People
occasionally tell us that they think we take "the most
beautiful crystal and fine mineral photos on the internet."
While we enjoy the compliments, the real stars of the show
are the minerals themselves - bright red rhodochrosite,
canary yellow sulfur, emerald green fluorite, cornflower
blue tanzanite, and so on. When we take photos, we are 100%
focused on accurately capturing the true colors of these
amazing minerals. So, here's the scoop on what we do to
capture the correct color of each specimen in our photos.
CAMERA
Our
team of professional photograpehrs take all of our photos,
using a DSLR camera with a macro lens for most specimens,
and a high quality zoom lens for our larger specimens. Before
we shoot, we color calibrate our camera with a gray card
for consistency and white balance.
LIGHTING
We light the specimens with special bulbs that put out light
waves at 5000º Kelvin - about as close as you can get
to the wavelength of average natural sunlight, which is
5400º Kelvin. Other lighting, such as incandescent
and fluorescent lights, produces light at different wavelengths
(such as 2000º K or 3000º K), which distort the
true daylight color. These lights make mineral specimens
appear to be different colors than they are in natural sunlight.
In general, incandescent lighting exaggerates the yellows,
while fluorescent lights exaggerate the blue ("cool"
light tubes) or the reds (ordinary tubes).
SOFTWARE
After we've taken the photos, we adjust the resulting digital
image using Photoshop and Lightroom software. This is necessary
because even using 5000º lights, variations in the
brightness of the light, the lens opening, and the shutter
speed produce images which are different than what the eye
perceives in full sunlight (too dark, too light, over-saturated,
washed out, etc.).
MONITORS
Our monitors are regularly color-calibrated to professional
red-green-blue (rgb) standards, ensuring that the colors
we see on our monitors are as close to the "ideal"
as possible. Then, if necessary, we make minor adjustments
in Photoshop and Lightroom to bring the colors we are seeing
on our monitors as close as possible to the perceived colors
of the mineral specimen in full sunlight.
OUR
GOAL: TO
MAKE EVERY MINERAL SPECIMEN LOOK ITS BEST
We think of this as the equivalent to taking a portrait
photo. Professional portrait photographers usually try to
make their subject look their best, capturing an exact likeness
in as flattering a light as possible (think of the movie
star who wants to be photographed on his or her "good"
side"). Similarly, we want the viewer to see each mineral
specimen in its most flattering natural beauty. We do not
use color exaggeration, distortion, or air brushing of blemishes
to make a specimen look better than it is. If we’ve
done our job well, our photos capture each specimen at its
very best.
WHAT
IF MY SPECIMEN DOESN'T LOOK AS GOOD AS THE PHOTOS?
If your specimen does not look as good in your display area
as it does in our photos, the first thing to check is the
lighting. If you are you looking at the specimen under incandescent
or fluorescent light, that may be the source of the problem.
We've had customers complain that the specimen they received
is not the same color as the photos showed. When we suggest
they look at it in the sunlight, they usually call back
to tell us they've "seen the light". Another
common problem is the brightness of the lightning. Keep
in mind that we photograph our specimens using plenty of
bright light - again, to show them at their best. If you
don't have bright, color-correct lighting for your mineral
display, you may want to consider investing in a good lighting
system. If you do, we think you'll be delighted to see your
specimens in their "true colors" - perhaps for
the first time!
