jewelry, diamonds, and 100mm macro (ideas?)

I have a canon 30D and the 100mm macro lens and would like to take some photographs of diamonds up close. I have the Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX available, but that seems like a bad idea (based on my poor results so far).

Could anyone advise me on ideas for composition, settings, etc.? I need help. I am really having problems getting the shots that make me happy.

think only for jewels is no need to use ring flash.

arrange your lights well is the best solution.

Not a perfect example, it's a small flower about 3/4 inch, I hope it's a diamond. Turned off all the lights, and used a USB laptop light from side, tripod, cable release, small aperture and long exposure (MLU is not available on my 300D). Maybe you can try 2 lights from both side, if not close enough, get the Kenko extension tubes.
USB light (ultra bright white led):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FKensington-33120-FlyLight-Notebook-Light%2Fdp%2FB00022VBAE%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fqid%3D1165216956%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Delectronics&tag=nqhp-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325



100% crop:



Tech info: http://www.photo96.com/yongbo/20050422_crw_5896_a.htm
--
Yongbo



Photo Gallery: http://www.photo96.com/
Online DOF Calculator: http://www.photo96.com/dof

...should do it.

--
Dave Patterson
---------------------
Midwestshutterbug.com
----------------------------------
'When the light and composition are strong, nobody
notices things like resolution or pincushion distortion'
Gary Friedman