Lighting of this pic

HI
I took a pic of my tourmaline crystal in open day light with black back ground. edited a bit with photoshop to increase contrast.
Please check it out. Is it good enough or for lighting i should use a proper lighting setup. I m a mineral dealer so i want my pics as good as possible.

Daylight has been the best light source since photography began, BUT it's not always available or convenient so reflectors & lights often fill the bill. I think your photo is plenty good to show the crystal to it's best advantage. You'll do well to learn some "artificial' lighting techniques, however.

Don S.

It is obvious that some enhancement has been done to the image and it appears to me that the saturation has been cranked up. The accentuated redness of the fingers is the tell tale. Otherwise, it's a good image and certainly conveys the quality of the specimen, but one might wonder if its color intensity is true to life. I don't try for great photos, but ones that are as close to the actual appearance of the specimen as possible, without special lighting or enhancement. It's easy to make a specimen look better in a photo than it actually does. We like to hear that "the specimen looks better than the photo" from our customers. In my mind, there is a fine line between over or under presenting a specimen that is offered for sale. It takes practice to get it right.

Best of luck in your endeavor,
Gene

The photo sure makes the specimen look juicy, but I also wonder what the "real" specimen would look like. Its hard to beat holding the specimen in your hand (with your hand as the background) and taking a picture of it in sunlight. It won't look as juicy but it will speak to me directly about just what the specimen really is.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

It depends what the purpose of your image is for honestly. If it is just to show off your collection then I say good to go. If it is to sell the piece, I say it is way off target. For selling you can use shots like this, of course and good too as well, but you must also supply a realistic shot to go with it as well taken on a white background preferably since this shows the truest colors, saturation, and tones of the piece, since colored background actually can and do enhance these attributes.

Opening the image in PS and adjusting the curves way up shows quite a bit of editing has been done to the image. I disagree, however, about the fingers showing the saturation being bumped way up though, as one can not really make that judgment from that alone, as many things could cause that from an extreme curves adjustment to settings in the camera even. But, the point, I believe though, is that there has been quite a bit of editing done to it to an artificial extent, and that I totally agree with.

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Registered Gemologist
Research Gemologist
Rockhound/Cutter/Collector
Club President/Owner

The color of the crystal is just like that in person that's why i was forced to edit it to make it look like as it is.The actual pic was too dim. since im a dealer so if i exaggerate my pics then i won't succeed in the business as this reduces the credibility.

Please suggest a lighting setup that i could purchase and could be used for colored minerals.

Using the HSV color model, as it is the easiest to understand, we have a 3 dimensional color space consisting of Hue, Saturation and Value. Combinations of H, S and V are what determine how we perceive colors.

Hue is defined as a value on, or between, the ring of primary colors. For example, orange is a hue that lies between red and yellow on the ring.

Saturation is defined as the intensity, or dominance, of hue in the color. On the periphery of the color ring, the hues are fully saturated. As you move towards the center, adding white, you eventually reach the center and the hue is desaturated or just plain white.

Value is just the brightness of the color, ranging from 0 to 100%, with 0 being black.

To my eyes, and on this monitor, the hue seems to be about right, but too intense. So, I concluded that the saturation, or intensity of the hue, is too great. Therefore, I made the comment regarding the saturation being cranked up. There are many ways of manipulating the image that could have caused the increased saturation, not just the saturation slider. The end result, however, is that the saturation is higher than it should be. This is further verified by the fact that the tourmaline hue is a good green and the colors have not been shifted towards the red by changing the color balance.

To further illustrate my point, I have copied the original image and only reduced the saturation to what looked normal to me. See attached image. Because everyone's eyes are not the same, this may not look perfect to you. As people age, they tend to need more saturation and that's why old people often turn the color control, on their TV, way up.

Gene

thanx for the detailed reply.

Hi Acqua
Which camera you used for this photo .Its really nice I wish I could do such job
Ghazanfar

I agree the saturation was boosted, I thought you meant it was done so just boosting the saturation, when I believe it was more done with levels or curves, which does make a difference. Just plain boosting of saturation gets very artificial and adds other issues into play as well. Levels would be second best, with curves being number one. Also, many times saturation can get boosted a bit as a side effect of doing a local contrast enhancement (LCE, which is done after resizing an image due to what the human eye sees as sharpness, when in reality it is mostly a loss of local contrast due to the algorithms used for resizing). I typically try to adjust the saturation about -1 to -2 after doing a LCE just to compensate for this side effect, but most do not and end up getting some boost in saturation from using the USM, or unsharp mask, unknowingly actually doing a local contrast enhancement due to their settings in the USM, lol.

