jewelery photography

[jols]

could anybody give me help on photographing jewelery?

eg

what is the best colour material to use for the background and what settings is best?

i just cant seem to get it right.

 

[skieur]

Best results are achieved with indirect lighting, a domed reflector and the piece of jewellry on a light box.

skieur

 

[That One Guy]

can you post some pics?

 

[jols]

the pics i have are embarrassing they are soooooooooooooooo bad. ha ha .

need some pointers first.

 

[SBlanca]

build yourself a light box, very cheap and very efective.

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

 

[JerryPH]

Soft diffused light is important. A softbox, umbrella or lightbox are good.

Get that flash off the camera and you will see how quickly things improve.

If you need a bit of a more visual thing, just PM me and I can try something for you tonight after work, if you want?

I know it always helps me to see how things are done.

 

[jstuedle]

I have always favored a royal blue for B/G color. But it has been overdone in many catalogs.

 

[JerryPH]

I have always favored a royal blue for B/G color. But it has been overdone in many catalogs.

I can see any dark colour best showing off jewelery better than whites, though it can/has been done in pure white in a few catalogs that I've looked at in the past. Darker colours just seem to give it a much richer/vibrant look.

 

[Mesoam]

different stones look better with different lighting...for instance i wouldn't use the same background for an emerald that i would a ruby...keep in mind complimentary colors!

 

[jols]

thanks for all the help.

if poss i would like to see some examples.

i know its cheeky of me nut anyone who can help post them on this thread please.

thanks again

 

[JerryPH]

Jols, keeping in mind that this is my VERY FIRST attempt at this and given more than 10 min to do this, I could do better, but for waht it's worth, here you go:

First attempt, little prep, obviously poor example.

The setup used for this and the next pic:

Last try before me needing to leave. It is better, but not what I would call ready. Given another 30 min and a few more test shots, I could do better... but at least this gives you a thought or 2?:

Ten minutes, 5 shots total. Newbie attempt but hey, I had fun!

 

[MissMia]

I shoot all my jewelry outside, but then I sell western jewelry.

 

[JerryPH]

I just tried out something that I think could be esily used with jewelery photography, to place a little emphasis on the item... its not jewelery, but try it out:

I was playing with selective colouring and instead of making one layer B&W, just motion blur it and bring out the unblurred layer on top. This could be an interesting effect to do with a special piece that you really wanted to make look different, IMHO.

 

[JerryPH]

I shoot all my jewelry outside, but then I sell western jewelry.

I find the background distracting from the item. The left side of the ring's beautiful design fades a little becuase it reflects the colour of the granit counter top and it doesn't compliment the item.

I think one effect one could do is use a small stand, shallower DOF via bigger aperture and a greater space between the background to subject and a camera close to the subject for more background bokeh. I have to try something a little different for the next experiment.

 

[jols]

taking tem outside.

great idae .

im off to experiment