Australian Opals

This is my first attempt to photograph opals. A Kodak DC290 mounted on a small tripod is used, the flash is off, and I am using a variety of flashlights (torches for some of you) for lighting.  Opals are even harder to get a good picture of than Meep!

The mounts on the boulder and semi-black opals were handmade by Andrew at the Lightning Ridge jewelry store.  The boulder is set in 18 ct white gold, the semi-black in 18 ct yellow gold and the black in sterling silver.

It's amazing how a change in the lighting will have a dramatic change on the look of an opal. This is the black opal John bought me over ten years ago...	... and this is the same opal with a change in the lighting.  About 3/4" long.
This is what I call my "fishtank" opal. It is a boulder opal, almost a jelly, with a mostly clear front with wisps of green and blue (and a tiny bit of yellow) but with natural rock behind the clear bit. To me, it looks like a fish tank with a backing. Very difficult to photograph, this doesn't do it justice - it is, I think, a very interesting stone.   It is 3/4" long.	The remaining photos are of a semi-black opal that is almost (or possibly, I don't know) a "Chinese writing" - a rare type of opal. I took a number of photos with different lighting to show just how different an opal can look depending on the lighting.
The stone is about 1cm (under 1/2") long.  The bit of wood behind it is a matchstick, to improve the angle.
This photo probably best illustrates why it might be termed "Chinese writing"