Do our eyes adapt to color variation in diamonds?

[gr8leo87]

back on topic...
What is considered the color white by humans has a wide range that varies person to person, look at paint chip samples from a paint store.
When viewed beside a pure white sample they will look different than by themselves.
They will also look different based on the lighting and what a person considers white will change with different lighting.
View those same samples on different computer monitors and few people will agree on what is white because they are seeing different colors even if they are using calibrated monitors there will be variation.
Human perception of white color is a complex subject and computer screens are one of the worst possible means of displaying it.
Then you have the issue of a diamond being described as white when the diamond even the highest D graded diamond is not white......

Spot. On.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

As Kenny explained, his comments were restricted to diamond color as it is depicted on a computer screen with all the in-between steps and variables that are introduced. And I agree with the sentiments. Do not try to out-grade the labs by trying to analyze the color of a diamond on your computer! Images and videos can provide many different pieces of information which, when interpreted properly, add value to the shopping process. But trying to do too much with any single diagnostic is likely to yield misleading results.

One comment I will make about color perception - it can be a long term process. Sort of like an acquired taste. The more diamonds you look at, the more your eye becomes trained to pick up the nuances. And, in my case at least, the more I have gravitated towards colorless diamonds. Earlier in my career I was firmly in the camp that said it is crazy to pay the premiums for colorless diamonds when near colorless look white too. Well, over the years that sand seems to have very slowly shifted under my feet!

Me too, Bryan. As much as I like the prices of the lower colors, there is no denying that the whiter (more colorless) a stone is, the brighter it will appear in all lighting (assuming all are well cut). I can't quite handle the price jump to F for my minimum desired sizes, so I have to compromise with G as my favored color (and I am ok with H). I can see the color in H next to a G and I even tried an I color once to get a particular stone I wanted because it was the highest color available. But in the end, I just don't love that color even though it means getting smaller diamonds to stay in the G-H range.

To the original poster, I agree that online photos are useless in judging color. I do appreciate James Allen's videos because they do show color variation, but those do not substitute for seeing stones in person and judging color in various lighting.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I agree that you can't accurately grade the color of a diamond using photos. But that does not mean photos are useless. It is certainly possible to compare color of diamonds photographed together for example.

I'm in the camp that loves softer ivory shades as well icy icy white.