Lemon Quartz Pendant

[mhovingh]

Those of you who have looked through some of my other threads should already know the drill.

For those that don''t, I look forward to seeing comments/opinions on the stone, the piece, and the photography.

This one will actually be a bit different. With my other posts, I don''t have any attachment to the pieces. For this one, I actually made this my first purchase of a piece of jewelry. This Lemon Quartz pendant was a piece I purchased for my mother and gave to her this past Mother''s Day. While I may weep a bit at some comments that I normally wouldn''t have any emotional reaction too, I still want to hear the bad along with the good on this piece. It was my first purchase and the first time I photographed a lemon quartz. Because these are two firsts, I want to hear it all so I can learn... I will just have to keep quiet around my mother if the comments on the stone/piece are bad.

I don''t have the carat size on the stone but it is a Lemon Quartz and the pendant is 14k Yellow Gold.

I also wanted to make sure to thank amethystguy again for his post he made in another one of my threads. He shared some info and pictures about his "jewelry photo studio" setup. I ended up finally getting mine assembled and got a couple full spectrum lights from home depot. These were the first pictures I took in it and am really happy with the way they look in comparison to pictures I took before using a purchased light-tent with filtered tungstens. I hope I am not just fooling myself and these pictures do look better than ones I have taken in the past so, those of you who have seen some of my other pictures, please be honest and let me know how I am doing with the new changes.

Enough talk, here are the pictures!

 

[mhovingh]

Angled side-view to show the setting.

 

[mhovingh]

I liked the way the light showed in the corners for this photo. Not sure they can be considered corners, but nw and ne parts of the stone as you are looking at it in this photo.

 

[mhovingh]

Please pardon the hair and dirty thumbnail (long day working/playing outside in the sun).

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

So just when I thought we could have some fun critiquing your stuff, you show us something you bought for your mother.

I like the setting and at the moment I am beginning to appreciate pear shapes, so I also like that. Your photo looks very good, to me. I like yellow, but this seems not so intense(saturated), but it could be the lighting or you may have a preference for a light color. I think I like this better than I remember your other photos. If my child gave me this I would like it.


Thanks,

Annette

 

[BWise]

Your photos are looking much better as they appear to have some sort of liveliness in them. Your old pictures were just still shots compared to these. Any way you can prop up the piece?

I know nothing about quartz so l will let the other experts to comment on the stone. Personally I would want to see it set in white gold for some color contrast, it just blend with the yellow gold right now. But color of gold is very personal taste.

Very sweat of you to get it for your mother!

 

[empress]

These pictures are much sharper and show much more detail of the pieces.

You might want to make sure you check for fuzz and fingerprints on the pieces now. Cleaning each piece with a cloth before you shoot is a good idea.

Maybe you want to start thinking about how you lay the piece out - does the chain look graceful and complement the pendant, etc.? Now that you''ve conquered how to get the lighting, focus and detail you should think about "artistry" in the picture.

Great improvement (I wish I could get results like this.)!

 

[mhovingh]

smitcompton - Don''t worry, I will post up some more pics (this week hopefully) of pieces that I didn''t purchase for my mother.

The stone isn''t very intense but that is what my mother likes so that is what I got for her. I still do appreciate the comment about the color though because if I didn''t already know the stone was colored lighter than what you can find in lemon quartz, I would have wanted to know.

yingh - I shot this at home so I don''t have any jewelry holders like I have used in the past on hand. I will do some thinking though and see if I can find something around here to make work for propping it up. For my personal tastes I would agree with the yellow gold not being my first choice, because the stone is such a light yellow. Yellow gold is my mom''s preference right now though (couple years back it was rose and a couple years before that it was white) so that is the reason behind choosing the yellow.

empress - I will try to do my best with fuzz and fingerprints in the future. This was kind of a "just for fun" to try out the new setup deal. In my eagerness to see how the changes in lighting and setup would turn out, I didn''t clean the piece before shooting. I will work on the artistry of my pictures and take a look at some pics on sites to get some ideas.

 

[mhovingh]

Forgot to attach this to my previous post. I went through some more of the photos I took last night and found this one. I really like the way the light shows in this one.

 

[Cehrabehra]

I would love to know more about what your goals are (did I miss a thread?) - I like the background you''re using for your photos and I think that''s a really neat pear shape - though I didn''t recognize it as pear until it was pointed out - I thought it was oval... which actually makes me like it more because it is unique

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/30/2010 8:26:33 PM
Author: mhovingh
Forgot to attach this to my previous post. I went through some more of the photos I took last night and found this one. I really like the way the light shows in this one.

I agree - that is really cool!

 

[mhovingh]

Date: 6/1/2010 7:46:58 AM
Author: Cehrabehra
I would love to know more about what your goals are (did I miss a thread?)

I came here to learn about jewelry and the jewelry business. In previous threads, I posted pieces that were not mine but rather are/were owned by a local jewelry shop that has been allowing me to photograph and view them. It presents a nice opportunity for me to learn more about jewelry while having access to a wide range of pieces/stone that I can share pictures of here and get comments on, all without any type of attachment to the pieces/stone - if comments are negative, I like them just as much as if they were positive. It really helps me to be able to get comments on pieces I can view in person, not just see in photographs, and to have such a wide variety of pieces/stone available to get comments on from the wide range of tastes and expertise levels here on PS.

Because I don't own many of the pieces I posted previously, I would talk about them in a way that seemed uncharacteristic of many of the PS'ers who post their own pieces that they purchased for themselves. I was asking for objective comments/opinions on the pieces I posted without myself having any type of attachment to the pieces I was showing the pictures of. I should know if I like a piece if I purchased it, right? I didn't explain in every thread I made what my position and purpose here on PS was, which to some who hadn't read one of my posts where I explained my purpose, caused concern that I may have a purpose which fell outside the spirit of this website. From now on, when I post on PS with a piece/stone that I don't personally own, I will plan to include a disclaimer, of sorts, so those who view the thread get an explanation of why I posted and we can hopefully avoid any confusion over why I posted and what my intentions are regarding PS.

Thank you for your comments on the photography and pear shape.

 

[T L]

I don't see anything exceptional about the pendant. It's rather dull, and brownish yellow, and the setting is boring. I don't care for lemon quartz anyways since it's typically enhanced to get that color.

ETA: I just realized you got this for your mother. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be offending, but you did ask for honest comments. I hope she likes it. You have to realize that many of us have been collecting gems and jewelry for years, so we're very particular.

 

[mhovingh]

Date: 6/1/2010 4:14:36 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
I just realized you got this for your mother. I''m sorry. I don''t mean to be offending, but you did ask for honest comments.

No worries TL.

I appreciate the honesty. It was something my mom liked and that is what matters to me in terms of purchasing it. I personally still like seeing the comments from everyone, good or bad.

 

[Liane]

I agree that there''s nothing exceptional about the pendant, but I think it''s a charming everyday piece. Not something you''d wear to a black-tie gala, maybe, but perfect for adding a little sunny sparkle to a casual summer afternoon.

The photography is very good. I wish I could take pictures half as clear.

 

[brandy_z28]

I think you did pretty good for your first purchase and your photos are getting better and better. We can''t all have the hope diamond or some other extraordinary over the top gem or piece of jewelry. I think it''s a nice fun piece that your mother can wear out and about and enjoy, which is what is the most important.