Want to take simple, good photos of loose gemstones?

On a google adventure the other day I stumbled across this post about using an LED 10x with your phones camera.
It is pretty straight forward so I gave it ago straight away!
The results are pretty good if you dont have an expensive set up or in a hurry.










You can see here how shallow the depth of field is.

Minor Gemstone rant.....

I used to LOVE scrolling through the loose gemstone category on a popular online auction site but tonight I found it more disheartening than fun.
It has been awhile since I have looked and was surprised (though I guess I shouldn't have been) to see misleading names and descriptions that were more confusing than enlightening. I have nothing against man made gems or natural ones that have been treated but I DO BELIEVE IN FULL DISCLOSURE!
Titles like: Tourmaline quartz druzy, Natural reddish pink labradorite - treated ultra rare, 'Designer' Turquoise....

These are the three stones fitting those descriptions and the only redeeming factor is that anyone duped is only going to loose a couple of dollars not hundreds.

The reason it prompted me to post? It is SO frustrating that these people doing what they are doing they are simply making the gemstone/jewellery trade look bad which hurts EVERYONE.

Countless times I have had customers come in to work thinking that they have bought one thing (usually while on an overseas holiday or online) when it is in fact something completely different. I hate being the one to break the bad news when they ask me about the stone. Sadly it only takes for someone to be burned once by misleading sales tactics to be wary of ALL sales people in the future.

I myself have experienced how easily it could happen. While overseas I went into a wholesale and retail gem merchant. I had a look around and asked if they had any tourmaline cabs. The man working there proceeded to show me fluorite cabs! I said as much and he insisted that they were tourmaline. Needless to say I left without buying a thing!
I still dont know if it was an honest mistake or he was intentionally being misleading but either way if I hadnt of known the difference.....

The below images have been taken from google images:
Fluorite

Tourmaline

Anyway. I would prefer to leave on a happy note.
True and correct listings far out weighed the misleading ones and if you use a little common sense you should be able to avoid getting burned. A super rare stone of massive size is not going to be for sale for a couple of dollars...it would be in a museum!
If you do want to take a chance on something that you are unsure about check their return policies and decide: if it turns out the stone is in fact either man made or a different gemstone - Would you still like it and pay the amount listed?

Garnet and Sapphire musings

Having always been a total rock geek I forget that it is not common knowledge that some gemstones come in more colours than what you see in large chain stores.

Take garnet for example: For most people garnet summons up images of red. What a lot of people don't realise is that it also comes in bright orange (Spessartite), bright green (Tsavorite), apple green (Demantoid), and a grape purpley red (Rhodolite). Colour change garnet is a wonderful alternative if you have a thing for Alexandrite but not the budget for one!
*Please note that garnet comes in many more varieties than what I have listed here. Click this link for a brief overview of the garnet family.

What summoned this speculation was stumbling across yet another photo. This time is a selection of star sapphires in various shades of colour.

Sadly none of the above stones belong to me but they are definitely on my hit list of things to buy!
My favourite is the one on the left though I have seen a large collection of the grey ones all together and the impact they have is fantastic.

If you could have anyone of these which one would you choose?