As a fully online seller, you can imagine how often I am asked for more photos and videos of my gems, not even including layouts for custom orders. And given that I try to have 5-7 listings up a week even when it’s slow, that means an awful lot of photography.

And, dare I say it, probably 90% of the extra photos I take for clients are superfluous. They simply do not convey sufficient additional information! In fact, they often tell you less, not more, and they can be misleading. Let’s look at why.

Cameras are evil little liars, and they need a lot of prodding to tell you what something really looks like. Each camera has its own way of telling lies, and in order to reverse engineer the facts about what a gem actually looks like, you first need to know about the camera and the light, not about the gem.

For instance, for video I use my Samsung S22 phone, usually on the macro lens. I photograph in the daytime, outdoors only, on a white plastic board. A lightly overcast day is best, though sunshine is good too as long as I stay in the shade (and the shade cannot be artificially created by my blue umbrella or a tree that lets in light as both will add their own color to the gem). Just like a Sri Lankan seller, I prefer the later afternoon for photos, though morning works also. In summer, midday light is too strong and too cool. I want slightly warm outdoor light, very lightly filtered, even if I just use my own body to get away from the sun. No shots should ever be taken in direct sunlight as that will make the colors way too bright in the photo (yes, brighter than the gem actually is).

We were very pleased with the video for this sapphire pair (here on Etsy): 

The video for this ring also came out very well (here on Etsy)

And, last but not least, my longitude is 40 and that’s important when my photos are interpreted. Both the longitude, season and time of day will change the color temperature, and that can especially affect the photos of green gems, which is the hardest color to photograph in my view. As a vendor from Tucson once remarked: I know why you New Yorkers like Vietnamese lavender spinel, it looks amazing in your light. When we take photos in Bangkok the gems don’t look nearly as good (by the way, sapphires often look super great in Madagascar and dark and sooty in NJ).

I have a friend who sells gems out of Albuquerque, NM. She uses an iPhone and her longitude is 35. Her videos are often more saturated than mine but because her iPhone is older, the colors in the video are less enhanced. When we compared shots we both took in Tucson of the same gem (in the same place), we didn’t get the same colors.

When you take photos of gems indoors, things get worse, not better. I get asked to take them often, usually under the umbrella of ‘different lighting conditions’ – I assume that means different artificial lights as the natural light ones are in the listing.

Have you ever taken indoor photos of gems and got an accurate result? If you haven’t, let’s try together now.

Get a hold of a gem you want to photograph, take out your phone and turn on the camera. Pick an indoor light (led, fluorescent, daylight bulb, whichever) and hold the gem under it. Hold the gem between the fingers of your non-dominant hand, using the back of your hand and two fingers as a ‘tray’. Now hold the camera over it and take a good look (no need to take a photo). Then look at the gem without the camera. Try this with as many different light sources as you like. What do you see? Is it the same with your eye vs the camera?

I am 95% certain that in most cases you will not see what your eye sees – and in many cases, the difference is actually drastic. The colors take on different hues.  And therein lies the problem. Your camera adjusts itself so it can take a photo under those conditions, and even a top of the line camera will do that, unless it has a fully manual mode (in which case it is still hard to get an accurate photo).

Of course, we do use editing software to remedy this, and we do our best to make the gem look like itself. Like most gem dealers we have taken and edited tens of thousands of photos. For a quick editing trick on color I use the color of my hands in the hand shot to edit, or just the background. I take and edit about 200-300 photos each week, and I prefer to take fewer rather than more, especially if they are unnecessary or misleading. A professional photographer will not edit this many photos for publication.

Finally, what about using a lightbox? There are some very expensive (1K) lightboxes out there that are phenomenal. Even with greens they do a reasonably good job. But they do not beat outdoor photography in the right lighting conditions. If you try to photograph emeralds, which, for reasons I do not understand, are the most difficult gemstones to photograph accurately, you will see how good the light box really is.

Takeaway: I realize that when you buy gems online, you have no choice but to go by photos. But don’t ask for indoor shots unless you want to see a specific color change. In that case you want to see an incandescent light photo and an outdoor photo. When I do them, I provide all three, indoor color change between two indoor lights, and outdoor. But I don’t think that the indoor photos will be the same as what the person sees when they open the box containing their gems.

This color change garnet is on Etsy here.

What to ask for instead are outdoor shots, hand shots and against a white background. Shade. And you want to know where the photos are taken because you need to subtract intensity and add in grey or vice versa. You do want to see a video in addition to the photo, preferably on a hand so you can check for window while the gem moves. You want one photo from the side and one from the back. Lightboxes would be a possible alternative if it is a good one. It needs to be exceptionally bright, and the light temperature has to be exact.  

With Tucson around the corner, I've been thinking long and hard about what new items I could make that would offer up some options for alternate stone shapes.  My main focus this time was the oval, or rather, the roval. In particular, designs that allow for more 3x2 and 4x3 options. There are so many 4x3 ovals on the market and they often cost less, too.  So I worked on a new Lily using those, and Elizabeth shapes for earrings.

OVAL LILY: These take a 4mm center stone, 4 4x3mm ovals and 2mm (or smaller) gems on the outside.  The width is 17mm, so it's a nice and substantial size.

Pricing is $680 for the pendant and $760 for the ring in 14kt (note these are new gold prices as gold has gone up a few hundred dollars in the past few months).

ELIZABETH EARRINGS: These earrings can be made into studs or danglies, and the components could also be used in a bracelet or as part of a necklace.  They are made for 4x3 and 3x2mm gems.  Prices are $420 for the larger and $390 for the smaller earrings. 

HEXAGON FOR OVALS: While we were at it, we also made hexagons for rovals (4x3mm and 3x2mm). The smaller hexagons are priced at $370 in 14Kt gold and the larger ones are $400.

STAR FLOWER PENDANT WITH 8 PETALS: We made this model for 3x2mm gems only, because I wanted to feature the hauyne I have but we can also get Burma spinel and hopefully a few other sizes in Tucson.  The center stone is 4mm but I can go up to 4.5mm.  I have a ring version of this as well, but it isn't finished yet. These are priced at $480 for the pendant and $580 for the ring (coming soon!) in 14Kt gold.

STACKING RINGS: We came out with six new models, five of which are in the photos here. All are priced at $220, which will be our new price for 14 Kt gold stacking rings.  They are made for 6x4 pears and ovals, as well as 3x2 ovals (east west and north south).

NEW DESIGNS IN PROGRESS: Another underappreciated stone shape for us has been the trillion.  We made a scalloped design for a 6mm center and 15 x 1.5mm round sidestones, pendant and ring.  The pendant will cost $650 and the ring costs $710 in 14Kt gold. The pendant just came out, the ring will be available after Tucson.

And we also made a design for a 7mm stone which is currently with Alex for engraving of the sides. You'll have to imagine the finished product, but here's how it looks in the CAD. We made the prongs super long so that we can also set a slightly larger than 7mm gem, which we'd open the prongs up a little to accommodate.  A 7mm or a hair smaller gem will sit as shown in the image, and the prongs will be cut down to tiny claws as in all our designs.  The sidestones are 2x2.5rds, 2x 1.6rds and 2x1.5rds or 1x 2.5mm.

Finally, we have a design coming for a 6mm cushion, an adaptation of last year's prize winner Josephine.  The sidestones for this will be 4x 1.7mm round & 12x 1.3ish mm round.  This model is currently in printing, but we will have a finished item later in February to show you.