How are they doing their lighting? Help would be very appreciated

CaseJ · Jan 14, 2009

Hello everybody,
I was wondering if anyone could help decipher how Bvlgari are making their photos look so good. First off let me explain that I'm a jeweler and I have been taking photo's of my work with my normal Panasonic DMC-T73 which I realize is not the greatest to begin with. I would like to make a investment in equipment to help make my work look more professional. Here is a link of the photo's I'm talking about
Bvlgari
I was shopping around and I stumbled upon this site, which showed some of the equipment that you could use, but I'm looking for something a lot more serious (Didn't care for the black surface in this kit vs. Bvlgari) and I completely understand it won't be cheap. "Black Ice" Jewelry Photography Kit

So if you have any suggestions, or if you could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Johnboy2978 · Jan 14, 2009

Product shots like these generally make use of light tents such as this Smith-Victor | Three Light Fluorescent Kit with | 402057 | B&H

As far as the actual lighting goes (e.g. number of lights, placement, etc) I can't answer that for you. There are several here who make a comfortable living doing it though who might happen upon your post.

xposurepro · Jan 14, 2009

A light tent does come in very handy when shooting jewlery .. I can't tell you exactly how the Bvlgari photos were shot because they did not use the same setup on each shot .. they used a lighting setup that worked best for each piece of jewelry. I would search around for some nice light tent kits .. or put one together yourself .. that black ice kit you linked to looked overpriced in my opinion.

JerryPH · Jan 14, 2009

1 - VERY soft and diffused lighting.

2 - Its not a point and shoot doing the shot, thats a guarantee.

3 - Lighting, as mentioned, changes from pic to pic. Sometimes a single umbrella, sometimes 2 very soft diffused lights but I will mention that a majority are lit from above and slightly behind the subject axis in relation to the camera. Kinda interesting, but logical, if you look at the results.

4 - A lighting tent may be possibly used, but it would have to be a little larger than what I traditionally associate with "tents", but I could just as easily see it being done without one.

CaseJ · Jan 14, 2009

wow thanks everybody for the input. What type of surface do you think that is in the pictures? My largest concern in regards to bvlargi photos was how well the color of the gem stones look and how the facets of the stones are not washed out or all white from the flash which I believe you are saying they do that with the diffused lighting? Sorry I know these are some rookie questions but boy do I appreciate it.

SpeedTrap · Jan 14, 2009

The base looks like wood stained black with a gloss finish (could be wrong) and the light source is cery large. The positioning of the main light is what gives the stones the look they do.
I have done work like this before and it takes time to get it right. As well given the depth of field on these shots I would guess these were taken with a medium format with a very high f-stop

tsaraleksi · Jan 14, 2009

I can't speak as to what format they used for the images but I'm going to make a guess that they were using macro lenses stopped way down in order to get such high-resolution shots of the fairly small jewelery.

craig · Jan 14, 2009

The Black Ice Kit you mentioned is a good start. As you work with it the items that you need will be a lot more clear. Post some shots that you have already taken and we can help further.

As far as looking like Bulgari... If you are interested in that kind of quality hire a photographer or buy $50,000 worth of gear.

Love & Bass

CaseJ · Jan 14, 2009

Any recommendations on a good lens for a Canon 20D with just taking these jewelry pictures?

craig · Jan 14, 2009

Look into lenses with a tilt shift function.

Love & Bass

250Gimp · Jan 15, 2009

IF the T&S lense is too much you should at least get a macro, such as the canon 100mm f2.8 macro, or the 60mm macro.

It almost looks like the bulgari jewelry is on a piece of glass over the gloss black wood. I could be wrong though.

Katier · Jan 16, 2009

I'm surprised your talking about such expensive gear. Surely some of the stuff strobist does would work very well for this type of shot and look just as good. I've not tried anything with off cam cheap flashguns but having seen the work that's been done it's encouraged me to try. From what I've seen there's nothing in those shots I'm sure can't be done with a £50 ( second hand ) flash gun and a tripod/light stand.. maybe a home made snoot or a cheap umbrella or both - etc. No need for a purpose made setup.

SpeedTrap · Jan 17, 2009

Katier said:
I'm surprised your talking about such expensive gear. Surely some of the stuff strobist does would work very well for this type of shot and look just as good. I've not tried anything with off cam cheap flashguns but having seen the work that's been done it's encouraged me to try. From what I've seen there's nothing in those shots I'm sure can't be done with a £50 ( second hand ) flash gun and a tripod/light stand.. maybe a home made snoot or a cheap umbrella or both - etc. No need for a purpose made setup.

Ummmm, sometimes you need the right tools for the job.
It is great that the strobist is catching on, but you can't do eveything with $50 flashes, they to not have the power you need.
When I do this type of work I would need about 15 portible flashes to have the same power as one of my strobes. and I would be using 2 strobes minimum.

As well to get the correct depth of field you would need a lens the could handle at least F22. There is a reason you can get medium format lenses that can do F60. And when you shoot at f-stops that small you need more light than a flash gun can handle.

If you try to do this with anything less, you will most likely have poor highlight control.

Sw1tchFX · Jan 17, 2009

Actually, the set up they've got is pretty simple, and can be done on your point and shoot believe it or not.

get a sheet of plexi-glass, paint one side black, flip it over, and that's the side you shoot your product on.

Then you just need to put your camera on a tripod, use white cards to basically fill in the angles where the light reflects off the surfaces of the glass and jewelry, and you're done.

CaseJ · Jan 17, 2009

Thanks everyone for all the input. The TS lens seems like exactly what I want. Which of the three TS lens would you reccomend? I noticed all the good reviews were the $1200 range. I thought it would be helpful to note that the camera I will be using a 30d and I plan to set this up with a tripod and not use it for anything else. I will also be taking pics of about 300 pieces multiple angels. I also will be using it for taking pics of bullion so I was kind of trying to set this up as a station. My GF is at Kendall college for photography and will be doing most of the work I'm just trying to buy all the right equipment. What would you say would be the ideal lighting setup for around 2k, or should I spend less on a lens and more on lighting? Thanks again everyone for all the help!