Some editing is fine, as ALL images from ALL digital cameras are edited to an extent, some far more then others. All cameras based on the Bayer sensor alter and adjust and create color data, all digital cameras have on board software that edits the JPEG images and applies curves, saturation, contrast, sharpening, etc. Even if shoot in RAW most cameras embed the data which is then picked up by the RAW converting software and the settings applied, or some software has a default set of adjustments that get applied to the images.

If the shot was taken properly, there should not need to be that much editing done to make it look realistic. On my screen it doesn't look realistic now, it looks overly done, I will grant you I am over due for a hardware color calibration so it could just be my system being a bit out of whack. I need to calibrate it again this weekend.

Sunlight is always the best choice of light, but too uncontrollable. You can essentially recreate this in the studio quite easily using reflectors and diffusers and choosing the proper set of lights. Cheaply, go snag a set of 8" clamp on shop lamps from Wal-Mart automotive for like $7.98 each (6" are like $5.97) and a set of Ott-Lite 6500K Daylight HD CFL bulbs, but they must be the HD bulbs, as they use far less mercury in them so the color spectrum is much more even and less spikes in it caused by the higher levels of mercury in the other CFL bulbs.

The second to best choice, but a bit more expensive, is to grab the same same exact lamps as above, then order a set of Solux PAR38 3500ºK bulbs in Spread 30. They give a full spectrum light and at 3500ºK, they reproduce what, in photography, is known as the "Magic Hour(s)", which is when the sun is at its perfect temp to bring out all the natural colors in the surroundings. It is the perfect time to shoot anything! The Solux are like $15 each and you need three of them and three of the shop lamp deals. And diffusing material that is NOT flammable as they do get quite hot! Wal-Mart also has a fabric in their department that is a cotton/Polyester/Nylon blend and it will get brown but not burn, at least not yet, and had them on for over 8hrs one day, lol. Another choice is to trig up a cut up milk carton in the path of the light ot diffuse it, but keep far enough away from the bulb as it will melt and torch as well, lol! The other night the Solux bulbs melted my Raynox KS-2000 Macro stand, grrrr! I got lucky and the plastic was still malleable enough to fix it for the most part, just cosmetic damage, pheeeww!

The almost proper way, and the second most expensive way, would be to get a set of two normal light stands and a third light stand with a boom. Now you will need three constant light heads, one for each stand, and three of the Solux bulbs for them. Then get a few softboxes for the lights and stands. Some reflectors, macro reflector for your lens, etc.

The totally proper way, but expensive way, would be to snag three Quartz Halogen light heads that are tungsten balanced @ 3200ºK (in range for magic hour colors). These will cost you about $75-$150 for each one, and you need three minimum, well can get away with two if you really know what you are doing. The you will also need two light stands (cost about $30-$120 each) and a light stand with a boom as well (about $39.95-$59.95). You will also need softboxes to diffuse the lighting of course (they cost between $25-$150ea).

So you have multiple choices for lighting, from next to nothing to a small fortune, lol. And I did not even get into the fancy fancy setups costing $5000+!!

Honestly, I have the big fancy studio strobes and constant lights, but always still go right back to the Solux for most things and the Ott-Lite 6500K Daylight HD CFLs for the others. But, I also do not believe in spending lots of money on something if this other product costs a fraction of the price and does the job within 90-95% of the far more expensive one.

Also it would be nice to have a soft box/tent to shoot your stuff in. Not the typical closed on all sides with a hole in the front though, unless you get one of the huge ones that a kid can fit into, otherwise a bit hard to maneuver around.

Here are some examples of better lighting setups (I have NO affiliation nor do I receive any kickbacks from Adorama, I am just a long time, always happy, and well treated customer of theirs, I buy almost all my photo equipment from them, customer service is hard to beat! What you buy is what you actually get, unlike some where you buy a USA lens and end up with a cheaper no warranty Imported one! They typically have the best prices too anyways, lol). These setups would be for those with lots of room obviously.

Real simple two light setup
[www.adorama.com]

Entry level, but nice two light with softboxes setup
[www.adorama.com]

Entry level, but still nice, 3 light setup:
[www.adorama.com]

Here are some table top type setups that I have tested in the past that worked nicely, depending on the camera you are using.

