(by 23 people)
My tips on photography of jewelry and other small items
Jewelry, Glass and beads are very difficult to photograph well. The items are usually quite small, highly reflective and just pointing a camera and taking a quick photo will result in a poor result.
 I hope to provide as much of my knowledge gained over 29 years as a portrait cameo artist, jeweler and gemstone carver to help anyone take better pictures.
I will also feature and link to established professional photographers who can take those really special shots for you.Â
Please Contact me! if you have any questions or great tips of your own.
Taking a great photograph
The secret is in the set up and the lighting
Most pictures fail.This is because they fail to provoke an emotional reaction with the viewer. People are used to seeing many images a day. You need to make the photo of your creation jump out and make people notice it.
Use drama to make your piece the hero of the picture. When people view your image you want them to be moved by how your art creation impacts them.
This effect is created by dramatic lighting. This is acheived by using direct lights angled to lift the importrant parts of the jewel.
However as jewelry is so reflective if you only use direct lights the camera will give you harsh black reflections. Polished gold, gemstones and diamonds reflect 100 percent of the light falling on it back to the eye.
What you need is soft even lighting to model the form to give the illusion of depth and 3d. This is provided by using light tents or soft boxes to filter studio lights. This method will model your jewel very well and may well be all you need for pearls and burnished gold or textured surfaces.
Pearl necklaces are a special case in that they are best shot with a single light source from above. This helps to model their spherical nature. This guide from Table top studio explains this in more detail.
More dramatic photos that you often see in Magazines or are submited to Juried shows will use soft lighting in combination with directed hard light to create more impact.
Clever use of backgrounds can give you striking black or silver reflections or even make your jewelry seem to float in space.
I will write more on how to achieve this later...
Some of my jewelry photos on Flickr
These photos show good use of lighting and backgrounds
My photography set up
The equipment that I use.
My photos have been photographed with an Olympus E500 digital single lens reflex camera. Using an Olympus digital 50mm Macro lens. Mounted on a Manfrotto 475B tripod with the Manfrotto 322 pistol grip camera mount.
I use three light tents of various sizes. One is used to filter a large daylight bulb studio light. I also use graduated backgrounds and special platforms and positioning wax.
I use daylight 5000 K lights one at top, two side lights and one front fill in light. I also have a daylight 5000 K lightbox as the platform. This can be switched on if you want light to come from below the piece.
I also have a twin light pipe for highlighting areas of my carvings. Mine is an Extec Fibre Optic set up which produces tungsten light ( 3,200 K ). This light is passed through a 80A Hoya filter which corrects the light color temperature to 5000 K.
I have a really useful gadget called a Plamp which is a clamp on a gooseneck stand. This is great for holding small items, such as reflectors or fill in cards. Custom white balance is set using an Expodisc.
Any photo editing is done using Aperture and Photoshop CS3 on a Wacom Intuous A4 9" by 12" size tablet. My computer is an Apple MacBook Pro.
I use three light tents of various sizes. One is used to filter a large daylight bulb studio light. I also use graduated backgrounds and special platforms and positioning wax.
I use daylight 5000 K lights one at top, two side lights and one front fill in light. I also have a daylight 5000 K lightbox as the platform. This can be switched on if you want light to come from below the piece.
I also have a twin light pipe for highlighting areas of my carvings. Mine is an Extec Fibre Optic set up which produces tungsten light ( 3,200 K ). This light is passed through a 80A Hoya filter which corrects the light color temperature to 5000 K.
I have a really useful gadget called a Plamp which is a clamp on a gooseneck stand. This is great for holding small items, such as reflectors or fill in cards. Custom white balance is set using an Expodisc.
Any photo editing is done using Aperture and Photoshop CS3 on a Wacom Intuous A4 9" by 12" size tablet. My computer is an Apple MacBook Pro.
