Right, had another go at this photography thing...

[ajda]

I like the grey James, but everyone demands white sadly. If I could get away with grey it would be much easier!

I don't understand that. Who decides? Are your photos for a 3rd party publication or your own use? I'm not a fan of the bare white background for silver. If it has to be white, added elements with a bit of colour perhaps help - but, as Carole said, what you've used (is it glass rods?) might be drawing attention away from the jewellery itself. Possibly recognisable items might be better, possibly matt/textured rather than shiny, eg fabric, stone, wood...? But what do I know - my photography skills are pretty low level!

[Lucie]

You could give Gimp a go - It's open source so you don't have to do much searching to find instructions.

It's great to fiddle around with.
Here's another one. I ramped the sharpening right up. You have to be really careful they don't start looking to cut out though!


Unfortunately, every major publication that has approached me lately has demanded white or "lifestyle".

[trialuser]

Lovely, and in my opinion to make them more so -
A tad less noise reduction, they do look slightly soft and I can't imagine noise will be an issue at the size you are likely to be using them. And a bees knees more depth of field but maintaining the defocused background, bring the plane of focus slightly forward if necessary.
It may be easier to control if you shoot with 'excess' depth of field and blur the background on a gradient in photoshop. (tilt shifting)
I am only nit picking though in the interest of the new found forum constructive criticism policy.
Watch out mcvities don't come after you though :-)
®Iced Gems is the registered Trade Mark of United Biscuits (UK) Limited (UK) and Jacobs Fruitfield Limited (Eire).

[Tabby66]

I like that last image you've posted Lauren, I think it's a definite improvement in showing the detail. As I said, my photographic/editing skills are very limited and my understanding of the guidance being given is also somewhat limited.....further reading needed methinks!!

I'm afraid that a lot of online galleries, fairs for catalogue/promotional material, magazines, etc., etc. require white backgrounds (much to my disdain).

[Wallace]

You make amazing things Lauren.

Photos, white backgrounds for publishing purposes (industry standards are fine, if that is what it takes???)

I do an occasional white background, but have found for FB that there is more engagement (which means more chances of a sale, when the photo/s are done with props and not always using a white background). I am no photographer, but I do understand my page stats and look at what is working, or not, with the photos I do. Not much help from me, but I did just want to say how amazing your pieces are.

[ShinyLauren]

I don't understand that. Who decides? Are your photos for a 3rd party publication or your own use? I'm not a fan of the bare white background for silver. If it has to be white, added elements with a bit of colour perhaps help - but, as Carole said, what you've used (is it glass rods?) might be drawing attention away from the jewellery itself. Possibly recognisable items might be better, possibly matt/textured rather than shiny, eg fabric, stone, wood...? But what do I know - my photography skills are pretty low level!

I'd like to start selling through other websites, which all demand white background/lifestyle shot. Boooo. I've seen a lot of jewellery photography done with fabric, paper, wood etc, and they look lovely, I was just trying to do something different, which is probably where I always go wrong and how I ended up with dark backgrounds in the first place!

You could give Gimp a go - It's open source so you don't have to do much searching to find instructions.

It's great to fiddle around with.
Here's another one. I ramped the sharpening right up. You have to be really careful they don't start looking to cut out though!


Unfortunately, every major publication that has approached me lately has demanded white or "lifestyle".

Thanks Lucie I like the super-sharp one, but I'm trying to still go for a slightly 'airbrushed' look if that makes sense, so don't want to up the sharpening too much.

[ShinyLauren]

Lovely, and in my opinion to make them more so -
A tad less noise reduction, they do look slightly soft and I can't imagine noise will be an issue at the size you are likely to be using them. And a bees knees more depth of field but maintaining the defocused background, bring the plane of focus slightly forward if necessary.
It may be easier to control if you shoot with 'excess' depth of field and blur the background on a gradient in photoshop. (tilt shifting)
I am only nit picking though in the interest of the new found forum constructive criticism policy.
Watch out mcvities don't come after you though :-)
®Iced Gems is the registered Trade Mark of United Biscuits (UK) Limited (UK) and Jacobs Fruitfield Limited (Eire).

I am liking the constructive criticism - that's why I posted the pictures. I need help!

I did worry about the iced gem thing, but a quick search of Etsy brings up so many people doing iced gem/biscuity stuff I figured they'd have to sue everyone!

[ShinyLauren]

You make amazing things Lauren.

Photos, white backgrounds for publishing purposes (industry standards are fine, if that is what it takes???)

I do an occasional white background, but have found for FB that there is more engagement (which means more chances of a sale, when the photo/s are done with props and not always using a white background). I am no photographer, but I do understand my page stats and look at what is working, or not, with the photos I do. Not much help from me, but I did just want to say how amazing your pieces are.

Aw, thanks Wallace

I'm going to keep some of my dark background ones the home pages and category pages of my website, but for the sake of consistency am probably going to replace most of them with white eventually.

[ShinyLauren]

Had a bit of a play with photoshop. Lightened/dulled the colours a bit (although I'm trying to keep them kind of 'candy' coloured for the iced gems) upped the sharpening and added a bit of a shadow/reflection thingy.

Here is before and after:



Better?

[trialuser]

Yes.
One other thing, it looks as if the join of the jump ring is at the front, may just be an illusion, but you could put it so it's at the back if it is :-)