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

[Lucie]

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!

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.

Hehe. It is a bit over the top, but I thought it showed the sharpening off quite well. I also had a fiddle with increasing the contrast, but because it's so light it began to look a bit crazy and cut out.

Lifestyle photos I don't mind, but the plain white thing really bugs me too, mostly because I'm restricted to shooting at certain angles and I don't think it works that well.
Magazines are usually the worst offenders (grumble grumble)

[Nick martin]

Hi Lauren,

I'm very late to the party I know, but heres my input. Firstly I think your photos look great, but the lightings a bit flat which has an impact on definition.

In my humble opinion, lighting is key as its not only illuminates the piece correctly but also creates nice highlights, shadows etc.

Have you tried using a three light setup? I.E. Two lights either side of your piece aimed at roughly 45 degree angles, and one directly in front also pointing at an angle?

That'll create some nice highlights, shadows, and of course you can adjust the strength of the lights to suit the kind of image you're best pleased with. You can use expensive wireless flash for your camera, or even cheaper LED lights with three power settings work well. I mount mine on mini tripods and then adjust the angle to suit. You can use whatever setup you want to be honest for some interesting results such as directly from above, backlit, and so on to create nice combinations.

Another thing I find VERY important is getting the photo as accurate as you can in-camera, but also shooting in RAW format if your camera permits it? This means you can then alter the exposure, shadows, highlights, contrast, clarity etc in post afterwards to get the perfect image.

Another very important point is shooting in manual focus if you can. The strong highlights / reflections on your silver means that a cameras auto-focus system will really struggle to lock-on where you want it to. So if I were you, I'd switch my camera to live-view or use the screen if it has one, magnify the image, then fine tune focus manually. Then using a tripod ( and a timer or remote control ) you can be sure of a pin-sharp shot.

As james says, using a simple curved 'infinity' background is another great idea to add depth and shadow to your image, and setting the 'F-Stop' at a higher number will mean that more of your image is in shot. Personally I shoot with lower F numbers to get the out-of-focus effect, but its all down to personal taste really and still works as long as you can accurately render the parts of your piece that a customer needs to see.

Apologies if you know all of this already!

Nick

[lina]

Hi everyone!

Read through all your posts. Useful information, thank you! But... still have so many questions.
I was trying to take the pictures of different size and color handmade bracelets but was not happy at the end. I tried to changed the light, background colors etc. But something is definitely missing. I am not professional photographer but wish to make one style pictures of these bracelets. The problem is that bracelets are different in their style, color and size.
I went through some tutorials which were helpful but i am looking more for the algorithm of the right picture which will save time or at least to the place where to find such algorithm.
I do not know, maybe i should set up the shooting place (desk) differently or something else...

Really looking forward of your advice how to make unique one style pictures with the different bracelets.

Thank you
Lina

[Dennis]

Dear Lina, This is a rather broad remit, because what you appear to be asking is how to photograph jewellery: a very large subject which can't be covered here.

As a complete amateur, I learned what I know mainly from websites such as these: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ph...K8WT8QfbkZugAg, But there are plenty more.

Your basic requirements are:
1. A table top studio. A cheap light cube will do.
2. A camera mounted on a tripod, or magic arm, operated by a cable release.
3. At least two daylight lamps one on each side and a sparkler to highlight faceted gemstones.
4. A means of editing your pictures.

I personally don't use the macro function, but I do use AP, aperture priority at about f8- f13. You also need to learn how to change the exposure compensation when photographing on white. In fact you need to study the camera instruction manual in depth.
Lastly you need props to compose your pictures and take umpteen views to learn what looks best. Dennis.

[lina]

Dear Dennis,

Thank you for your detailed advice and the link. Will have a look closer.
Yes, I assume that this is quite broad subject but getting opinions and useful advice definitely helps me to realize where I should start. Aiming at some point to get photos which will look at least close to professional.

Which kind of daylight lamps is better to get? Something similar to the lamp used for studies?
Also, i it always better to take pictures on the white background?

Thank you
Lina

[Dennis]

Another big question: Any two cheap table lamps will do, if they are tall and flexible enough and can be directed onto a light cube from front right and front left. Ikea might be a good source.

In addition an LED sparkler at the front helps to brighten gem stones.

The bulbs can be tungsten filament, tungsten halogen, fluorescent, compact fluorescent LED and probably several more. LED are flavour of the month at present.

The brightness to illuminate a 400mm light cube, right and left might be around 1300 lumens each and the colour temperature 5000K which is a slightly warm white.

I like to photograph on white, but it poses extra problems of exposure. Blue is good with silver, but for me black is too funeral. Dennis.

[lina]

Thank you for the detailed information. Will visit ikea or something similar to buy the second table lamp and bulbs. One lamp is already.

Well, about the background. To be honest I wish to have something different from the white background. I prefer kind of dark background, probably something close to the stone colors. I agree that exactly black may look too funeral but something closer too dark color can be quite nice. However, most of my research about background colors lead to conclusion that white is still better...

[lina]

Hi everyone!

I have a question according the image file format. Which one is better? GIF, JPG or any other format?

[ps_bond]

Better for what? JPG uses lossy compression, but keeps the file size down - so if I want display images then generally I'd use jpg.
If I'm editing then I would prefer to work with a non-lossy compressed format - something like TIFF (or better, RAW).
If I need vector graphics (scalable logos) then there's a number of those.
If I really, really need a short animated graphic then that's about the only time I'd look at GIF.

[lina]

Thank you for the detailed answer. Do you know how to import the RAW file when importing from a camera card shot in RAW+JPEG mode?