Jewellery in still life

[LouiseTopp]

Had a play yesterday and tried to do some jewellery, it's not bad but i think it could be improved.





Will have a go at ear rings and cufflinks next. Any tips and advice on capturing glittery items please?

[Shadowman]

Hi Louise,

Photographing shiny objects can be fun and a chore, you have to consider lighting (flash, ambient, spot), composition, and background (texture, contrast). You have to experiment with all aspects or you can go with a standard setup. Try using different colored cloths (pristine as possible) and different surfaces (such as a mirror, mylar, velvet). For lighting you could try under-lighting, backlit, or completely bathed in light so there are no shadows. Have fun.

[Geoff F]

Getting sufficient depth of focus is another potential problem. Try a narrow aperture but unless you can get a suitable camera angle you might have to take two or more shots with different focus points and combine them with suitable software.

And of course, those ideas require shooting on a tripod.

[rpcrowe]

I would suggest using a different background for your jewelry shots. While it is good that you are using a plain background, the rough woven material tends to distract my eye from the jewelry. Additionally, there are some specks of lint on the background in the first image. I like either a velvet/velour material (my first choice) or a fleece material (distant second choice) for backgrounds. The material needs to be absolutely clean and free of lint. Additionally, there are other setups besides plain backgrounds to use for jewelry photography.

If I were planning a lot of jewelry photography, I would collect a selection of different background materials. Remnants at a an upholstery store are often good buys.

A second thought would be focus. Focus on your jewelry can be controlled in several ways.

Having the jewelry arranged in as shallow a plane as possible...

Shooting with a small f/stop...

Focus stacking...

If I were going to earn money doing jewelry photography, I would shoot with a full frame Canon DSLR and a tilt shift lens. However, you can certainly do this with other equipment...

Other things to consider are lighting (that is a whole subject in itself) and, finally having a collection of supports for the jewelry; such as wedges which can be used beneath the background material to elevate the piece of jewelry at a certain angle. Often something like this collection might be an interesting way to setup your jewelry images...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Black-Whit...item35c3244cd9

There are many display items for jewelry available on eBay...

I would also purchase a pair of acrylic reflection boards (black and white) which will sometimes enhance the jewelry images.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Black-...item1e69859aae

Many photographers automatically reach for a light tent when photographing shiny surfaces like in jewelry. However, there are many other ways to get good imagery that don't requite a tent.

Light tents can be purchased very inexpensively from eBay and the quality doesn't seem to differ with the price. I would not go through the trouble of jury-rigging a cardboard box into a light tent when a completely folding light tent can be had for as little as this one (less than $15 U.S. Dollars.). This one comes with several colored backgrounds...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-50x50cm-P...item4856e4b2a5

Here is a collection of jewelry oriented photo setups which may give you some ideas...

https://www.google.com/search?q=jewe...2F%3B750%3B500

I would peruse high quality fashion magazines and also magazines slanted towards the rich and famous. They will have many jewelry ads with top-notch photography. The in-flight airline magazines often have very nice images of jewelry...

Shooting in RAW with a white balance target (such as a WhiBal) included in your shots is a way to get proper color balance. Additionally, when using the lens corrections module of Adobe Camera RAW, you can adjust for a lot of awkward perspective distortion...

Here are some links which might also give you some ideas of ways to photograph jewelry...

http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/dire...rary/subject/9

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/?gclid...FSReagodZkydqA

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/docume...hotography.htm

http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com/tips/...aphy_tips.html

http://www.home-jewelry-business-suc...g-jewelry.html

http://www.amateursnapper.com/photog...otography-tips

http://stylecampaign.com/blog/?p=56

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/...les/42819.aspx

[xpatUSA]

Any tips and advice on capturing glittery items please?

For watch work, which is similar, I diffuse the main lighting but keep a small 1-led mini-mag light (torch) handy to get those glittery sparkles where appropriate, moving it around to get the best sparkle in the viewfinder. With clear stones, the blue cast of the LED helps quite a lot.

Others have already mentioned depth of field. With the necklace I would have perhaps made two shots one close up one far, avoiding blur at all costs. With two shots, the close-up could be inset into the far shot to get a single image. Tripod or other means of support absolutely essential.

[PicBackMan]

I never could take any jewelry photo. Every time when i tried clicking, the image becomes too shiny. The diamonds and other gemstones never came out pretty well. Any suggestions?

[Colin Southern]

I never could take any jewelry photo. Every time when i tried clicking, the image becomes too shiny. The diamonds and other gemstones never came out pretty well. Any suggestions?

What lighting are you using?

[LouiseTopp]

I would suggest using a different background for your jewelry shots. While it is good that you are using a plain background, the rough woven material tends to distract my eye from the jewelry. Additionally, there are some specks of lint on the background in the first image. I like either a velvet/velour material (my first choice) or a fleece material (distant second choice) for backgrounds. The material needs to be absolutely clean and free of lint. Additionally, there are other setups besides plain backgrounds to use for jewelry photography.

If I were planning a lot of jewelry photography, I would collect a selection of different background materials. Remnants at a an upholstery store are often good buys.

A second thought would be focus. Focus on your jewelry can be controlled in several ways.

Having the jewelry arranged in as shallow a plane as possible...

Shooting with a small f/stop...

Focus stacking...

If I were going to earn money doing jewelry photography, I would shoot with a full frame Canon DSLR and a tilt shift lens. However, you can certainly do this with other equipment...

Other things to consider are lighting (that is a whole subject in itself) and, finally having a collection of supports for the jewelry; such as wedges which can be used beneath the background material to elevate the piece of jewelry at a certain angle. Often something like this collection might be an interesting way to setup your jewelry images...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Black-Whit...item35c3244cd9

There are many display items for jewelry available on eBay...

