Indicolite In White Gold

[mhovingh]

I figured I would share a picture of one the pieces I am "trying" to improve my jewelry photography with. This is the first piece that I got a picture from where everything came together well enough to make me feel somewhat happy with the results in terms of focus and light. I will try to post some of the other pieces I have been practicing with later once I get some decent pictures of them.

This is a dual-purpose post - I wanted to both share what I find to be a beautiful stone and also try to get some advice on the photography. Comments are welcome on the ring/stone as I would love to hear what you colored gemstone aficionados think of it. Advice on the photography would be greatly appreciated as I have been struggling with it and would welcome anything that can help me improve.

-Photography-
I am using what I have available at the moment - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5, LED Light (have 2nd LED Light but need to go get batteries for it)

-Indicolite-
2.57 ct Emerald Cut, Deep Bluish/Green, Clarity AAA

-Diamonds-
x10, Total 0.90 ct Round Cut, Color G-H, SI1

-Metal-
14K White Gold

 

[ma re]

If the stone really looks as good as in that photo, it''s the most beautiful indicolite I''ve ever seen. Period.

P. S. I''ll obviously leave the photography tips to those who have more knowledge on the subject.

 

[mhovingh]

Thank you "ma re" for the comment. Having little experience thus far with gemstones I don''t feel I can appreciate pieces as much as those who have seen hundreds or even thousands of other pieces that they can make a mental comparison to. I do love this stone, not because I appreciate it the way that someone experienced with gemstones would, but rather simply because I love the color blue.

I have been reading up a lot on indicolite, trying to learn more about it, and think I am appreciating it as a gem more and more with everything I learn about it.

As for the stone in person, I don''t have a trained eye so I hesitate to comment on how the stone looks, other than to say that I do enjoy how deep the blue looks while still seeming to be so clear.

Here is a picture of the ring where I finally managed to get the whole ring in focus (for the most part) from the stone to the inside of the band at the back. The diamonds on the left side seemed to catch the light well in this picture also. I was furthermore pleased that the light being passed through the indicolite was visible in the shadows left by the ring and the camera partially blocking the light source.

Pardon the dust and grime. I have handled the ring quite a bit and didn''t do any cleaning before taking the pictures.

 

[thresh]

I bet it wouldn't be the 'best' you've ever seen if viewed the exact same way. The OP describes the stone as blueish-green, not the sapphire-blue seen there. They provided all the info necessary to explain the appearance though:

(1) - LEDs (even the 'warm white' ones) have a big honking spectral peak in the blue. You're run-of-the-mill white LED appears blue, and then uses a phosphor coating to whiten it up... but again, the spectra is blue-dominated. This is especially evident looking at the background of the shots.

(2) - The Panasonic Lumix FZ series cameras (like almost every other one) uses Bayer sensor extrapolation for colour (because it allows use of one chip instead of three without having to vastly increase the photoreactive cell density... or the size of the sensor). They pick up blue much better than green.

All these combined... you get 'the best indicolite you've ever seen' .

 

[Indylady]

Beautiful indocolite! Ditto Ma Re, definitely one of the best I''ve seen.

 

[thresh]

I just realized that my explanation of the very rare-seeming hue suggested by the photo, which also contradicts his own color-description (as blueish-green) may have come across as spitting on his/her gem. Even with a baaasic idea where the stone likely lies hue-wise IRL... I would love to be able to find rough of that quality at prices that aren''t far more than a poorly cut stone that would give the same final weight. And when that discrepancy is so exaggerated, it''s a good sign that the material is too prized to be just passed-down the chain of distribution very far at all!

You could do wonders for your photos by getting balanced lightsources. In the meantime, make sure that you set a custom white-balance. And search ''light-box DIY macro'' in google, and the first link is to an article on strobist, which will teach you how to make a near-free and fantastic lightbox/diffuser, which is fairly necessary for outstanding jewelry/gem macro shots (there are other DIY and purchased ones.. but this one worked best for me and my budget).

Either way... great stone! Great photography, which will become excellent w/ a couple fixes such as:

*replace LEDS with appropriate colour-temperature light, and until then use custom white-balance profiles to come close (esp. with LEDS, spectra is so skewed due to the blue peak that the correction is quite poor)

*build a diffuser/lightbox, such as the one from strobist I mentioned above.
OR conversely,
*if you really want some improvement with no effort... find a piece of stiff and shiny white poster-board like material. cut a hole in the middle, the size/shape of your lens. Slide it over the camera lens, and shoot away! Of course, well-placed lighting is still key, and combing this WITH a lightbox gives pretty jaw-dropping results.

