How to interpret diamond photos.

[DPeter]

In searching for an engagement ring for my girlfriend, mostly on the internet, I came across this site.
Great informative site with much information. Too much maybe! For some, but not for me though. I suffer from that incurable disease known as perfectionism, a thirst for knowledge.

At times I feel I should have just walked into a store and bought a shiny ring. Naa, not my style. But there is something to be said for the joy and simplicity of blissful ignorance. I''m sure the time and effort spent in my newfound knowledge will be justly rewarded when I make my choice and for a long time to come.

To my questions:

Looking at H&A diamond photos on various websites, regular lighting and not through any device that will change colors, I noticed some diamonds show the arrows pattern completely dark from center to tip of arrow. Others have some complete arrows, the tips, or the center to tip arrow portion, visible as a pale bluish shade or gray color.
What is the reason for this? How and what effects does it have on the diamond? Any information to help in making a choice would be helpful.

In regards to the same type of photos, some diamonds display none, some, or quite a number of color (various colors) specks.
Is this indicative of the absence, quantity, or color of sparkles I can expect from a particular diamond?

I haven''t come across these issues in my readings so far. I would like to know how to discern and interpret these photos. What else should I be looking for in this photos?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Peter

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 11/26/2008 2:01:14 AM
Author:DPeter
In searching for an engagement ring for my girlfriend, mostly on the internet, I came across this site.
Great informative site with much information. Too much maybe! For some, but not for me though. I suffer from that incurable disease known as perfectionism, a thirst for knowledge.

At times I feel I should have just walked into a store and bought a shiny ring. Naa, not my style. But there is something to be said for the joy and simplicity of blissful ignorance. I'm sure the time and effort spent in my newfound knowledge will be justly rewarded when I make my choice and for a long time to come.

To my questions:

Looking at H&A diamond photos on various websites, regular lighting and not through any device that will change colors, I noticed some diamonds show the arrows pattern completely dark from center to tip of arrow. Others have some complete arrows, the tips, or the center to tip arrow portion, visible as a pale bluish shade or gray color.
What is the reason for this? How and what effects does it have on the diamond? Any information to help in making a choice would be helpful. This is possibly the result of the photography set up, the available lighting or reflections, or all these factors. Vendors use varying methods to photograph their diamonds, so you do see some variance in the resultant photos of the diamonds.

In regards to the same type of photos, some diamonds display none, some, or quite a number of color (various colors) specks.
Is this indicative of the absence, quantity, or color of sparkles I can expect from a particular diamond? Again I think this is because of the photography, for example with one vendors images the diamonds normally appear silvery with dark arrows, another vendor you see more colour in the body of the stone and silvery to blue arrows, just a variance and not an issue.



I haven't come across these issues in my readings so far. I would like to know how to discern and interpret these photos. What else should I be looking for in this photos? With the photographs, these are designed to give you an idea but can't tell the whole story of the diamond. What I would concentrate on when selecting are the Idealscope and ASET images of a particular diamond as well as the proportions, and of course if you want a hearts and arrows stone, the all important hearts images.

I don't know if you have found this article, but if not you may find it interesting,

http://www.pricescope.com/hearts_indx.asp

Thanks in advance for your help.
Peter

And welcome to Pricescope Peter!

 

[Rhino]

Hi DPeter,

Can''t speak for everyone but regarding our own setup...

We note that when photography is taken in H&A viewers you will see that bluish/grayish show up in the pavilion mains (arrows) when pavilion angles start falling around the 40.6 zone and shallower or perhaps shallow crown angles coupled with a seemingly good pavilion angle. There is also a certain correllation to that in a visual inspection as well. Ie. Arrows that show that bluish tint or darkened will generally also show up dark in a visual inspection depending on the lighting. Within the realm of diamonds with what we consider to have superior Optical Symmetry there are these nuances you can see (depending on the lighting you''re in) where the mains can either grab existing light from around the viewer (and therefore illuminate the mains) or reflect back the head and body shadow of the viewer (darkening the mains).

Both varieties I would consider to be positive.

Illuminating mains ... who doesn''t like more light?

Dark mains ... This is what AGS would refer to as "positive contrast" and moreso represents what is viewed through the ASET scope as blue which is supposed to represent head/body shadow. I am able to successfully capture the differences between this phenomena on video.

When it really becomes what I would consider bad is when not only the mains go dark but also the lower half facets in between the mains. Then you have too much head/body shadow (and even within some H&A''s). This is one general weakness with reflector technologies and one reason why I don''t consider them end all/be all solutions. (Red and ASET).

If the H&A scope itself was used as a grading tool for light performance an arguement could be made against mains that go dark because it is not showing a perfectly white arrows pattern (which can also result from variances in the crown and pavilion angles too).

Speaking from a gemological perspective, the H&A viewer is good for judging one thing ... craftsmanship and optical symmetry. When you start having analysis paralysis with a Hearts and Arrows viewer (like it appears HRD is doing) you make the H&A scope and certain patterns under it the standard for beauty by judging how they perceive perfection under an H&A viewer and following that line of reasoning may disqualify dark mains from their top grade although nobody really trades much with HRD here in the States.

Hope that helps.