Photography Products that I use
I can recommend these as being the best of their kind
Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Telephoto Macro ED Lens for E1, E300 & E500 Digital SLR Cameras
The OLYMPUS Zuiko Digital interchangeable lenses h more...1 point
Bogen - Manfrotto 475B (3236) Digital Pro Geared Black Tripod Legs (Height 16.6 - 74", Maximum Load 26.50 lbs)
Equipment used in the present "digital era&qu more...1 point
Bogen-Manfrotto 322RC2 Horizontal Grip Action Ball Head with RC2 Rapid Connect Plate (3157N)
Bogen Manfrotto 322RC2 Grip Action Ball Head is un more...1 point
Ezcube ® 20" Light Tent {2007 model}
Using an EZcube® makes product photography super more...1 point
Jewelry Photography Kit
The Jewelry Photography Kit is a very simple to us more...1 point
Bead Photography Kit
The EZbead Photo Studio is a complete photographic more...1 point
Expoimaging - ExpoDisc Digital White Balance Filter, 77mm
Capture Accurate Color Convenient, fast and easy-t more...1 point
Hoya 80A - Filter - color conversion - 62 mm
Hoya 80A conversion filter increases the color tem more...1 point
Wacom Intuos3 9X12 USB Tablet - Metallic Gray
The Intuos3 tablet is perfect for photographers, d more...1 point
Olympus Evolt E500 8MP Digital SLR with 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 & 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Lenses
Premium picture quality and superb performance com more...1 point
Apple Aperture 1.5
Using its comprehensive collection of tools, with more...1 point
Apple MacBook Pro MA896LL/A 15" Notebook PC (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive)
Presenting the world's most advanced notebook comp more...1 point
Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Web Premium
- Marketing Information: Adobe Creative Suite 3 We more...1 point
Logan Electric Tru-View 4816 Color Corrected Light Box with a 16" x 48" Viewing Area, 2-5000K Lamps.
For viewing and editing slides, transparencies and more...1 point
Photography resources for jewelry and other small items
Jewelry photographers, equipment resources, information and tips on photography.
Table top studio.com
The US site for table top studio. There are a lot more...2 points
Warehouse Express - Photographic Equipment, Digital Cameras, Lenses and Accessories
Full range of digital, optical and photographic eq more...2 points
TableTop Studio Ltd
My main resource. I use them for my studio lights, more...1 point
MK Digital Direct-Jewelry Photography Lighting Systems, Tips, Light Boxes, In-counter lighting and more
MK Digital Direct Lighting Systems redefine digita more...1 point
http://www.expoimaging.net/index.php
Get easy accurate White Balance with the Expodisc more...1 point
http://www.meijitechno.co.uk/catalogue/microscope-accessories-illuminators.htm#fibre
Meiji Fibre optic light kits. This is a twin pipe more...1 point
Barry Blau Photography
Superb jewelry photographer. Will photograph your more...1 point
Photography Tips and Techniques | Photography Blog by Chris Ridley - 11thStudio
Very useful and interesting Blog and website run b more...1 point
Silver Jewelry
You can wear silver with any garment and it makes more...1 point
Wholesale Glass Beads
No matter where you go in the world, you can find more...1 point
Gesswein.com - The Right Tools
Jewelry Trade suppliers whi have a good range of s more...0 points
http://www.juryslides.com
Award winning jewelry photography by Larry Sanders more...0 points
http://www.ganoskin.com
Order small scale photography by Charles Lewton Br more...0 points
Slide Scanning at DiscountDigitalArt.com
They will treat your digital images professionally more...0 points
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/directory/library/subject/9/1
Good articles on jewelry photography in the Ganosk more...0 points
http://www.ganoksin.com/resources/browse-photography-78-1.html
Ganoksin's Guide to Jewelry Photographers.0 points
Features you need in your digital camera
Essential for taking good close up photos
Compact fixed lens cameras can give good results. Up until 1 year ago all my photographs were taken with a Fuji 6900 camera.
However these days digital single lens reflex cameras are now inexpensive enough to be affordable. If you can get a macro lens to add to your camera. These will give you amazing close up shots of your work.
However these days digital single lens reflex cameras are now inexpensive enough to be affordable. If you can get a macro lens to add to your camera. These will give you amazing close up shots of your work.
- Manual controls are essential.
Most digital cameras are automatic. The higher end cameras will also have some manual features. Digital SLR's will have full manual controls. - Manual Aperture setting
To help you control the depth of field. This means that more of the image is in focus. With fixed lens cameras look for minimum F11 or higher if possible. With an SLR a good macro lens will give you F22. - Manual shutter speed setting.
Automatic controls will tend to darken the whole image to compensate for a shiny object such as a diamond. With a manual setting you can overide this. - Manual or Custom White Balance.
