Red meets pink (pic); photo techniques

[strmrdr]

cream - yellow

 

[raddygast]

mogok: Tolkien really seemed to have a diamond thing, since the silmarils were described as being similar to diamonds. Nenya is also "the ring of adamant." Elrond''s ring, Vilya, is actually set with a sapphire, but Tolkien never really says what Narya, Gandalf''s ring, contains. It''s red, but he doesn''t mention ruby -- maybe it''s spinel?

Art Nouveau: Well, it took me what felt like an eternity. Nearly four months now. Still, I guess that''s not too bad. I first got some B&M jewellers with good contacts in the city to search for me. I ended up seeing three or four spinels: two were gorgeously cut ovals (not natively cut, probably, they were too precise) but the color was lavender -- way off red. The rest I saw were just horribly ugly, misshapen, and unsaturated -- the stars had to be in alignment for them to be considered even the slightest bit red.

Digital photos are tough. The white balance method basically bleeds out all color, so it in effect tries to "compensate" for the lighting. But I find that I want to accurately represent the look in a given lighting environment, so the presets simply tamperwith it. Auto White Balance (the default) seems to actually do the best, but it''s been suggested to me to use a very very pale blue piece of paper, and use that to set a custom white balance (so that the camera thinks *that* is white, and then everything else gets a bit warm). In the end, I just try to make it so that the picture in the viewfinder looks much like what I see with my eyes, but it''s hard as the viewfinder isn''t high-res with a high enough color depth. Trial and error. The mini tripod I bought really helps a LOT though. Lets me take pics without a flash, very close up. Will post them in a bit.

As for what it would cost, I''ve been told by quite a few people that it would be at least double the price if I wanted a stone closer to "ideal". But Mr. Sherwood mentioned to me that if this stone were half a shade lighter in tone (he graded it as "medium to medium dark" so in a sense 5.5 on the GIA scale if you can use fractions) then it would be something like a 9/10 for color. Spinels are rarely pure red, they typically have a slight orange. If I wanted a pure red with vivid saturation it would probably run 2000-2500 USD /ct at least (I think).

This stone came out as an oR 6/5 ... but Richard says it''s sort of between oR 5/5 and oR 6/5. I''ve been told by Mr. Richard Hughes that medium (5) is the ideal tone for red and green stones, while medium dark (6) is the ideal for blues and violets, and medium light (4) is good for yellows and such. Apparently tone and saturation are very related depending on hue, and in certain tone ranges there is a cap on saturation -- to reach vivid, you need to hit the right tone.

widget: Thanks. I feel like I''m at the end of a treasure hunt, but the next adventure is just beginning (i.e. the setting). Still, I have the stone propped up on a case under a side table lamp, and I look at it every 20 minutes or so, no matter what I''m doing.

Garry H: I knew about that. In other languages (for example, either Thai or Burmese, I can''t remember) there are different words for different tone ranges in blue. So sky blue or light blue may have a different word entirely from royal or midnight blue. Purple I believe is a term for the slightly redder regions between red and violet. Violet is on the bluer side, is it not?

 

[innerkitten]

Those new photos are fab and the stone looks very red!Can''t wait to see it in the setting.