Lapidaryforum.net
Let's Rock => Opal => Topic started by: Bluetangclan on June 04, 2017, 02:09:04 PM
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Is there an inexpensive way to take good photos of opals? I have day lighting and a nice black background that stuff looks great on with the naked eye but when I look at it through a camera, its pure white. No colors are visible. So whats the trick?
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I place the opal in a small plastic box that has a black bottom and cover it with water. It greatly improves the color. Take the photo at a slight angle so the light doesn't reflect off the surface of the water into the camera. I got the boxes at our local plastics supplier - Tap Plastics.
Bob
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This subject comes up frequently. I will never forget taking over 1,000 shots of opals in one weekend to get our website up. That was just enough to get about 50 stones up on the site. I was new to both photography and opal cutting, and it was frustrating!
Here are two shots of an opal ring just made (we didn't do the setting) for my nephew's fiancee. The only difference in the way they were shot is that the second used a faster shutter speed and slightly lower exposure level. Those two settings can be tweaked quickly and easily to accomodate your lighting conditions. It's my "quick and dirty" cheat... .
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I have the same problem, particularly with the lighter opals.
If you're using a camera phone, try pointing it at a sheet of white paper, focus and get exposure lock, then take the paper away and shoot the opal.
With something like a dslr, yep...under expose and take quite a few shots. Keep the shutter speed high to avoid shake, also you can play with the exposure compensation buttons. I also you a daylight bulb and white balance the camera as such.
A bit of trial and error once you get the hang of it it's quite rewarding!
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I video them while moving the stone around or camera, then i take screen shots of the video while the video is paused or slowed where the fire shows the best
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Same with fire agates, they are all hardto capture the fire while photographing.
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I video them while moving the stone around or camera, then i take screen shots of the video while the video is paused or slowed where the fire shows the best
Great idea! I'll have to try that myself.
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Look up some of my posts about photographing opal. They are all spread out in different topics now but I manage to get a very lifelike image of the stones I shoot. I have spent more money than I would like to have on photographing opal but you could probably take some of the tricks I mentioned and adapt them into a lower cost operation. Buying used and refurbished camera gear is a good trick to remember.
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Is there an inexpensive way to take good photos of opals? I have day lighting and a nice black background that stuff looks great on with the naked eye but when I look at it through a camera, its pure white. No colors are visible. So whats the trick?
i think this Site Solve your problem
https://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-photograph-jewelry--photo-13446