5 Reasons for What Makes a Diamond Sparkle

We all know that diamonds are the hardest material on earth. But did you know Romans strongly believed that Diamonds were the tears of God? Diamonds are so rare, sparkly, and beautiful that even Gods were stunned by their beauty. The feeling is mutual, right? We want our diamond rings and accessories to shine the most but do you know what factors make diamond accessories sparkle? That’s what I am going to tell you in this article. So, start reading to know what makes a diamond sparkle and bright.

How Do Diamonds Sparkle

If you have seen rough diamonds, they look like transparent rocks, and these transparent rocks are made with pure carbon. They don’t have any specific shape, don’t shine, or reflect beautiful light. Gemologists dig at least 250 mines of earth to find this raw gem and give it shape later. Then how do diamonds sparkle? Their perfectly cut makes them sparkle. Gem cutters cut and shape the diamonds with expertise and precision and make them shine from within. The lights go through those cuts and create a beautiful sparkle for the wearer.

Diamonds Sparkle

5 Reasons for What Makes a Diamond Sparkle

Now that you know the cutting in diamonds plays a huge role in their sparkle. Let’s dig in more to see what more aspects are there that make diamonds glitter.

Cutting Is the Main Factor

Depending on a diamond’s cut quality, its shininess will vary. A poorly cut diamond will look dull and not glittery because its cut will not let the lighting go through properly. If the cut is too shallow or too deep, the lighting will go through by the side instead of hitting the eyes or sparking from above. So, it needs to be as perfect as possible to see its perfect visual effect.

Cutting Is the Main Factor

Usually, Round shaped diamonds shine the most but the facets play an important role in a diamond sparkling. Facets create beautiful optical effects. If a diamond is accurately cut and has more facets, the light will properly reflect, bounce, and scatter on the gemstone’s surface.

Cutting Is the Main Factor2

Reflection, Refraction, and Dispersion

These three elements are connected with cutting and lighting. The more a diamond is cut with perfection and expertise, the better reflection, refraction, and dispersion will occur.

A brilliant cut diamond will create a complete internal reflection that reflects the light toward the observer. It is cut in a way that the lighting enters the diamond following the cut and it happens from top to bottom.

Refraction and dispersion create natural light and dark areas on the surface when the light hits the diamond. The refraction ensures how much light will be reflected through angles and dispersion distributes that light. So, in order to have the light reflection, refraction, and dispersion, the diamond cuts need to be done brilliantly.

Note: The dispersion happens when white light enters the diamond and scatters like a rainbow colored light.

Reflection

Brilliance Brighten the Diamond

White light reflection is called brilliance. It is the reason for a diamond’s internal and external brightness. Internal brilliance happens when the light enters the diamond and bounces inside it and external brilliance happens when it bounces off the surface. It emits colorless white brightness on the diamond.

Brilliance Brighten the Diamond

Fire Breaks Down the Light

Fire creates colored light like a rainbow on the gemstone's surface like a prism. When you take the diamond to the sunlight, it will create spectral colors red, yellow, green, violet, blue, and orange.

Fire Breaks Down the Light

Scintillation Makes the Diamond Sparkle

While brilliance provides brightness and fire creates rainbow flashes on the light, scintillation makes sure the sparkle is seen while the diamond is moving places. The light changes with the contrast of bright and dark areas in the diamond as the diamond moves.

What Factors Can Affect Your Diamond’s Sparkle

We all buy diamond accessories to see their beautiful sparkle. But there are two factors that can affect your diamond's shininess.

It’s size. If the diamond size is larger than it is supposed to be, it will not sparkle. Do not sacrifice quality in order to get the biggest diamond. The diamond size needs to be balanced according to its carat. Ensure the size goes well with the cut. Just remember, your size will not tell how expensive it is, rather it’s design and sparkles.
Cleanliness. You need to keep the diamond clean. Since we wear diamond rings all the time, food, soap tubs, lotions, and fingerprints may get stuck in the diamond. As a result, it may lose its shininess and can become dull. So, from time to time remember to clean the diamond to keep its sparkles intact.

Make the Diamonds Sparkle in Your Images

Whether you are a jewelry businessman or just want to show off your diamond ring, you would want to take flawless jewelry images to shine the diamond. You can take diamond images at home as well. How? Just find a white background or use a bed beside a window. Place a reflector to avoid dark shadows. Use indirect natural light and use a 90mm camera lens. Set the ISO to 100 and the aperture to f/9/10/11 to capture the jewelry as well as the background. Keeping the surroundings in the images will not make the image boring.

And if you want to take the image with yourself outdoors and indoors, you can do that as well. While using a setting, use a reflector to soften the shadows and get a clear and nice diamond sparkle. For camera settings, use f/9/10/11 to get in-depth images.

Note: If you want to hire a professional to take your diamond jewelry images, read this article to know how much the jewelry photographers charge for pictures.

Finale

If you are looking for a sparkly engagement ring for your partner, do not just look for the largest one to show your love, rather look for the quality, cut, and sparkles. Also, do not just buy a diamond, if you get it cheap online. Check it in real-time, and differentiate between the diamonds. If the cuts are sloppy and the size is large, it will not shine so you may not like to wear it later. Also, you will not be able to resell it. So, be very careful while buying a diamond accessory.

If you are a jeweler and want to accurately portray diamond accessories photos on your websites, contact us today. Our Perfect Retouching’s jewelry retouching experts can edit the diamond’s cut and designs as close to the real product as possible.

FAQs

How do I ensure my diamond’s sparkle?

You can examine the diamond reflection in the sunlight. When the stone interacts with the light, it will pop the color, fire, and sparkle. Diamonds darken in the sunlight but don’t frighten. It is a good sign because all light reflection will happen through those dark spots.

How Do I understand if my diamond is real or fake?

You can test it with a newspaper or sandpaper. With a newspaper, if you can read/see the letters, it is fake. If you can’t, it’s real. So, face down the diamond and move it over the letters, if it is completely unreadable, it is real. However, if you can see or even understand the letters blurry, it is fake. Sandpaper test- Just face down the diamond and start rubbing it on the paper. If it is fake, it will leave scratches on top of the diamond but if it is real, it will be as it was before. Real diamonds do not get scratched as they are the hardest material on earth. However, if you are afraid to try this method, take the diamond to the jeweler.

What cut diamond sparkles the most?

It is said that round-cut diamonds sparkle the most because we can grade them with their GIA cut grade sheet. However, if a diamond is cut with care and expertise all cut diamonds will sparkle the same. So, if you want to get a diamond other than a round shape, hire a trustworthy jeweler who will do the job with care and perfection.