I would also purchase a pair of acrylic reflection boards (black and white) which will sometimes enhance the jewelry images.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Black-...item1e69859aae

Many photographers automatically reach for a light tent when photographing shiny surfaces like in jewelry. However, there are many other ways to get good imagery that don't requite a tent.

Light tents can be purchased very inexpensively from eBay and the quality doesn't seem to differ with the price. I would not go through the trouble of jury-rigging a cardboard box into a light tent when a completely folding light tent can be had for as little as this one (less than $15 U.S. Dollars.). This one comes with several colored backgrounds...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-50x50cm-P...item4856e4b2a5

Here is a collection of jewelry oriented photo setups which may give you some ideas...

https://www.google.com/search?q=jewe...2F%3B750%3B500

I would peruse high quality fashion magazines and also magazines slanted towards the rich and famous. They will have many jewelry ads with top-notch photography. The in-flight airline magazines often have very nice images of jewelry...

Shooting in RAW with a white balance target (such as a WhiBal) included in your shots is a way to get proper color balance. Additionally, when using the lens corrections module of Adobe Camera RAW, you can adjust for a lot of awkward perspective distortion...

Here are some links which might also give you some ideas of ways to photograph jewelry...

http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/dire...rary/subject/9

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/?gclid...FSReagodZkydqA

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/docume...hotography.htm

http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com/tips/...aphy_tips.html

http://www.home-jewelry-business-suc...g-jewelry.html

http://www.amateursnapper.com/photog...otography-tips

http://stylecampaign.com/blog/?p=56

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/...les/42819.aspx

Thanks very much, I have booked marked some of the links. had a bad day yesterday, one of my chain necklaces got tangled round another and it broke while I was trying to release it which was a bit upseting. Also I have curvature of the spine so i am going to invest in a mini fold up table. Being in the UK we don't get that many sunny days, I also notice when positing my tripod it will slip down a bit which is a bit annoying. When I have the money I will get a Manfrotto.

I have a red velvert background which I might experiment with, I have also seen a silvery glittery background of foam cardboard, do you think that would help. I like this website as i get lots of good idea's. Thanks chaps and ladies.

[LouiseTopp]

I would suggest using a different background for your jewelry shots. While it is good that you are using a plain background, the rough woven material tends to distract my eye from the jewelry. Additionally, there are some specks of lint on the background in the first image. I like either a velvet/velour material (my first choice) or a fleece material (distant second choice) for backgrounds. The material needs to be absolutely clean and free of lint. Additionally, there are other setups besides plain backgrounds to use for jewelry photography.

If I were planning a lot of jewelry photography, I would collect a selection of different background materials. Remnants at a an upholstery store are often good buys.

A second thought would be focus. Focus on your jewelry can be controlled in several ways.

Having the jewelry arranged in as shallow a plane as possible...

Shooting with a small f/stop...

Focus stacking...

If I were going to earn money doing jewelry photography, I would shoot with a full frame Canon DSLR and a tilt shift lens. However, you can certainly do this with other equipment...

Other things to consider are lighting (that is a whole subject in itself) and, finally having a collection of supports for the jewelry; such as wedges which can be used beneath the background material to elevate the piece of jewelry at a certain angle. Often something like this collection might be an interesting way to setup your jewelry images...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Black-Whit...item35c3244cd9

There are many display items for jewelry available on eBay...

I would also purchase a pair of acrylic reflection boards (black and white) which will sometimes enhance the jewelry images.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Black-...item1e69859aae

Many photographers automatically reach for a light tent when photographing shiny surfaces like in jewelry. However, there are many other ways to get good imagery that don't requite a tent.

Light tents can be purchased very inexpensively from eBay and the quality doesn't seem to differ with the price. I would not go through the trouble of jury-rigging a cardboard box into a light tent when a completely folding light tent can be had for as little as this one (less than $15 U.S. Dollars.). This one comes with several colored backgrounds...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-50x50cm-P...item4856e4b2a5

Here is a collection of jewelry oriented photo setups which may give you some ideas...

https://www.google.com/search?q=jewe...2F%3B750%3B500

I would peruse high quality fashion magazines and also magazines slanted towards the rich and famous. They will have many jewelry ads with top-notch photography. The in-flight airline magazines often have very nice images of jewelry...

Shooting in RAW with a white balance target (such as a WhiBal) included in your shots is a way to get proper color balance. Additionally, when using the lens corrections module of Adobe Camera RAW, you can adjust for a lot of awkward perspective distortion...

Here are some links which might also give you some ideas of ways to photograph jewelry...

http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/dire...rary/subject/9

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/?gclid...FSReagodZkydqA

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/docume...hotography.htm

http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com/tips/...aphy_tips.html

http://www.home-jewelry-business-suc...g-jewelry.html

http://www.amateursnapper.com/photog...otography-tips

http://stylecampaign.com/blog/?p=56

http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/...les/42819.aspx

Thanks very much, I have booked marked some of the links. had a bad day yesterday, one of my chain necklaces got tangled round another and it broke while I was trying to release it which was a bit upseting. Also I have curvature of the spine so i am going to invest in a mini fold up table. Being in the UK we don't get that many sunny days, I also notice when positing my tripod it will slip down a bit which is a bit annoying. When I have the money I will get a Manfrotto.

I have a red velvert background which I might experiment with, I have also seen a silvery glittery background of foam cardboard, do you think that would help. I like this website as i get lots of good idea's. Thanks chaps and ladies.