Gemstone Photography - Technical Topic

[Pat Hogen]

Laminated sheets of A4 paper works well - snip the edges of one side of the paper and bend, it holds shape and diffuses light. If you want to go one further, snipping and joining the pages will make a square box.

 

[Wally69]

My extension tubes turned up in the mailbox

Had a quick play and they seem to do the job, need to work on lighting and dust removal. A custom made photo-booth might be the go.

 

[SinHof]

GO Wally,
Have fun, SinHof.
PS; DOF looks fine, no issues there.

 

[Wally69]

GO Wally,
Have fun, SinHof.
PS; DOF looks fine, no issues there.

Looking forward to it, I like the canon help screens, it gave me tutorial style information on the depth of focus adjustments.

I have been taking 3 shots at a time on a 10sec timer and running through a range of settings to see the difference. My camera mounted flash is obscured by the lense when I have the 31mm extension on, so will try some of the smaller extensions but thinking a light box might enable some consistency.

Will need to cut a new stone to photograph now

 

[Dihusky]

GO Wally,
Have fun, SinHof.
PS; DOF looks fine, no issues there.

Looking forward to it, I like the canon help screens, it gave me tutorial style information on the depth of focus adjustments.

I have been taking 3 shots at a time on a 10sec timer and running through a range of settings to see the difference. My camera mounted flash is obscured by the lense when I have the 31mm extension on, so will try some of the smaller extensions but thinking a light box might enable some consistency.

Will need to cut a new stone to photograph now

Top stuff mate, those shots are great and focus is pin sharp plus Dof is perfect, falls away at the top of the stone which makes it stand out. Before you go chasing light tents, have a play with a simple setup like I did in the series earlier, it's simple and quick and costs nothing if you have the lamp.

You can also make a light tent with a couple of wire coat hangers, baking paper and sticky tape. This might do the job with the camera flash but I prefer a lamp as you can see how the image is developing, flash you can't so final image becomes a bit of an unknown until you snap the pic.

 

[Mackka]

Wally you can turn your flash off once you make DiHusky's set up.
Mackka

 

[Mr Magoo]

Extension tubes are still wandering around in our postal system. One of the irks of living remote I guess . Anyway I thought I'd persevere with my macro lens once more. Drove me mad for months as most shots were slightly out of focus especially in low light. Camera shake (even though I was using a tripod and timer)? I couldn't focus? Camera couldn't focus? Busted lens? Busted camera?
Most shots looked like the first two shots. Depressing. 8.(
With the garnet I would not have normally selected that dark a back ground also the stone wasn't really set up for the best angle as I only wanted to test if I could focus on it. A small, sub 6mm, 0.8 caret stone.
All shots were taken under the same conditions. Using my 4 3rds 60mm macro set at F8 and 1/5 sec. All using auto focus. ISO 100. On a tripod using a two second timer. The reason I used these settings instead of the one Dihusky used for the same lens is I was only trying to resolve the problem of bad fuzzy images I was getting. Not trying for perfection. I made this post because such seemingly minor things can make a huge difference to your image.

So all shots were taken using the same exposure settings. Turned out the pain of poor focusing in the first two images is with 'Image Stabilization" switched 'on'. The image image was always in focus when the shot was taken. Switch it off and problem disappears. As shown in the following three pics. Man that nearly drove me insaner.
The middle image is taken with the front of the camera open to the stone. This leaves a big dark area showing in the top of the stone. We all know as head shadow. I reduced that in the last two images by putting a sheet of white paper over the camera apart from a hole for the lens to poke through. Made a huge difference.
The last two images I'm happy with, although I think both could be improved in the focus area. Not perfect but the time I spent setting it up was pretty minimal - looking after two little kids at the same time (know what I mean :8 )
I going to keep playing to improve focusing. Unfortunately this camera doesn't link to a computer so work is with the camera screen. Can't wait until the extension tubes arrive.

 

[Mr Magoo]

My extension tubes turned up in the mailbox

Had a quick play and they seem to do the job, need to work on lighting and dust removal. A custom made photo-booth might be the go

I found that puffer thing in the lens cleaning kit is great for removing a lot of the dust on the stone and surrounding area. Certainly a lot more acceptable. Best I have found so far.

 

[Pat Hogen]

Magoo, can you please enlighten me on this - "Using my 4 3rds 60mm macro " ?

Shot #4 is my pick, seeing the light burst out of the pavilion is the reason I facet.
Did you shop these for magnification or cropping, at all, in a software program? I see you say that your camera does not link to a computer, but if you post online then it has to be in a photo format on your computer or am I missing something?

