Some cool how diamonds are cut images:
Four DIamonds
Image by qthomasbower
Four Diamonds
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Four blends that I stumbled upon and saved as I was striving for the final blend. My original goal for the diamond design was to make it look like cut glass, using no other wizardry than adjustments to the blends.
As you can see it took me a while to figure out how to do that, as each of these four "rejected" diamonds don’t look like glass at all – they look like colored stone!
Hope Diamond
Image by cliff1066™
Today like every day, thousands to tens of thousands of visitors will press into the Harry Winston Gallery of the Smithsonian’s Geology, Gems and Minerals exhibition to experience the beauty, magic and mystery of the Hope Diamond, making it, perhaps, the most visited museum object in the world. What is it that has elevated the Hope Diamond to such an iconic status? In addition to being the must see at the Smithsonian Institution, it is recognized around the world, and is even used by media in our society as the penultimate example of value and perfection. Many assume that the Hope Diamond is the world’s largest diamond, which of course it is not. The expectation is to see something about the size of a softball, and what they see instead is a 45.52 carat, walnut-sized gem. And then there is the color; who ever heard of a blue diamond? But obviously this diamond must have some things going for it. In fact, once they get past the “it’s not the biggest” disappointment, most people have to admit that it is one of the largest diamonds they have seen. And when they learn that dark-blue diamonds are very rare, and very valuable, and that the Hope is one of the largest known, the respect level quickly rises. No doubt the fact that it has been viewed by more than 100 million people since Harry Winston gave it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 also contributes to its fame. Others are intrigued to learn that the Hope diamond was cut from a crystal that was born of unimaginable heat and pressure 100 miles deep in the earth, where no human has ever visited or ever will. Diamonds are also time travelers, having witnessed hundreds of millions to billions of years of Earth’s history, and more recently the lives of those that have cut, sold, and worn them. The Hope Diamond’s recent history, as recounted in the timeline on this web site, includes a stint in the French Crown Jewels, a daring theft, two recuttings, an English King, a wealthy American socialite, a bit of mystery and a curse or two. The beauty of a diamond is undiminished with time. They accumulate history. And of course, the next chapter of the Hope Diamond’s story is happening now. How will it end? No one knows, but for now it sits quietly in its display vault, slowly turning, and watching…
mineralsciences.si.edu/hope.htm
Diamond Macro 2
Image by stephend9
This is my wife’s engagement ring. Slightly over one carat princess cut from Keepsakes, in White Hall, AR. for lighting, I used a standard incandescent bulb, and a small LED to get the two different colored reflections. The shot was hand held using the SuperZoom mode on my Sony Cybershot DSC-T10. The clarity of diamonds is rated from an overhead look at the table, but I liked how clear this diamond was from the sides. I think this setting shows it off well.
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