Cheapest that works, use your own lighting, gives a decent infinity white background for product shots
[www.adorama.com]

Just a nice pre-made studio box to shoot your products in, works well, use your own lights.
[www.adorama.com]

This kit gives you a bit more freedom in your shooting, and while I have not used it, a friend has and likes his.
[www.adorama.com]

A bit more money, but one of the better table top setups. I love them! They are made by Novoflex, one of the top end photog equipment and accessory manufacturers for many many decades, been around since the early film days! I have lots of their equipment, even a lens, lol.
[www.adorama.com]

This is a unique and wild setup and allows for lots of freedom in your shooting and negates the need for a tripod as well. Not sure if it will work with a dSLR though, but does well with any of the P&S cameras, even the higher end ones. Should be fine with one of the smaller bodied dSLRs I would imagine, like the Canon XS, Nikon D3000 or D40/40x, Pentax KS or K2000, etc.
[www.adorama.com]

Again, same as above about camera and uniqueness. Works very nicely too!
[www.adorama.com]

You can use these as reflectors to direct light where you need it:
[www.adorama.com]

But a better choice for a reflector would be these sunlight/white reversible ones:
[www.adorama.com]

And a macro reflector for around your lens. It works two-fold, one for reflecting light right onto the front as well as blocking out most reflections that could ruin the shot from the camera and/or your face/body. I use one all the time.
[www.adorama.com]

Also, you do not have to hold the reflectors, if you want to spend the money they make tripod like holders for them. I just make an assistant help, lol.

But typically I keep it simple. I use three of the Solux bulbs in 3 of the Wal-Mart clamp lights(used 6" but now switching to 8") with the fabric I mentioned earlier for diffusion, I have a white plexiglass/lexan base plate I sit the subject on, with a another white lexan piece glued perpendicular to the base for the backdrop to get the infinite background, and I have one light from each side and one from the top with the macro reflector on my lens. Sometimes shoot with a circular polarizer as well to cut down on reflections, but stick with either a B+W or Tiffen(cheapest bet) as they do NOT give color casts like the normal Hoya ones do as well as other cheaper branded ones. Tiffen is cheapest and best bang for the buck. B+W is more expensive, but is probably the best filter you can buy. Sometimes I shoot with a box like the Giottos ones linked above, sometimes with a smaller light tent even. When get studio downstairs by the shop finished I will go back to using the same lights I always use, Solux and Ott-Lites, but will be making a shooting table with thinner translucent lexan and clamp between to saw horses into an s-curve, then I place the lights below the table and use the lexan as the diffuser and reflectors above to direct the light back down on the subject, macro reflector on lens, diffused light coming from behind and over my head, works the best. Same method used for most higher end magazine product shots.

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Registered Gemologist
Research Gemologist
Rockhound/Cutter/Collector
Club President/Owner

Jamey, you might want to consider publishing this in the Articles section in Mindat.... All this hard work and good info will just get buried if it stays in the Messageboards.

Ill second that. Too much good information to get lost on the message board. Put it in an article.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

I figured I would cover as best I could the other half of photography: Lighting. The only reason photography and shooting gems and minerals is possible is light.
In my opinion 30% of taking a good photo is all camera and the other 70% is lighting. Lighting is very very important if it's 70% of taking a good picture. Lets start off with light itself. Light is brightness that comes from an object such as the sun, a fire, a flashlight, or a lamp. All light comes from atoms. Atoms that produce light have either gained energy by absorbing light from another source or by being struck by other particles. It is this 'extra energy' that causes an atom to give off light. The light being emitted is carrying off the extra energy.

Now when discussion light and color we must explore waves as well. Waves have high and low points, and the distance between one of those highs and lows and the next is called a wavelength. Just how long that wave is will determine the amount of energy that it has. For example, a long wave has a low amount of energy or low frequency, and a short wave has a high amount of energy or high frequency. What we see in a rainbow, then, are the wavelengths of the visible colors. You see, our sun emits its radiation in this visible range, which our eyes interpret as the colors of the rainbow. These colors are identified as the visible spectrum. Thery are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Light travels in the form of a wave. It is basically photons (pieces of energy or particles), and mostly moves as waves. White light, or the light from the sun or lamps, is made of colors, and colors are different types of light recognized by their own wavelengths. The color of anything depends on the type of light sent to our eyes; light is necessary if we are to have any perception of color at all. An object is "colored" because of the light it reflects—all other colors are absorbed into that specific object. So then, an Sweet Home Rhodochrosite appears red because it reflects red light. Let me also add before I move on, that three things can happen to light. It can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted. I will get to that later if I remember(note to self remember ;D)

