[Jewelry making - Article 00207] - Re: [Orchid] Photoshopping Diamonds

[PHILANDMARGGI]

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    It sounds like you don't need photoshop, you need to play with your
    lighting. The Charles Lewton Brain photography video and book that I
    own is based on film, so I don't know what advice he is giving based
    on digital.  What lighting are you using?  Another thought, what
    white balance do you have selected?  Do you have other lights on in
    the room at the same time you are using your photography lights? If
    you have flourescents on, and your setup uses incandescent, it can
    throw off your white balance completely.  I use daylight corrected
    flourescents and turn off all other lights, it really makes a
    difference.  It would also help to know what it is that is making
    your diamonds look bad. Are they dark, or washed out?  If they are
    washed out, it may help to sharpen them. If you have a sharpen tool
    on your photoshop toolbox, choose a paintbrush size that matches the
    size of your diamond and hit each individual stone with the sharpen
    tool.  If they are too dark, you could select out the stones, either
    with the magic wand or (my preference) the polygon tool, then use
    levels or curves to brighten them. I don't like the effect of
    lightening in hue/saturation, it makes the stones look lifeless. 
    Depending on wether you are working on pave or a center stone, it
    sometimes helps the contrast of the finished shot to completely
    desaturate the diamonds in pave so they are in black and white. 
    This seems to work especially well if they surround a colored stone.
     I hope something in this post helps, but if not, give us more
    details, and I will try again. Or email me off group if you want. 

Marggi


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