Gemstone Photography - Technical Topic

[Mr Magoo]

No worries SinHof. Better with you than lying around here doing nothing. But can you do a 'soft focus' if things look 'rocky'.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Oooo, that's not being kind to the polish, hope they're smudges not 'cathair'

:argh: :argh: :argh: No it's certainly not kind. Not smudges. I think that was called the cat's hair citrine cut. The more you look the more I see, rounded facets, not flat on the lap and poor meets (but not to bad under the circumstances)
.
I'm happy with it. One of my first stones cut twenty years ago. Self taught, before internet and hadn't even seen a faceting machine before except in books and mags. Just had a book by Vargas to follow.
I remember it took me five hours just to 'polish' my first facet. I was starting to break into a sweat over spending nearly over $4K on a brand new GF4 and taking 5 hours to polish one facet. 8.(
Don't think any of the stones are winners, all my first cut. And most rather battered by time. But SinHof has a use for them. :Y:

 

[SinHof]

Hi Mr Magoo; Had a second play with the stones today, around lunch time light cloud cover created lovely soft shadowless lighting, so I took a few simple no-frills shots outdoors of a selection of the stones on a slab of neutral grey slate, they came up quite well, can post them up here or PM them if you're interested; no soft focus unfortunately.
Cheers, SinHof.

 

[Dihusky]

Oooo, that's not being kind to the polish, hope they're smudges not 'cathair'

:argh: :argh: :argh: No it's certainly not kind. Not smudges. I think that was called the cat's hair citrine cut. The more you look the more I see, rounded facets, not flat on the lap and poor meets (but not to bad under the circumstances)
.
I'm happy with it. One of my first stones cut twenty years ago. Self taught, before internet and hadn't even seen a faceting machine before except in books and mags. Just had a book by Vargas to follow.
I remember it took me five hours just to 'polish' my first facet. I was starting to break into a sweat over spending nearly over $4K on a brand new GF4 and taking 5 hours to polish one facet. 8.(
Don't think any of the stones are winners, all my first cut. And most rather battered by time. But SinHof has a use for them. :Y:

Sorry mate, wasn't intending to be unkind, actually a tough cut for a beginner stone. For someone self taught, it actually damn good, seen a lot worse from 'commercial' cutters who are simply chasing $$ and have been cutting for years.

Still have my first stones, SRBs and a few hexagons and octagons, fortunately had a top cutter for a teacher. Always good to look back to see where you've come from.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Nah. Didn't take it as unkind. It's as you say where you come from. And it is what it is. :Y:

Trouble was when I looked at them in recent times I was not so 'wow' with them, I'd see them for what they are. Not to bad for a beginner but that was all. And SinHof had a use for them.

A happy home for a wonky stone.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Hi Mr Magoo; Had a second play with the stones today, around lunch time light cloud cover created lovely soft shadowless lighting, so I took a few simple no-frills shots outdoors of a selection of the stones on a slab of neutral grey slate, they came up quite well, can post them up here or PM them if you're interested; no soft focus unfortunately.
Cheers, SinHof.

Chuck them on the forum SinHof. Not concerned about the warts 'n all. That was back in the day, I'd like to think I'd moved along since then. :/
Pehaps :argh:

 

[SinHof]

Hi Mr Magoo, Here are the stones shot in soft natural light outdoors, they have had very slight tweaks in LR and for the most part "as shot". Each stone was simply placed on the slate, framed, focus adjusted and shot.

Cheers, SinHof.

 

[Mr Magoo]

That's not too bad. I know the 2nd one down was either the second or third stone I cut. Used to be my fave until someone dropped it on the floor and busted the culet. Synthetic spinel.

Would like see how you deal with the missing two One is the other, second or third I cut.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Not convinced the last two were in focus. I think camera's tend to struggle with AF on gemstones. First one spot on. (Just playing devils advocate not criticizing... or is that the same thing :/ ).
Dust/spot removal is also one of the challenges of gemstone photography. Although I do know those stones are pretty badly scratched up.

 

[SinHof]

Hi Mr Magoo; As you mentioned, the last two are slightly soft on the top, that exercise was a quicky to test the lighting more than anything; I was using manual focus and just made a guesstimate. When I find a bit more spare time I will have a go with the two smaller stones.
Cheers, SinHof.
PS; How are you faring up there with all the rain and storms?

 

[Mr Magoo]

Hey SinHof. Your pics do look fantastic, don't get me wrong. They have given me more thoughts on how to improve my shots. Another level to work too. I haven't had much time to practice though, to much work to catch up with the kids now back to school
But the lighting does seem to work very well. Were you using the black circle to remove the main reflections? Seems to do a better job than the polarizer.
The weather certainly isn't doing what it's supposed to do. The rain and the storms are expected at this time of year but the doldrums so far have been fairly short lived. Lots of wind. No good for fishing or boating. But it is quite nice. Cooler and not so sweaty and everything has greened up and growing like mad. And plenty of squid to catch if you need a sea food fix

 

[SinHof]

Evening Mr Magoo; The last 4 images were straight shots, no intervention, ie adding or subtracting light ( small black circular card) just overcast shadowless light; as you found, polarising filters don't seem to have any significant effect on reflections on a stone's facets. It's becoming obvious, to me, after experimenting during the past couple of weeks with different lighting that the softer the lighting the better one's chances are of capturing a stone's faceted beauty. Some of the folk here may use or have tried light tens to emulate natural shadowless lighting, this could be a solution to work indoors as the need arises with a fully controlled, repeatable lighting set-up. Achieving just the correct level of lighting contrast, diffusion and lights, could take a fair bit of experimentation, that said though I guess this is how we learn new approaches to lighting.
No SQUID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bugger, we had our last squid meal in the fridge a few days back, will try for a fresh batch this coming week; the boat has just been serviced and is ready to go.
Hope the weather does not cause any problems for you.
Cheers, SinHof.

 

[Pat Hogen]

Some stage back in the topic I mentioned that I used a simple method of putting my stone inside a stubby holder to replicate a photo box.

Here is an example, in low light, beside a lace-curtained window, at 8pm AEDST using a 60mm Nikkor lens. I know it is a quick example that would benefit from refinement but here it is in a raw state.