Now to lighting and photography now that we have an understanding of what light is. When it comes to lighting they make a big difference it what you preceive or the camera preceives. That is due to kelvin temperature. Kelvin temperature, also called color temperature, is very very important when shooting gemstones and minerals. Here is the definition from wikipedia
"Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in lighting, photography, videography, publishing, manufacturing, astrophysics, and other fields. The color temperature of a light source is the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that of the light source. Color temperature is conventionally stated in the unit of absolute temperature, the kelvin, having the unit symbol K."

Color temperatures over 5,000K are called cool colors (blueish white), while lower color temperatures (2,700–3,000 K) are called warm colors (yellowish white through red).

This is were having the proper lighting comes into play. The white balance on your camera should actually be called the "color correction". It helps to change the color temperature in whatever light you might be using. It's not as good as actually using proper lights but it's a simple and easy way to make those small adjustments to help show what you are seeing in real life.
Here is a color temperature chart to show what some common temperatures are.


Here is another one which will also give you an idea of what color temperature is.


So what does this all mean? If you notice it has a color which corresponds with a temperature which corresponds with a type of light/lighting. This plays a big role in shooting gemstones and minerals. It determines what light you use and what background you use. It also correlates with what color gemstones and mineral and what color background you are using.

The reason you see many photos on white or gray background is it gives purity of hue(color) to whatever gem or mineral you are shooting and white is generally good for high-contrast or high key shooting If you choose to use a background with color the accepted idea is to use complementing colors which are opposite the color wheel from the color of the object you are shooting. The only problem with using a colored background is it affects the sensors on your digital cameras. So if you are shooting a red beryl crystal on a green or blue background, even though the camera sensor is directed onto the red of the red beryl crystal light bouncing off the green or blue background is coming into your camera sensor and messing up what the camera see as the red in the red beryl crystal. This may not sound like that big a deal as the slight color variation is not huge but when dealing with gemstones even the smallest color change can be the difference between a good colored stone or an okay stone or $10 and $10,000 when showing or trying to sell a stone. If you notice on many of Jeff Scovill and Joe Budds photos they will superimpose whatever gem or minerals they took a photo of onto a colored background rather than actually shooting the photograph on a colored background The preferred background color for purtiy of color is white or gray.


Here is an example of what a colored background can do to a stone. You can adjust the white balance but it will either take away from the stone/specimen color or the background color. You can't have it both ways. The sensor is picking up the stone(pakistan moonstone) color but the light reflecting off the blue background in skewering what the sensor sees. Some sensors also take the pixels next to other pixels and use algorithims to determine what color the sensor is seeing but that is a discussion for a whole different time and place.


True color of stone



Now to lights.
There are 3 main types of lights which we all know and use. Sunlight, fluorescent, and incadescent. There are many what I call minor type lights including tungsten, halogen, high pressure sodium, metal halide, mercury vapor, xenon, LED, etc. but I will just stick primarily to the main 3. Standard fluroescent lights typically have a bluer component to them and incadescents more of a yellow component and sunlight at noon in summer having a perfect blending of all colors(white light). Sunlight at different latitudes, at different times of day, and how clear the sky is depends on which direction the color in sunlight leans towards. Shade from a partly cloudy sky will lean more towards blue and early morning or evening sunlight will lean more towards yellow and red.


