Minerals are the category where photographs mislead most, and the two lies are always the same: size and colour.
The shot that sells
The specimen on a plain neutral surface in soft daylight, three-quarter angle, with something ordinary beside it for scale.
The shot that prevents the dispute
The damaged side. Chips, bruises, contact points and repairs — shown deliberately rather than angled away from.
The list
- Whole specimen, three-quarter, with scale
- All sides, including the back and the base
- Terminations, close
- Any chip, crack or repair
- On a scale, weight readable
- In daylight, turned, for true colour
Light
Soft daylight. Transparent and translucent minerals also benefit from light coming from behind or below — a quartz point lit from behind shows clarity that front light flattens.
Avoid a single hard source on anything crystalline: it produces white flares that hide the form.
Scale, every time
A coin, a hand, a ruler. This is the single most common complaint in the category and the easiest to prevent. Common mistakes.
Colour
Daylight, never mixed with a bulb, and say what it looks like indoors. Never adjust saturation — a photograph edited to look better is a photograph that will disappoint on arrival.
What goes wrong
Shooting on black velvet under a spotlight, cropping so size is unreadable, and enhancing colour. All three make the arrival worse than the listing.
Questions people ask
Can I wet a specimen to show colour?
Some collectors do; say that you did. And never wet a specimen you cannot identify — some dissolve.
Do I need a light box?
No. A window and a sheet of white card do most of it.
What about fluorescent minerals?
Show them under normal light first, then under the lamp, and label both frames.
More: selling minerals, describing them.