Many Gemstones Have Faults,

or inclusions as they are known,

and whilst many collectors, jewellers and buyers try to find stones with as fewer inclusions as possible one man tries to find stones with inclusions in and then photographs them, so take a gem stone like this 2.8mm garnet crystal from the De Luz area in San Diego County and have a look inside,

 although not valuable like diamonds there are many inclusions to be found in quartz, here is an example of dolomite in quartz from Minas Gerais, Brazil,

 and some more examples like these,

 the photographer in question is Danny Sanchez who finds his in gems under microscope,

 

so how does he photograph minerals like this fluorite in quartz crystals? this one from Madagascar, here are a few tips from him, 

In microscopy there is little to no depth of field. For photomicrography, this presents tremendous difficulty. Luckily, there are some very helpful mechanisms to help with this problem.

1. Before anything else – lighting, lighting, lighting. Three continuous light sources, each with their own dual fibre optic light pipes, give me 6 finely focused, intensely bright “light guides”.
2. A motorised stepping rig. Macro photographers are familiar with linear focusing rigs – this is just a vertical version that can hold a lot more weight. With this, I move 0.025mm at a time and take a photo until I’ve covered the depth I’m looking for. That can be up to 150 photos but usually it’s around 80. Those of you who like math, 80 photos at 0.025mm steps is 2mm depth of field.
3. Stacking software. Specialised software that will take these 80+ images and render depth. I use Helicon Focus, but there are several fantastic options.

and that description leaves out the prepping of the gem before the shoot, and the Lightroom/Photoshop work after, make no mistake, each of these gorgeous shots is a labour of love, so for me I will content myself with just looking and admiring.