Should Have Gone Boating

[Loose Canon]

The Assignment:

Jury-style photos of this necklace and earings.

The Plan:

Black background with gradient. Once the composition was settled on then light it in such a manner as to have some gradients on the surface and the pieces nicely lit. The entire scene needed to be in focus.

The solution (for now): Three lights. A diffusion panel just behind the shooting surface and lit with two separate spots such that the angle of incidence hit the camera lens producing two gradient spots on the surface. Now I wish I'd have wasted my youth playing billiards!

The key light is above in a stripbox out of the angles needed to hit the lens. It can’t be seen in the reflection and without the BG lights the surface would be a solid black though the jewelry would be lit.

Four shot focus stack.

F/16
1/200th
ISO 100
40mm

A technique I’m working on and tweaking. I admit up front that I have been slacking in the studio/editing bay in favor of doing a lot of canoeing/whitewater kayaking! Springtime here and the creeks are running!

Comments welcomed on both the photo and what creeks are running!

[Polar01]

Nice really, really nice.

Cheers: Allan

[Mike Buckley]

Sorry, but I've got no ideas about the creeks.

However, the shot is great. The two background lights work perfectly. The only thing that I wonder is if you would like the one on the left better if it was lighting a larger area. Perhaps, perhaps not.

Was this photo made for the jewelry maker at the glass studio?

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[deetheturk]

Very nice Terry!

[Loose Canon]

Thank you for taking time out to comment everyone.

Mike this isn’t from the jewelry maker but she is in my near future.

I would say that I would probably like the left spot a little bigger. And it could be. I needed to know how this could be set up and done quickly and what it would take. I imagine the key lighting would have to be different if this was glass jewelry.

The BG/surface was my primary interest with this one and how to keep the spots separate and controlled. Just a matter of some slight movement of the BG lights to change the size of the spots. I know the theory but never did more than one BG/surface spot before.

[bnnrcn]

Just superb Terry

[John 2]

That is really nice. The canoeing must be doing your creativity a power of good.

[Loose Canon]

Thank you Binnur.

John thank you. I don’t know what its doing for creativity but it sure is upping the fun factor!