can't get a good picture of close-up jewellery

[AshD_UK]

I'm helping a friend out get some pictures of her work to exhibit it, they're small jewellery pieces. I'm using a light tent I bought online with a white background with strong desk lamps pointed in from either side and one above.

I'm using a Nikon D90 with 200 mm focal length, f/16 1/30 sec.

Lighting seems to be off in all the pictures and they simply don't look good in my opinion.

Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Does anyone have any experience in this field and can give me any advice?


Thanks for reading..

 

[Moe]

Jewelry can be tough. Do you have any links to pics that you want yours to look like?

As far as the photo you posted, IMO it could use a bit more contrast and white balance adjustment.

 

[gsgary]

I'm helping a friend out get some pictures of her work to exhibit it, they're small jewellery pieces. I'm using a light tent I bought online with a white background with strong desk lamps pointed in from either side and one above.

I'm using a Nikon D90 with 200 mm focal length, f/16 1/30 sec.

Lighting seems to be off in all the pictures and they simply don't look good in my opinion.

Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Does anyone have any experience in this field and can give me any advice?


Thanks for reading..

Are you using a tripod because it's not very sharp, if you hand held shutter speed was way too slow, for the colour problem you need to set a custom white balance

 

[KmH]

Why are you using f/16?

Open the aperture to about f/8. That will lget you 2 more stops of shutter speed and will still be a small enough to give good depth-of-field and good focus if you are using a kit lens.

Product photography is one of the more technical genres to learn how to shoot well.

 

[Petraio Prime]

I'm helping a friend out get some pictures of her work to exhibit it, they're small jewellery pieces. I'm using a light tent I bought online with a white background with strong desk lamps pointed in from either side and one above.

I'm using a Nikon D90 with 200 mm focal length, f/16 1/30 sec.

Lighting seems to be off in all the pictures and they simply don't look good in my opinion.

Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Does anyone have any experience in this field and can give me any advice?


Thanks for reading..

Yes, I can. Hire a professional product photographer.

 

[amber.martin]

well i took a really good picture of mine and my husbands wedding rings. all i used was my d90, upped the white balance, slowed the shutter speed and a white piece of paper.. also a tripod. good luck to you!

 

[gsgary]

well i took a really good picture of mine and my husbands wedding rings. all i used was my d90, upped the white balance, slowed the shutter speed and a white piece of paper.. also a tripod. good luck to you!

You upped the white balance are you sure it was WB and not ISO ?

 

[clanthar]

As also said; use a tripod.

Your background is too close in color to the piece -- more importantly it's too close in tone. The jewelry is blending into the background. I would suggest something like a tray of very dark uniform pebbles. This would also help your camera do a better job metering.

With the piece and the background all the same uniform tone your camera's internal meter can be expected to meter the scene incorrectly. Use an incident meter in a case like this, otherwise bracket.

The tent would be the correct approach given the general category "jewelry." However this particular piece is real trouble. It is crudely made and it's surfaces are not uniform. The key to jewelry photos is what parts of the piece are reflecting light and what parts aren't. The depression in the center of the heart should be inscribed with "impossible to photograph." Given the rough and uneven surface of this piece there is no good lighting solution. I would find a different piece to photograph; you can only expect limited success with this item.

Take Care,
Joe

 

[Petraio Prime]

As also said; use a tripod.

Your background is too close in color to the piece -- more importantly it's too close in tone. The jewelry is blending into the background. I would suggest something like a tray of very dark uniform pebbles. This would also help your camera do a better job metering.

With the piece and the background all the same uniform tone your camera's internal meter can be expected to meter the scene incorrectly. Use an incident meter in a case like this, otherwise bracket.

The tent would be the correct approach given the general category "jewelry." However this particular piece is real trouble. It is crudely made and it's surfaces are not uniform. The key to jewelry photos is what parts of the piece are reflecting light and what parts aren't. The depression in the center of the heart should be inscribed with "impossible to photograph." Given the rough and uneven surface of this piece there is no good lighting solution. I would find a different piece to photograph; you can only expect limited success with this item.

Take Care,
Joe

Again, I say, hire a specialist.

 

[Alexv1038]

I've done some product photography, and I say you can do this one yourself, no need for a pro. You need to you need to increase your aperture from 16 to about 8 or 9, the focus of this shot is the pendant which is relatively small, so you wont need a very large DOF. You need to contrast your background from your subject, try using a black cloth or something dark to make the pendant stand out. Also, you need a faster shutter speed because there is some visible blur.

 

[Steve01]

.... a white background with strong desk lamps pointed in from either side and one above.

If that's a white background your white balance is way, way off.
Correcting that in camera would be a good first step.

 

[KmH]

Get the jewelry up, off the background.

I looked at the photo and the EXIF metadata from it.

Put the camera in Spot metering mode or center-weighted, not matrix.

You had the White Balance set to 'Sun', when it should be set to the kind of lights you are using, being desk lamps they are probably Tungsten, but check to be sure in case they are flourescent. It would be better to buy bulbs made for photography, you know the color temperature of.

Your lens likely will focus a little sharper if you back it off of 200 mm, to 175 mm or so since you're using an inexpensive variable aperture kit kens.

I don't get why the EXIF data shows your ISO as 0 (zero). :scratch:

By the way...that photo was the 3080th time the shutter on your D90 had been released.

 

[Moe]

Not sure what equipment you have, but here's a link that may help:

Classic Setup for Photographing Jewelry | LIGHTING ESSENTIALS For Photographers

 

[shaunly]

I'm helping a friend out get some pictures of her work to exhibit it, they're small jewellery pieces. I'm using a light tent I bought online with a white background with strong desk lamps pointed in from either side and one above.

I'm using a Nikon D90 with 200 mm focal length, f/16 1/30 sec.

Lighting seems to be off in all the pictures and they simply don't look good in my opinion.

Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Does anyone have any experience in this field and can give me any advice?

Thanks for reading..

Yes, I can. Hire a professional product photographer.

Seriouly PP, what's your problem? The guy is asking for some help because he wants to learn and here you are, being a smartass like you always are. If you don't have any productive advice then STFU.

Anyways, back to the original post. I would say your WB is yor biggest issue right there. Try auto wb, then if you still don't like the color, then change it to manual and play with it until you're satisfied. Or shoot in RAW then you can play with all that in post processing. Also, instead of laying it down flat, why don't you try hanging it with the white background then shoot it with all different angles. Try it again then post some pictures up for us to see.

 

[skieur]

Standard procedure for pros is to put the jewellry on a light box and shoot through a reflective dome.

skieur