BTW - great problem solving and outcome, thanks for the tip of "Image Stabilisation".

 

[Mr Magoo]

Magoo, can you please enlighten me on this - "Using my 4 3rds 60mm macro " ?

Sorry, not to crash hot on the technical side with terminology but Dihusky describes the 4 3rds part in post #2 (I think the correct name is micro 4 3rds) and here's a link to the actual lens http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/...r-micro-43-from-a-guy-who-never-shoots-macro/

Yep! Shot 4 for me also. The garnet performs quite badly, the cut is called 'Oliveira's Garnet' and it's meant for darker stones. But it didn't live up to my expectations at all. A sorry end for an expensive piece of rough 8.( .I since have bought 'Gem Cut Studio' which shows it could do with being 'optimized' so may give it another crack with a bit of tweaking.

Did you shop these for magnification or cropping, at all, in a software program? I see you say that your camera does not link to a computer, but if you post online then it has to be in a photo format on your computer or am I missing something?

I just down loaded the image from the camera as a jpeg and then loaded them into 'paint.net'. Cropped then saved them. Here's the original image of shot 5.

What I meant to say is the camera does not link to a computer so you can see a larger image on the computer screen as you set it up and can be adjusted, fired remotely as SinHof mentions in post 17. Eyeing up another camera at the moment (Christmas time is not the ideal time to spend money on toys though ) that does link to the computer for remote viewing. I think it would save heaps of time.

 

[Pat Hogen]

Thanks Magoo, I was watching a program one day recently that was called Snappy Days (or something ) and they were showing that everything is done "off - camera" to highlight and resolve issues in order to create that perfect finished frame. It looked like an end product that I am not going anywhere near, ever! My brain hurt just watching the show.

 

[Dihusky]

Mr Magoo those are great shots, focus following your final tweak in the camera, it spot on, and lighting is good. When I compare those to some of the shots you see from commercial vendors, they are heaps better and if a buyer wasn't happy with that image of a stone I don't know what they would be happy with.

The 60mm lens can get a heap closer, start by hand holding to gauge the distance, go in a lot closer then turn the 1:1 button on the left of the lens anti-clockwise, it'll spring back but that takes you into the 1:1 range, then let it pull the focus in. This shot of a troublesome facet was done using the 1:1, hand held so it's a bit soft, but it gives an idea of how close the lens will go.

Have fun with Gemcut, it's an amazing program.

 

[Mackka]

I have also read that "mirror lock" on the camera will stop shake whilst on a tripod.
Mackka

 

[Dihusky]

Micro 4/3 cameras don't have a mirror, many of the modern digitals don't use mirrors any more.

 

[Mackka]

Thanks mate
Mackka

 

[Mr Magoo]

Thanks Dihusky. To be honest I wondered what the outcome of a critique would be. It's good to know I'm heading in the right direction. :Y:

I had been keeping the lens back to try and reduce the reflection of the lens in the stone creating dark areas. It's a habit I got into when I relied on the compact. Perhaps I should experiment with that.
I know that lens is capable of some incredible shots from what I have seen on the net.

Yep. Gem Cut is a great program and so easy to use. Still exploring it but a big :Y: 's up. Well worth it.

 

[Mr Magoo]

These pics aren't great but they serve the purpose which was an experiment in lens reflection. A camera upgrade in is on the way to make previewing and focus peeking easier. erfect:
Both pics were taken from the same position with the lens as close as possible. It's also the same garnet as I used above but on a white back ground.

In the top image most of the camera body was covered but not the lens. In the second image a sheet of paper with a hole about an inch in diameter was placed over the lens. This hid the camera body and most of the lens.
The results speak for them selves.
I think I'm going to experiment some more. Perhaps with a secondhand lens cap painted white.

Not my idea but I had been doing some Googling on gem photography.

 

[Mackka]

Very clever MaGoo and a great result.
Mackka :Y:

 

[Dihusky]

Looking straight at a stone will always be a challenge as you're dealing with both refection and refraction, with well polished facets the stone will see what it wants to see so it becomes an exercise in fractional moves to achieve the best results, even adding small black cards in carefully selected positions to see what impact they may have in cutting out all the white light might work.

A long pair of chipsticks can be a useful tool.

Looking forward to the next stage in the development :heart:

 

[Zan77]

Hi

I am wondering if anyone is based in Perth or Cairns to help me photograph some gemstones I have. I have tried a variety of set ups but can't seem to get a clear focus in the stone.