A magnificent gem gleams from your hand as you admire it. Vibrant reds, greens, oranges, and blues flash back at you in an ever-changing pattern. As you examine the opal, you notice that there is not only the surface pattern of color but an underlying one as well. What a treat nature has given! Now you would like to immortalize this beauty on film. Easier said than done. Opal is probably the hardest of all gemstones to photograph well. I tried for years without much success. Finally, one day while in Lightning Ridge, Australia, I had the opportunity to watch my friend, Len Cram, one of the world's most accomplished opal photographers, at work. He didn't tell me all his secrets, but he did give me enough hints to get me started on the right track. Over subsequent years of trial and error, I have developed my own technique. Although different from Len's, it works for me.
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