Issues photographing Opal (Cannon eos 40d )

[G_Madison]

I searched my little brains off and did not find any hints to photograph white base opal, i seem to be having a major conundrum trying this. I have a cannon rebel EOS 40d with a cannon 250mm macro lens. any pointer or tricks for Opal would be so helpful.

[Stephen Challener]

Here's a trick I figured out, which may or may not work on your camera. Put a black paper or cloth next to a white paper or cloth. Put the opal on the black, but take the photo with half of the frame white and half black. Just photographed on black it will overexpose and look horrible; just white and it will look washed out and dead.

[G_Madison]

Thanks for the tip, i will give it a go tonight and see what i get with that idea.

[energyos]

I had the problem with opal, but tried to photo it mounted in the ring.

[Alan F.]

Probably too late, but the problem sounds like you are using the auto exposure programme, gems are a long way from the happy holiday snaps the algorithm was worked out for. Try switching the camera to manual, then use different settings until you get one that looks right. Remember to write down what you have done and what effect it has and you will soon have a handy reference guide.

[gembug]

If you camera has exposure lock, try using a photographer's 18% grey card.

Set this up exactly positioned and lit as you are going to have your stone. Set your camera's exposure and colour balance based on this card and lock it.

Replace the card with your stone and all should be good.

BTW - this works for photographing all gemstones and jewellery. Your camera is trying to average all the light and colour to an 18% neutral grey, and depending on the stone and background it will really mess things up

Hope this helps

-Allan