High contrast in ideal cut diamonds and effect on appearance?

[Lula]

Date: 6/11/2010 1:10:49 PM
Author: Karl_K

Date: 6/11/2010 12:54:49 PM

Author: sarap333

Thanks, Karl, for these descriptions and photos. Your descriptions match what I see in real life. Perhaps this is why the photo of the ring on my hand, to me, shows the actual color (M) of the stone the best -- because the stone is getting ''red zone'' lighting?

Every stone is different in which lighting it will most show the body color.

That''s why color is graded face down in non-fancy colors.


The lighting that body color shows best in photographs is often not the lighting that it will show best to the eye.

They operate is different ways.

cameras almost always clip the highlights and show the midtones if left in auto mode.

That''s because people are mid-tones and they are calibrated to take pictures of people.

The eye on the other had reacts most to highlights (the brightest light in an area).

The human brain makes them do that so they are not damaged by bright lights and to avoid pain.

Thanks -- I think your response demonstrates why color selection seems to cause the most angst among diamond buyers on this forum and why it so difficult for us to advise them. Each diamond is different, each lighting condition changes the appearance of the stone, and each viewer is different. And photographs don''t tell the whole story. Good to know when making color recommendations.

 

[Karl_K]

Date: 6/11/2010 1:28:06 PM
Author: sarap333

Thanks -- I think your response demonstrates why color selection seems to cause the most angst among diamond buyers on this forum and why it so difficult for us to advise them. Each diamond is different, each lighting condition changes the appearance of the stone, and each viewer is different. And photographs don''t tell the whole story. Good to know when making color recommendations.

The best you can do is "this shape this color is usually acceptable to many people....."

 

[HVVS]

Anyways, I don''t know if it is the contrast that leads people to think their F colored (or whatever) stone is ''tinted'', or the lighting as I actually suspect, but whatever it is I think it is born of lack of exposure to well cut diamonds and unrealistic expectations based on reading PS. There is just no way that a properly graded F color stone is visibly tinted -- something else is accounting for that perception.

Huh? No way? I disagree. There are plenty of testimonies here on PS that some people can tell a D from an E or F or G. If it was not "visibly tinted," it would be graded a D, and not something farther down the color scale. I have an F diamond. I see the tint in it from the side. Compared to a D diamond or a colorless CZ, it has a "visible" tint. Some of this is training and practice and careful observation.

 

[Lula]

Date: 7/2/2010 12:44:53 PM
Author: HVVS

Anyways, I don't know if it is the contrast that leads people to think their F colored (or whatever) stone is 'tinted', or the lighting as I actually suspect, but whatever it is I think it is born of lack of exposure to well cut diamonds and unrealistic expectations based on reading PS. There is just no way that a properly graded F color stone is visibly tinted -- something else is accounting for that perception.

Huh? No way? I disagree. There are plenty of testimonies here on PS that some people can tell a D from an E or F or G. If it was not 'visibly tinted,' it would be graded a D, and not something farther down the color scale. I have an F diamond. I see the tint in it from the side. Compared to a D diamond or a colorless CZ, it has a 'visible' tint. Some of this is training and practice and careful observation.

I agree with you HVVS. There is a difference of two grades between D and F stones, so if we agree that people can see the differences between an H and a J or a G and and I (two grade jumps), then I think there are more people than we realize who can tell the difference between a D and an F. The problem is that variations in cut quality and size and color and setting (style of setting, melee or no melee, color and type of metal) all influence how our eyes see the diamond.

I do think that well-cut diamonds are more lively diamonds -- whether we are talking about OEC's, H&A's, near H&A's -- the better the cut, the more life it will have, independent of color. Many of my friends have poorly cut stones that look flat and dull -- even if the color is icy white.

What motivated this thread was that the more time I spend on PS, the more I realize how difficult a task it is to help new diamond purchasers understand what they are seeing (and not seeing) when they receive a diamond and see it for the first time and start comparing it to their friends' diamonds and Jared's diamonds and Tiffany's diamonds.

Are they seeing tint?
Are they seeing "contrast" or patterning? I think the OEC lovers know exactly how important this aspect of a diamond's appearance is, and they seek out diamonds with a certain chunky look to the patterning.
Are they seeing the more 3-dimensional look that well-cut diamonds have?
Is it the lighting?
A combination of these things?

We just don't know. That's what's tough.