3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Session

[chrono]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

Back from the great outdoors with around 14 pictures of which about half are usable. I used the Camera Awesome app to help lock the auto-focus down which seems to have helped. At least I think so but the proof is in the pictures below so if anyone disagrees, please tell me so. I deliberately wore a cream coloured sweater today instead of my usual black to minimize any shadowing. I am still wearing black khakis and using a black iPhone though.

One last butterfly prop before I abandoned it completely. I managed to partially capture some of the multicolours or what I call fireworks and the background isn't wholly distracting...I hope. The halo is over-exposed though. Am I using the right terminology? They look too white and out-of-focus. Maybe I didn't lock the auto-focus correctly?

 

[chrono]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

More "natural" props on the rest of my pictures.

Berry 1
Not pleased with this at all. The angle is off, so there is terrible table glare and tilt window. I think the composition is acceptable? I should have repositioned myself so that the camera is facing the table squarely.

Berry 2
Why is the halo "whiting" out? There is obviously no strong light to wash the diamonds out so I don't know what I am doing wrong. The ring is also not centered in the picture. Again, taking more time could have improved the quality of the picture.

Berry 3
I think this is the nicest of the 3 Berry pictures but there is still plenty of room for improvement. The right part of the picture is overexposed?

 

[chrono]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

Horrible picture composition but I was playing around with positioning. Yes, I positioned it so that the elongated part sits NS instead. The facet pattern showed up reasonably well but the diamonds eluded me once again.

 

[chrono]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

PLEASE Please please tell me that I did something right here.

I rolled up a leaf and used it as a support structure for the heavy ring. It still didn't want to stay upright but some twiddling around worked after awhile. Berries on the left and right to "hold" the leaf still and add some splash of colour. There is no reflection from the sky or surroundings since I am in the shade of an evergreen shrub.

The second picture is a close up of the ring with the same setup. I moved in a little closer hoping that I would not need to crop the picture.

 

[emmmme]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

More "natural" props on the rest of my pictures.

Berry 1
Not pleased with this at all. The angle is off, so there is terrible table glare and tilt window. I think the composition is acceptable? I should have repositioned myself so that the camera is facing the table squarely.

Berry 2
Why is the halo "whiting" out? There is obviously no strong light to wash the diamonds out so I don't know what I am doing wrong. The ring is also not centered in the picture. Again, taking more time could have improved the quality of the picture.

Berry 3
I think this is the nicest of the 3 Berry pictures but there is still plenty of room for improvement. The right part of the picture is overexposed?

I love Berry 2! It looks like the light is coming from the right, which is why the exposure is a bit uneven. But I think the berries show off your ring beautifully!

 

[RTFrog]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

Very nice Chrono. Showing off your ring very well

My favorite one:



Are you happy with the pictures? Are the colors turning out to represent what you see?

 

[pregcurious]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

The color of your spinel is so crisp for a light colored spinel. So little grey.

 

[T L]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

I really like this one too because it shows so much detail of the stone, faceting and the setting. I also think the berries look more like a backdrop instead of something you added on purpose, if that makes any sense.



This one I blew up, and cropped because I like so much how the facet pattern looks, and the dichroic nature of the stone, that I thought it would be great to have a shot "in your face" so to speak. Some people might not like that as much, but I like shots like these.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

I get butterflies looking at your ring. Its berry beautiful.

 

[chrono]

Re: 3.7 ct Lavender Blue Spinel ring by ERD Photography Sess

Thank you to everyone for their comments, especially RTF who provide guidance every step of the way. I think I am done for now. More practice is needed, of course, so I will try again next Spring. If I can brave the cold, I might try some snow pictures.

Overall, I am happiest with the berry pictures. The colour is as close as I can possibly get. In your picture, the saturation is unrealistic. In my pictures, the berries are too orangish. In your picture, the berries are too strongly coloured. The same goes for the spinel - it is a tad too dark and rich but I love how crisp and sharp it looks in your version.