New camera, advice for shooting jewelry

[FredM]

I just got my first DSLR and will shoot my wife's jewelry for insurance as my first project.

I want to do a good job though because I plan to do similar stuff with watches and coins in the future because I collect them.

Can anyone give me basic advice on background color, setting or lighting for shooting 20 pieces or so of jewelry? It will be mostly platinum with diamonds and prefer very close up to get the detail of markings.

Any advice, even simple advice, will be appreciated. I have read a BUNCH about the technical details of the camera (focal length, ISO, shutter speed) but am scared I will make some preliminary basic mistakes.

 

[skieur]

Pros put the jewellry on a light table and shoot through a reflective dome which you can aquire at a photographic supply store.

skieur

 

[blazerj]

Pros put the jewellry on a light table and shoot through a reflective dome which you can aquire at a photographic supply store.

skieur

Yes. Also, check out some watch forums as those have great close ups of watches. There are some posts there that talk about how they take up-close photos of watches.

 

[o hey tyler]

It's all about what kind of Jewelery you are photographing. I took this shot of a necklace from a local jewelery maker.

 

[messyone]

Use a ring light/flash
Ring Light Flashes Product Reviews and Prices - Epinions.com

 

[FredM]

Will I pretty much require a tripod even with the additional lighting?

Also is the light table with reflective dome setup being used here?

This is a very shiny high polished platinum that looks almost rough but super awesome.

 

[mooimeisie]

Check out the DIYPhotography.net site for some very inexpensive lighting projects for the lighting of jewelery. I would imagine if you're taking photos for insurance purposes, the artistic touch is not necessary, just clear high quality photos.

 

[FredM]

Check out the DIYPhotography.net site for some very inexpensive lighting projects for the lighting of jewelery. I would imagine if you're taking photos for insurance purposes, the artistic touch is not necessary, just clear high quality photos.

Awesome link, very much what I was looking for thanks.

 

[FredM]

Well this is my first attempt (and first time ever using a SLR) I think once I get some better lighting it can look halfway decent.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

is that sandpaper?

a good place to start is look at jewelry photography you like, than attempt to copy it as best as possible. You'll learn alot very fast that way.

 

[FredM]

is that sandpaper?

a good place to start is look at jewelry photography you like, than attempt to copy it as best as possible. You'll learn alot very fast that way.

No it is foam.

It came with one of my watches. I am doing exactly what you suggest without realizing it myself. Thanks. heh

 

[Patrice]

Sorry but that image does nothing to highlight the features or esthetics of the ring. The background is too distracting, the ring is not in focus and the lighting is very uneven.

Try setting the ring on a piece of white paper under a piece of glass. Wrap a large piece of white cardboard in a semicircle of about 12 to 18 inch radius around the ring. Shut the blinds on the room windows. But your flash at 45 to the camera, right or left does not matter and above the ring. Avoid an angle where you get a strong reflection of the flash on the piece of glass. Use a diffuser or shoot through umbrella or a light box to soften the flash. If you don't like the reflection of the ring onto the glass, remove the glass and find a discreet way to raise the ring above the paper. Be very critical of your focus and DOF. Every part of the ring should be pin sharp.

Look at jewelry catalogs, in print or on-line, to get an idea of what you want to achieve.

This is just a starting point. There are a few good product photographers here that might give you some other pointers in a bit.

Good luck.

 

[Photo Lady]

It's all about what kind of Jewelery you are photographing. I took this shot of a necklace from a local jewelery maker.

just gorgeous.. i would buy it..

 

[MissCream]

As you are doing photo session of your wife's jewelry which may include her wedding sets so i will suggest the red background with some black lines in it . Pictures will look really awesome as red is a dark color and a lighter color when placed over it looks very beautiful.

Spammer... Also did you not see the date of the post???

 

[reznap]

I know this thread is old and a spammer bumped it.. I wanted to try this for a while though. Pretty basic setup though, paper, glass from a photo frame, 2 flashes w/ softboxes fired with radio triggers and a Tamron 90mm macro lens. The big softbox is the main light, the small one for fill with the flash set to a lower power (or in my case, a much less powerful flash).

You want a large light source usually, which will minimize specular highlights. In the OP's photos, you can see how distracting the bright highlights are and how they caused some bad purple color fringing (CA).

Some PP done to whiten the white background and darken the darker background (which was just black paper).

Here's a few shots of the setup, showing how simple it was (and how small of a space I was working in).