often. It could be partially cut or clarity, too, but all diamonds look better clean!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Does your diamnond have a lab report and if so what is the cut grade? Some diamond don't have clear symmetric facet patterning. Depends on the make. So in addition to all of the comments above, the style of cut can affect how it looks too.

 

[kenny]

What type of camera are you using? I can see the cut somewhat clearly if I look hard enough. Most of the amazing pictures taken here are done with high end cameras and/or by professional/hobbyist photographers. I'm not an expert by any means, but it seems like the camera is focusing on the wrong plane. It's trying to autofocus on the background instead of the diamond, which makes it appear blurry. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

BINGO!
You are correct.
The camera focused on your skin, not the diamond.



Cleaning the diamond can not bring the diamond facets or the prongs into focus.

I've had 'real' cameras, nice SLRs and now DSLRs, since 1970 and these so-called automatic cameras drive me nuts.
Sure, everyone can afford one and they only require the IQ of a fungus spore but you give up SOOOOOOO much flexibility and control over the results, especially when trying to do anything out of the ordinary like macro work.

Cameras can only guess what you probably want.
No matter what the manufacturer claims no "automatic" camera is psychic, … even my new $2,000 Nikon body makes some dumb decisions.
How is the camera supposed to know that you do not want to focus on your fingers?
After all they take up 95% of the frame.
I don't have an iPhone so I googled around and discovered that you can tell the iPhone what to focus on by tapping on what you want in focus.



This is a groovy feature, but I'm sure it has its limits.
One problem is the square is so large that your diamond may be too small for the camera to pay attention to.
(Find out if you can make the square smaller, hopefully as small as your diamond looks in the screen.)
Since your fingers are further from the camera than the diamond both can't be in focus because at such close range the depth of focus is very shallow.
Also the newest iPhone has an f2.2 lens which has an even more-shallow depth of focus than the previous f2.4 lens.
(Note: I call it depth of focus because that is more descriptive than the standard term depth of field.)

All cameras have a minimum focusing distance.
Perhaps your fingers are at that distance which means the diamond is closer than the camera can focus.
If so, the solution is to move your hand a bit further from the camera.
Experiment liberally with your camera.

Since all camera phones have tiny sensors the resolution will be limited even if you perfect your technique.
To get better shot of the facets and cut pattern I'd get a third-party external macro lens.
http://www.olloclip.com/gallery/macro-lens/

 

[stargurl78]

I don't think you mentioned what the specs are for the diamond - first, what are the cut and clarity grades and what lab did the grading?