Photographing Opals - Tips, Tricks & Techniques

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PinkDiamond
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Re: Photographing Opals - Tips, Tricks & Techniques

Post by PinkDiamond »

Yes, there's nothing wrong with his pics once the white balance is adjusted, and boy, what a difference it makes! Your stones look primo on a white background, m76. The yellowed background affects the look of the stones themselves because they're transparent, and the difference is like night and day when it comes to the richness of the colors. :!:

Thanks for showing the difference with the pics m76 already posted, Art. Good pics made even better, just by tweaking the background. Nice going to both of you! :D

This reminds me that rubies are often shown on a yellow background because it makes them look redder, but in that case it's deceptive because the same ruby set in white gold won't look anything like it does on a yellow background. In this case, changing the background color caused by the lighting shows their true colors, and enhances the look of the pieces, and that's wonderful to capture in still photos. ;)
PinkDiamond
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Artfldgr
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Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:46 pm

Re: Photographing Opals - Tips, Tricks & Techniques

Post by Artfldgr »

if they were smart, they would use green for a background as orange actually makes them LESS red..
the term to understand this from art is "color theory"..

http://jonteaches.com/110/color-theory-for-the-web

to make rubies look better you want higher contrast, not lower, orange is lower contrast to red
but green is higher contrast... because green is the compliment of red... (yellow + blue)
in fact, if you want to paint a picture and want shadows to look great, you dont add black and tint it, you add its compliment..

and from this you learn the oddities of PERCEPTION...
after all, if you saw like a camera, optical illusions would not work (other than maybe moire)

this one should bother the eye:
Image
Image

Adelsons illusion:
Image
the piece on the board are the same color


here is one thats fun for you..
Image
dont believe both gray areas are the same color? block the line between them with your finger or a ruler.. :lol: :lol:

and these lines are parallel
Image
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