Shooting still lifes

[Idoc]

I need to take photos of my daughter's art work to submit to colleges for her portfolio. The objects are mostly ceramic bowls, jewelry, mosaic pictures and some charcoal sketches. I own a Nikon D90 body and a AF-S NIKKOR 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 GII ED lens.
I've used the camera mainly for vacation photos and mostly on automatic settings, so I'm not very experienced. Could I please get some advice on how to approach this project? Shall I purchase a different lens, any suggested lighting equipment, backdrops, etc.?
Thanks

 

[The_Traveler]

Do you have a tripod?

 

[KmH]

You are wanting to make what is essentially commercial quality product images and lighting will be a very critical part of the process.
The lens you have will work, but keep it out of the focal length ranges where it has known issues (see below).
Prime lenses are the best option and the focal lengths needed will vary with the size of the ceramic and jewelry items, and how far from the mosaics and charcoal sketches you can get.

You will want the mosaic pictures and the charcoal drawings parallel to the image sensor, which is where a good tripod is needed to hold the camera. 2 lights generally work best and
For the ceramic bowls and jewelry you will need a light tent and a way to get the bowls and jewelry up off the bottom of the light tent (with 4 lights).

Lighting of this type takes some time and experimentation to learn. This type of lighting also often requires subtracting light.
Since none of the objects move constant lighting will suffice, but you will still need appropriate sized light modifiers, and a couple of reflectors (White to add light. Black to subtract light).
A light tent for the small stuff serves as a light modifier since the lights are outside the lightbox. A key is to get a lightbox big enough to light the largest ceramic bowls she makes.

The first 2/3rds of this inexpensive book covers the fundamental information you will need to know - Light Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX review: Digital Photography Review
Conclusion - Cons

• Pronounced distortion across much of the range
• Extremely soft at 135mm
• Rather average close-up performance

 

[Idoc]

Do you have a tripod?

Yes

 

[Idoc]

Thank you KmH for the detailed response . I think I may be in over my head for a project that is very important. If I have the photographs done professionally is there a particular of photographer I need to look for. The only places I've seen locally are portrait/wedding photographers.