About Gemstone Images

Mountain Lily Gems is proud of the gemstones offered for sale. I take great effort to present accurate images of all the stones offered for sale. Gemstones and minerals are photographed using 35 mm Ektachrome film under intense tungsten light (3200 degrees Kelvin). Lighting is carefully controlled to present the optimum beauty of the gems and minerals. The brilliance and color of the stones in our images are similar to what would be observed under bright sunlight. The beauty of my gems cannot be appreciated under fluorescent light, subdued light on a grey over-cast day, etc. The 35mm transparencies are scanned at 700 dpi resolution, color-corrected using Adobe Photoshop, and converted to a sharpened 72 dpi image using a web-safe color pallet. My goal is to present the color of the gemstones as accurately as possible. Unfortunately, not all web browsers render color in the same way, and color monitors are often not properly calibrated. I do the best I can, but if you feel the gem is less beautiful than you expected; please feel free to return it for a prompt refund (See my return policy on the Order Page).

Please note that gemstones are clarity graded using 10X magnification (See my web page on clarity grading). In most cases I present gemstone images at a magnification of 20X or greater (Resolution is limited by image file size). For flawless gemstones, high magnification simply confirms my clarity grades. But most colored gemstones are not flawless. Look carefully, at high magnification, and some type of inclusion can generally be observed in almost any gemstone. When I present a gemstone image at greater than 10X magnification, you will see wisps, veils, bubbles, included crystals, etc., that one would never notice by eye. I present my gemstone images at high magnification because I have nothing to hide. Minor inclusions, even those barely visible by eye, do not detract from the beauty of my custom-cut gemstones.