What does all of this mean to us? It means when we shoot minerals or gemstones of a certian color we want to use the proper light to help show an accurate picture and/or add some vibrance to the gem or mineral. I will disregard sunlight since it can be finicky and not listen to our pleas and moans also it can be damn cold outside which negates my lazy butt from shooting anything out doors. If you are shooting a tanzanite crystal what type of lighting would you want to use? You would want one that leans more towards the blue end of the spectrum. That would be a fluorescent light(partly cloudy day). Not all fluorescents lean towards the blue end of the spectrum. Schools and hospitals are closer to 5500K above and below, most retail stones 4100K, and offices anywhere from 3500K to 6500K. If we were shooting a heliodore what type of lighting would we want to use? Incadescent? Nope. The reason being..if your perfect light is sunlight at noon on a summer day which equals 5500K(kelvin) then incadescent is way to far below on the color temperature chart from the "perfect" light at 5500K. Incadescent being on average 2600K-2800K. That is 2700K-2500K below what the "perfect light is. The fluorescent light, which we used for the tanzanite crystal, averages 6500K(also called daylight bulbs). Thats only 1000K difference from the "perfect" light(sunlight). This is the reason why you never use incadescent light to shoot gems or minerals, which most of you already know. What would I want to use to shoot my helidore crystal then? I would prefer something close to perfect but maybe with a little yellow added in naturally. That means anything below 5500K starts to add some yellow and red to my specimen. The more I go down in Kelvin(color temperature) the more reds and yellows I add. You don't want to go so far as to skewer the accurate color of the specimen you are shooting but you want to add a little more color to it. Now you might say "This will not give an accurate color to the person looking at the photo"! It all depends on how it's viewed in real life. If I take the photo under fluorescent light then take the gemstone to John Doe's house and he looks at it under the lamp in the family room it will be a different color than the one in the photo. If I take a picture of a gemstone under sunlight then bring it to an office, school, or Wal-mart it will look different under the fluorescent lights they have than it did in the picture. Here is a picture showing a 3500K fluorescent(left) and a 6500K fluorescent(right). You can see the huge difference between the two and you can understand how each one will affect the color of the gemstone or mineral you are shooting.


My blue, purple, and green specimens and gemstones I like to use my Ott 6500K fluorescent lamps. When I shoot yellow, red, or orange specimens I like to use my Solux 4700K bulb. The Solux light is a halogen(3000K) but it has a special filiment and reflector which brings it to the 4700K mark. Solux light are the creme de la' creme of lighting. They are the same lights you see in highend dealers booth in Tuscon and at most gem shows and at some famous museums . Here is the snippet from Solux:

"The SoLux daylight lamp is universally recognized as the ultimate in D50 daylight simulation. Independent studies have concluded no other man made light source comes close (see volume 3, March 1999, Journal of Prepress & Printing Technology, Quantifying illuminant Metamerism of D50 simulators). Recommended and specified by art museums, galleries, world renowned photographers, Fortune 500 companies like Dupont and BASF."

I have 2 Ott light for taking photos and 1 solux lamp,some tungsten bulbs, different halogens, photo bulbs, and a little of everything in between. My basic setup I use my 2 Ott lights and my solux. All others I only pull out for specific reasons or specific gems and minerals. This shows my basic setup of lights and pods.


When it comes to light tents I have 4 of them, well actually 3 and a half. Two of them are real light tents I bought and one I made and the 1/2 one I made and use for taking photos of only gemstones. I find light tents useless and not worth a darn. I used them a few times and realized they really added nothing. I also know of no dealers friends of mine that consistantly use one. Most will have at least one but they don't use them after a while. A waste of money in my book. The only way to properly shoot gemstones is to use a light tent but it is not your standard light tent like we all think about. Hopefully I will get to that at a later time.

Here are some examples of different lighting and stones but first let me talk about color shift real quick.
Most of you have heard of color change or color shift gemstones. You see them being sold all over the place. Color change gemstones are just that...color changers. They change color or flip across the color wheel. If a color change moves from lets say Red to the next color on the wheel (orange) then this is called a Color Shift. If the color moves from Red to Green, which is on the other side of the wheel, then this is called Color Change. All gemstones and minerals color shift to some degree. Some do shift more pronounced than others but all do to some degree anyways.

Okay first...this tanzanite crystal. Same axis... same crystal....different lighting.

Fluorescent(6500K)


Incadescent


You can see the huge change in color just from using the different type of lighting.

Here is a paraiba crystal.
Note the rich vibrant blue under 6500K fluorescent


Now I use the 4700K bulb. Much less blue..not to bad but nothing like the 6500K bulb.


Now for incadescent(75watt 2700K). Horrible. Almost no good blue showing.


Here is another example of a blue and purple bi-color cuprian crystal
2700K


4700K


6500K


I used blue specimens to show the huge difference. This is because blue is a primary color. Now lets look at green, which is mixture of yellow and blue. Since green is not a primary it's color shift in different types of lighting is less pronounced. Take this peridot for instance

Incadescent 2700k


4700K


fluorescent 6500K


Not much of a difference between the three especially the 2700 and the 4700. The 6500K to me looks a little better since it helps take more of the yellow out and adds blue which makes for a richer green. The 2700 and 4700 and adding some yellow to the stone and since green is made of yellow and blue it's now trending more towards the yellow side which is an undesirable trait when looking for purity of color and in the case of peridot that would be green.

