Wow the sparkles really make this shot. There are a lot of these fossils found here and made into jewelry.

Thanks, jimschrei! I do have some smaller ones that are split in two for jewelry. They are pretty on the inside, but, rather dull on the outside.

Nice presentation with the cloth and lighting.

Thank you glee46! Trying out some different vantage points around here for some future shots. Thought the weak light from the window worked better than even a diffused flash did.

This shot has presence! It just glows. Very nice image.

Wow, that is nice. It sparkles, and is really sharp. Excellent shot.

I like what you did with the cloth background. I'm so used to using black and trying to make it disappear, that this presentation where it's part of the shot is nice. Great lighting and shadows.

Nice composition and presentation.
Lovely image. Good one.

That's gorgeous, Edith. The shot, the composition and the ammonite.
I'm very curious how it looks when you are taking a macro shot of that.

Blackcloudbrew, Bruce, jheu02, Jools & Karen, thanks for the great comments!
Finding out how much light can change the looks of a subject. Would like to use a Macro with this and try different backgrounds too. Wish I had better skills using RAW and PP!

Keep on practicing Edith and you'll get there.
Besides, I find using RAW a lot more easy to work with than JPEG.
I'm using Lightroom and I like the way it works, I'm also a bit of a control freak and RAW gives me the control I want. I also think you mustn't hesitate to ask something about that kind of stuff on the forum, there are a lot of skilled people here.

Oh, and keep saving for that macro lens, I'm pretty sure you'll make it rock in no time.

Thanks, Karen for the information and the encouragement! I am saving for the macro, but, might have to settle for the manual variety for now. Unexpected expenses (IRS type) have derailed my savings for a time

Nicely composed.