Hope this helps

 

[cellentani]

mhovingh, it''s a lovely ring! It''s always difficult to capture colored gems in photos, and the tricks that work for one type of stone don''t always work for another. It''s true that LEDs are extremely blue, so you will need to either adjust the white balance on your camera, or filter the LED with a light box or similar set-up. I like to use natural light, because that''s most true to what I see in person, and the color of the stones tends to be more accurate as well.

 

[chictomato]

mm.. I just thought that the stone and the background is all blue. I don''t think I am seeing the ''real'' color of the Indicolite.

 

[mhovingh]

Thank you for all the advice.

I really appreciate the input and want to make sure that I am doing the best I can. I do not want someone to see a picture I take of a piece of jewelry or loose stone and be mislead about what they would be getting.

thresh - Thank you very much for the information about LED''s and the camera I am using. I don''t want to create a false sense of what something is in a picture and will definitely read up more on LED''s in relation to blue stones. The point you made about the background makes it easy for me to see the problem as the background was just a sheet of white printer paper. I will read up on setting white balance. I skimmed some information about it earlier but didn''t really understand it and from your explanation, it seems it will require my attention. I will also look into better lighting as what I currently have available is very limited. I think a trip to my local photography store is in order for the near future. As for a lightbox, I have a cloth lightbox I purchased a few years ago for a different purpose than jewelry photography. I will read up on using it and see if I can put it to use. I will also make sure to give the strobist article you mentioned a good reading. Thank you again for your input.

cellentani - Thank you for your reply and I laughed to myself a bit when I read "the tricks that work for one type of stone don''t always work for another" as I am having a hard enough time with just one.

Regarding natural light, I will see about taking some pictures outside when I next get a sunny day to get some really natural light.

I am limited on my lighting, experience, and knowledge at the moment, but to get a different type of picture to hopefully spark some more input, I took a few pictures of the ring just sitting in my kitchen using the normal room lights. I hope it gives you all a different look at the ring and you can see the green in it. I will keep trying to improve and use the advice given to point me in the right direction, but for now, I hope you enjoy seeing a non-LED picture.

 

[chictomato]

I like the last photo better, the color seems more ''real''. I am very poor in photography. My favorite spot to take color stone photos happen to be in the kitchen too

 

[chrono]

Thresh,
You are amazing in your knowledge of photography and how the stone may appear IRL compared to what we see in pictures.

Mhovingh,
Thanks for the new picture. It looks more realistic but I’d like to request a face on shot straight down the table.

 

[mhovingh]

I am sorry it took so long to get back with better pictures of this indicolite. I have been a bit busy with getting photos of other pieces but wanted to make sure I took some time to get back to post my new pictures of this stone. This should be a much better representation of how the stone looks in person.

I also wanted to say thank you again to Thresh. The photography info you posted has been extremely helpful.

 

[mhovingh]

One more to show the side of the stone. Sorry about the small hair that was in this shot... with two dogs running around shedding, it seems to be everywhere.

 

[chrono]

Lovely body colour; do you have any top down views?

 

[mhovingh]

Date: 5/13/2010 2:52:12 PM
Author: Chrono
Lovely body colour; do you have any top down views?

I wasn''t real happy with any of the top-down photos (blurry, bad lighting, out-of-focus) I took but here is one that wasn''t too bad. Is this the view you wanted?

 

[chrono]

Yes, thank you. I wanted to see the facet pattern. You have a pretty indicolite that looks to have an open C axis, which is a good thing.

 

[Arkteia]

Big WOW! How blue!

 

[colorluvr]

What a gorgeous shade of blue. The indicolites I have, have a lot more green or are a lot darker... I really like that shade, congrats on a pretty stone.

 

[chictomato]

wow I like the BLUE!, I like the last few photos too

 

[Stone Hunter]

Taking pictures of gems is really really hard. Well getting a photo of what we see IRL is anyway.

I do really like the stone and setting though. Congrats on the ring and please continue to practice your photos and post them.

 

[marcy]

Your ring is very pretty; love the color. Your photos look good too.