Lets now look at a stone which is in the red/orange/yellow side of the color spectrum. This pre-formed spessartine garnet is orange as well all know. Lets look at it under fluorescent light first(6500K)


Notice how brown it looks. That is because when you add blue(fluorescent 6500K) to red/yellow(orange) you will get brown. That is why the stone appears brown in the photo.

Now lets see it with more of a yellow added by using the 4700K and the 2700K incadescent.

4700K


2700K


Note how much better an orange it has. The 4700K adds some yellow but the2700K adds a lot of yellow and it even adds orange since orange starts around 2800K on the temperature chart. The incadescent picture has the littlest amount of brown since incadescent has less blue in it's lights wavelength.

I have many more examples of pictures in my recycle bin on the computer from when I used to sell. When I would sell sphene, rubellite, almandine and namanga garnets, spessartine, and my yellow tourmalines from kenya, etc. I would use my Solux 4700K to take photos with but when I sold my blue and green tourmalines, tanzanites, hauyne, paraiba, etc. I would use my two Ott lights.

I didn't get a chance to add anything about setup or light positioning and a few other things. Fell free to add any corrections or more info as seen fit. Much of this I learned from Jamey over the years. I would never try to tackle cameras and sensors as it makes my head hurt. I just leave that up to the swishman



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2011 02:15PM by Jason Barrett.

Nice work Jason, Thank You!

I hope you are putting this in an article here on mindat. It would be a shame to get it buried and lost in the bulletin board.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Jason, one thing to note, light tents are no different then using diffusers for your lights, in fact, that is all that it is. You are right, it is not the ideal way to shoot stones/specimens, but they are far from useless. They are actually the easiest way for someone getting started to get acceptable shots. As for waste of money, $20 for a tent is hardly a lot of money, hehe. ;). While a tent restricts your camera and such, it does two very important things that many have troubles with, blocking reflections and properly diffusing the light sources. Once you properly learn how to shoot, then ditch the tent, but I still feel those jsut starting out will find the tent the easiest way to get acceptable shots until they grow in their experiences.

One other thing, 70% lighting and 30% camera? More like 70% shooter/user, 25% lighting, and 5% camera. ;). A good photographer can get the shot in ANY lighting and any situation and with any camera, be it a $5K dSLR or a $50 P&S digital, or a cell phone for that matter(and yes cell phones can take great macros with a loupe or the now made special macro lenses for them). But, on the other hand, I see folks using $5K dSLR bodies and $1000+ lenses and they can not produce an image near the quality of many using a simple $150 P&S camera setup. ;).

Sorry, old pet peeve in the photo industry, when folks come up and admire your work and make comments like, "you must have a great camera"... love tossing out my Argus C-3 Brick rangefinder and see the look on their faces, or "your camera takes really great pictures", lol, upon which I typically get it out of the camera bag and hand it to them and tell them to take a few pictures, then I take the same shots, lol, the look of amazement and embarrassment is always amusing when they are done and I show them on the 17" LCD laptop how their pictures turned out compared to mine, and then I typically say "now, still think it is the camera that takes good pics?". When I did expos I always had prints from my expensive setups hanging side by side my C-3 or Yashica GSN rangefinder shots as well as P&S shots or cheapo lenses on a dSLR prints beside expensive lens prints and I always liked to get people to guess which was which, never had a single person in over 10 years ever get them correct, rofl!

How does one submit an article again? I will do it this time hopefully. Spent too much time typing it up for it to get lost, lol.

P.S. Here is a visual reason why some lights do not work so well, regardless or "Full Spectrum" rating or CRI rating(which is a joke now, not even valid anymore). It shows a BlueMax special photography bulb, not cheap either, an Ott-Lite(which you can see has lower mercury spikes over the other CFL which is why it works better, and a standard halogen, did not have the Solux at the time I did these spectrum tests.


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Registered Gemologist
Research Gemologist
Rockhound/Cutter/Collector
Club President/Owner

"How does one submit an article again?"

Go to the "My Home Page" button on the top left of the top menu.
Click the "My Articles" tab
Click "Create new article button"

Good work and thanks for sharing!

Done. :) Thanks.

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Registered Gemologist
Research Gemologist
Rockhound/Cutter/Collector
Club President/Owner

Much appreciated, Jamey!