Need Help Deciding on a Color Change Sapphire

[SxS1980]

incandescent lighting

 

[PieAreSquared]

Indoor lighting different angles. Looking at them in person they seem to sparkle more than the photos. Is this normal or does this mean there is too much extinction, bad saturation or just bad photo skill?

Our eyes are far superior to any camera. If you cannot capture with a camera how they look to you in person, it has nothing to do with the stone's extinction or saturation, just the limitations of photography.
Extinction is a cut issue that results in "dead" spots, no light reflecting back at any angle. Saturation has to do with the color.

PieAreSquared: haha yup, i'm working on getting some more in different lighting! So is indoor lighting considered incandescent or fluorescent? If not what would be the best way to do this? It is really hard to capture the color change that I see with my eyes into pictures. Thanks!

Incandescent is the "hot" old-fashioned light bulb with a filament inside. It should show the purple more. Fluorescent is the "tube" type bulb, either straight or spiral (often in the kitchen) and will enhance the bluish hue.

Don't feel bad about your photo skills, gem photography is very tricky! This is the main reason many of us feel that just posting pictures rarely results in accurate 'opinions'. How do you feel about what you are seeing in person?

 

[Marlow]

Scroll a bit down - this vendor offer a 3,66 ct sapphire - a very good price imo...

http://www.djraregems.com/colorchangegems.html

 

[SxS1980]

PieAreSquared: Thanks for all the feedback! The ones I got today were nice but I was a bit disappointed from what I had seen on their site. From what I had read most people said the hand shots were pretty close but when I got them, esp. The purple color shift, it was not what I imagined.

The one from NSC looks nice but only in certain lighting. Its also fairly dark and I'm thinking if I set it in a halo it might just darken more?

 

[chrono]

I breezed through your pictures but will refrain from making detailed comments because I don't know how accurate they are. That said, here is a bit of food for thought since you have the stones in hand and can think about what you want versus what you see.

Direct sunlight - most stones just close up, becoming totally dark. Very few don't.
Shaded strong indirect sunlight - most sapphires LOVE this best. You should see them putting their best foot forward here.
Fluorescent - most stones just die (very pale, very dark and/or very gray). Very few don't.
Incandescent - the same as fluorescent. Some CC looks very nicely purple, some darken up, some lose a lot of saturation (gray).

It is almost impossible to capture sparkle, flashiness and brilliance through photography. Flash photography also distorts the true colouration, so it is not advised.
1. How much is the darkness increased/decreased as you change the light conditions (blackness)?
2. How much saturation does it pick up/lose as you change the light conditions (eye popping vs drab grayness)?
3. Which light condition will you wear the CCS the most under?

 

[ipodobe]

Direct sunlight - most stones just close up, becoming totally dark. Very few don't.
Shaded strong indirect sunlight - most sapphires LOVE this best. You should see them putting their best foot forward here.
Fluorescent - most stones just die (very pale, very dark and/or very gray). Very few don't.
Incandescent - the same as fluorescent. Some CC looks very nicely purple, some darken up, some lose a lot of saturation (gray).

These are great points.

I encourage you to think about what lighting you'll view the stone in the most. For me, it's fluorescent and shaded sunlight.

I recently got a color shifter, and you can see in my last pic is the "worst" performing light condition for it.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/take-2-violet-blue-color-shift-sapphire.210838/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/take-2-violet-blue-color-shift-sapphire.210838/[/URL]

It looks like the ones you have lose saturation in a lot of different lighting conditions, but it's hard to say from the photos. If none of them really speak to you, send them back. You'll find the right one, it just takes time!

 

[SxS1980]

Marlow: Wow, 3.66 ct...thats a great price. Thanks, i'll have to contact the company to get more info!!

Chrono: Thanks so much for the pointers. I've been practicing taking better pictures that seem to be more accurate of what I see and attached them here. I was hoping to get some out in the sunlight as well but its been kind of gloomy. However, I think a lot of time I would be viewing the stone indoors.

Ipodobe: Your color change is so gorgeous!! I hope I can find one similiar!!

Quick question for anyone, is what I am seeing in the cushion cut sapphire a window? If so would it close up once in a setting or is that too large? It actually has some great sparkle around that area so just curious if something like that can be "fixed" in a settings?

Thanks again everyone!