Hi Thomas, One of the best tricks to photograph Opals is to
photograph them under water. The water brings out the fire even when
its hard to see normally. You can see the difference on my Web page.
Go to http://www.rocksmyth.com and on the left pane, select Opal
Pages, and then select Boulder Opal. These were all shot with the
Cloud Dome to prevent the reflections and under water to bring out
the fire. There are complete pictures of the setup.
To see the difference, look at the Cut Opal pages, and the fire is
not nearly as evident. My plans are to shoot these under water also
to show the difference.
The Cloud Dome is an amazing piece of work. Thanks again to Cindy
“Let there be ambient light” Lichfield for creating it. It is the
greatest invention to the world of photography in years.
Love and God Bless
-randy
http://www.rocksmyth.com