The Convention of Scale in Gemstone Photography

Description:

Glamour Shot

The Product Shot or Knockout Shot

Reduced Scale

A third gemstone photography convention in this growing list to consider are photos that utilize Reduced Scale.

In the process of photographing and publishing on the web it is relatively easy to reproduce large or small photos of gemstones. If the quality of the file is low the gems must remain small when produced online, and the opposite, in that large sized files can produce a much larger photo. This is a simplification of course.

The majority of commercial sites show stones at what I call Reduced Scale. This does not mean the photo of the stone is smaller than the actual stone, but simply that the photo is presented at a scale that shows limited detail – or reduced detail.

Without even looking close at a photo of a gemstone it is quickly easy to see if there are defined meetpoints. This is the first clue that the shot is a reduced scale shot. Sometimes there is an advantage to not showing meetpoints – for example a stone where the meetpoints are not uniform or symmetrical. But this advantage is the display of a stone where the weaknesses are not properly presented. Ill formed meetpoints present a very sloppy looking gemstone at a larger scale. Definition of meetpoints also depends on the depth of field and specific detail desired by the photographer, but generally it’s a safe bet that if you can’t make out a few well formed meetpoint details that other details are most likely hidden too. (There are always exceptions.)

The Reduced Scale shot seems to be a widely used convention and can be seen on even the fanciest of websites.

There is a reason why many gems are presented at this reduced scale and I like to think that it’s the easier availability of cameras without the proper macro lens. It is possible to produce nice photos without a macro but in my opinion it is much easier with. Smaller gem photos produced also means the gems are much easier to illuminate for the photo, and the photo process becomes much quicker. Close up macro gemstone photography can sometimes be devilishly tricky, and time consuming. It’s mostly the lighting. However, this smaller sized photo seems to be an accepted convention partly I believe because it is what is already seen widely on the web. It’s an accepted norm in practice because that’s what’s out there. I think we see this reduced scale shot also because smaller photos are easier to design into website layouts and templates. Simply put, use of large, or small scale photos define website design – function follows form with the use of small photos.

Reduced Scale Shot: A photo displayed at a scale that does not show defined meetpoints, or inclusions in eye clean or lower grade stones. Sometimes these photos are produced not to hide faults with the stone, but simply as the easiest way to produce acceptable photographs giving an indication of stone shape and color.

The reduced scale shot does have an advantage of displaying color well, mainly because most of the other design details have been eliminated by use of a too small photograph. Examples of this can be found easily on eBay and again, on a multitude of other sites displaying mostly commercial and native cut stones – expensive or no.

The choice of white or dark backgrounds becomes almost moot when desired detail is lost in a small photo. The stone is simply shown to display color. With colored gemstones we have all heard and lived by the words “Color is King.” This does not mean that color is the only design detail to be presented in a photo. A strong photo will utilize all design detail. Look critically at gem photos in terms of scale. It is not necessary to show a gem at massive magnification, but those stones that do withstand scrutiny that even modest magnification properly permits are true gems indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

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