Looking for a good aquamarine...

[ChrisA222]

Guys...easy on the bubble-gum fingered photo...don't assume its been "manipulated". My camera does the exact same thing sometimes...and, it has nothing to do with manipulation, as I haven't touched any of the settings on the camera (phone). the saturation is at zero (at least on my camera). Yes of course the color of the stone cannot be trusted due to the pink fingers, but lets not assume its been manipulated.

If Im selling something and I have pink fingers Ill usually use a description explaining the stones color..maybe thats what should be requested of the pink fingered person. LOL.

Also--Im the owner of the Gene Aqua posted above..and, Ill echo Chrono's comment about both Gene's pictures and the concave cuts. The stone is a very nice medium-light blue, and the Concave style cutting eliminates the blue-glass look of Aquamarine.

OP, Ill never understand the wide variance in Aqua prices, either. So if I see one I like, and I like the price, Ill buy it..which is exactly what I did when I saw that stone that Gene posted. Ill add that it looks much better in person...I was really unsure about it based on the pic, but as you know, when Gene (or Barry, or...) drops something, you have 0.0034 seconds to make your decision if you want to buy it or not. LOL

 

[chrono]

I'm with Chris on the pink fingers; I doubt there was any intentional photographic manipulation going on. Gem photography isn't as easy as it seems for colour accuracy. I think the camera white balance was off which resulted in everything looking funky, which is exactly why we always advice hand shots to see if the colour is off, and in this case, it is.

 

[ChrisA222]

Chrono can I sent you my camera so you can fix it up for me? LOL.

I have adjustments for saturation, white balance, and exposure, but im afraid to mess with them. Dont want to hijack the thread, so I will start googling. LOL

 

[chrono]

Kenny is Da Man when it comes to photography. I am merely a poor wannabe substitute.

 

[Starzin]

Okay....so delete the word manipulated Nonetheless I feel the vendor should have perhaps included an explanation if they felt that the pink fingers were due to the camera but also felt the gem colour was correctly represented.

Chris: There is a thread on photographing gemstones...and I thought it was a sticky in the CS forum but obviously not. I'm also think it's not Kenny's about photographing diamonds. Am I mis-remembering here?

 

[Jereni]

This photo made me chuckle! Forget the stone for a minute and whether it's cut well or not ..... how on earth can you judge the colour from a photo like that? The person's hands are an incredibly strange colour of bubblegum pink and I've not seen many people that colour! Also, can you see there's a blue hue all around the gem on the hand. There's no way you can assess the real colour of this stone and the person taking the photo, well, perhaps needs to see a doctor as they certainly don't appear to be very well

Ohh, thank god it wasn't just me! I was like, "eh on the stone and what's up with the dude's hand?" Lol. He said he took it on his iPhone....which well I guess I just wonder which model he has, because my fingers have never come out that pink on my iPhone

Chris, congrats on getting that blue aqua! The color seemed very nice, and I agree about Gene's stones - one has to move fast!

I appreciate all the feedback so much. Starzin, in response to your recommendation, I suppose I should go back and ask them to try again with one more photo, but I kind of hate to waste their time at this point. I'm just beginning to feel with the variance in prices, I should be able to find something less expensive than this.

And given the refractive index, maybe I need to give up on the idea of a princess cut and go for concave cutting if I ever get an aqua.

 

[Starzin]

Starzin, in response to your recommendation, I suppose I should go back and ask them to try again with one more photo, but I kind of hate to waste their time at this point. I'm just beginning to feel with the variance in prices, I should be able to find something less expensive than this.

And given the refractive index, maybe I need to give up on the idea of a princess cut and go for concave cutting if I ever get an aqua.

That's a practical assessment and kinder not to have vendors jump through hoops if you have a feeling that it won't be right for you anyway.

OTOH...have you thought of asking Gene if he has similar material to do a reprise of Chris' stone?

 

[Jereni]

OTOH...have you thought of asking Gene if he has similar material to do a reprise of Chris' stone?

I hadn't - though now I might!

Actually, given the recommendation of Lula upthread, I reached out to Peter Torraca on whether he has any aqua rough right now similar in color to babysteps' asscher. He says he thinks he might, so I'm also holding out hope that that may happen. I almost didn't want to say something on here because I didn't want to jinx it, lol.

 

[Starzin]

Good-oh...please keep us posted

 

[Lula]

OTOH...have you thought of asking Gene if he has similar material to do a reprise of Chris' stone?

I hadn't - though now I might!

Actually, given the recommendation of Lula upthread, I reached out to Peter Torraca on whether he has any aqua rough right now similar in color to babysteps' asscher. He says he thinks he might, so I'm also holding out hope that that may happen. I almost didn't want to say something on here because I didn't want to jinx it, lol.

Oh, good! I hope he can find something for you. I am really happy with my stone, and enjoyed working with him. I love the slightly "metallic" look of aquamarines.

 

[Jereni]

Whoa, this was the fastest I have ever closed the loop on something! Peter emailed me a quick photo of the new aquamarine today. Looks gorgeous! Additional photos coming Monday, he says, but I couldn't resist posting!



Edited to add: after discussion with Peter, I decided against a princess cut since it's not the best cut for preserving color, especially in an aquamarine. So he cut me a lovely cushion. Yay!

 

[Lula]

It looks amazing!

 

[Starzin]

That was fast. Looking forward to you getting it...I'm hopeless judging aquas but it looks to have good colour.

 

[Jereni]

Yeah I am eager to see it in person. He said in this pic it is still dirty and of course he's holding it, so his skin is showing through.