Cut Welo Opal

I didn't realize it was going to be so difficult to photo the fire in an opal. I thought, since it slaps you in the face, it should jump in front of a camera. Turns out you need to light a flat surface from the front, as in: if I want to get a photo of the fire that I can see with my own eyes, I need the light source in front of the camera, between the subject and lens, 90 degrees. I cut these in my normal fashion, with a flat surface, but opals like a domed surface-so the light can dance throughout and the fire can be seen from all angles. I don't know how to cut my stones with an even dome, so I keep them flat. I'll learn. Good thing all of these still have fire even though I didn't cut them textbook.

I've set the smaller ones into 5mm argentium silver settings and I'll be shooting them in full sun, when we get some -it's been raining and cloudy. The larger one is 8mm and I'll be setting that one when I get the solitaire setting.

Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h64-Lu…