Also known as a Custom white balance setting. Use this with a white or grey card or better still use the "expodisc" to get the correct tonal balance for your picture. - Manual focusing.
Most automatic focusing will give poor results. Manual focusing one third into depth of object gives better results. - If you have an SLR camera get a good Macro Lens.
Essential if you want pin sharp images of detail. Close ups can add great drama to your images. A good one is expensive. Mine was $750.00 - Dust reduction feature for an SLR camera
A useful feature in my Digital Olympus E500 SLR camera. The ultrasonic wave clears any dust from the sensor. This can get inside the camera when the lens is changed. - Live preview.
Now available with some cameras, Olympus have this on their latest camera or you can buy a ZigView digital angle finder that adds this function. This allows you to see exactly how your image will look in real time. - Film cameras are still a very good option.
Many pros still use film cameras. Make sure you have full manual controls and a macro lens. - Get a really stable tripod.
This is absolutely essential. I have a Manfrotto 475B Tripod with a pistol grip camera mount. This set up really is the best in the market.
Photos for Ebay that really sell your work
One drama photo to raise interest and 3 to show detail
The purpose of photos on ebay is two fold. Your first and main photo needs to raise interest and stimulate desire to buy. This photo needs to show your piece in a dramatic way. Use directional lighting and relections to make a super realistic image. This will probably be a three quarter view of your item.Once you have raised interest you then need to reassure and answer any questions by showing photos that clearly show the detail of the piece.
These photos need to clearly show the artwork. A dramatic photo is not good if it obscures parts of the item. I follow a rule of giving 3 different views; front, side and back.
You may want to vary this depending on your artwork but I would always add a view showing the back of the piece. Experienced buyers will look at the back of an item to see if it is well finished. I always do this when examining jewelry.
Your images need to be saved as a jpeg and there are file size limitations on ebay of 50 KB per image.
Here is a Photo tutorial from ebay that goes into greater detail.
Do's and Don'ts for macro photography
Contact me if you have any good tips I should add here.
- Do use the spot focus mode on your camera for best results.
This tells the camera to focus dirctly on the center of the object. This gives better results for close up photography than using the Area focus setting. - Do not mix your light sources.
Never mix light color temperatures. Either use all Tungsten, 3,200 K or all daylight 5000 K. If you do mix the lights you will get blue and yellow color casts on your images. You could waste hours in Photoshop trying to fix this. - Do use Manual Focus
The auto focus feature is not precise enough for close up photography. With manual focus you can control how much of the subject is in focus. - Do write down and record your settings
Write down the details of your set-up. Position of lights, camera settings- aperture and exposure. When you get great results you will be able to look up in your journal how to re-create the picture. - Do use the timer or remote control.
Camera vibration will give a blurred result. Use the camera's timer which will delay the shot being taken for around 10 seconds after shutter release. By this time the camera should be completely still.
If your camera has a remote control or a cable release you can use these to get vibration free shots. - Do have a stable platform.
Build your studio set-up on a strong and stable platform on a solid floor. This will minimise any vibration. - Do use a power adaptor.
With an adaptor you can leave the camera on while you adjust your lighting and position the work. If you use batteries the camera will shut down to conserve power and you will waste both time and money buying new batteries. - Do use Bracketing
You have taken the time to set up your picture with correct lighting, positioning, aperture, focus and exposure. It makes a lot of sense to take more than one shot at different exposures using the bracketing feature on your camera.
Barcketing is where you either increase to lighten or decrease to darken a picture. Take 2 extra shots at 1/3 F stop up and down from your original exposure. You will then have 5 shots of the same photo and have increased your chances of having a well exposed image. - Do understand depth of field
Depth of field means the amount of the object that is in focus in a shot. Large apertures of from F 11 to F 22 will make all of a round object such as a ring be in focus and therefore look sharp.
A shallow depth of field has only a small area in focus and the background will appear blurred. Achieved using apertures of less than F 6. This can give a great effect that works for certain artistic effects.
Photography of Silver
Reduce the reflections for sucess.
Many people get very frustrated in trying to get a good photo of Silverware.The problem with silver is that the most important feature is the form of the piece. This is the sense of shape and mass of the silverwork.
Most silver is highly polished and the strong reflections will create large black areas on the photograph. These black areas prevent the form being shown. One option is to use white fill cards to create white reflections to replace the black ones. This will give a better picture.
Another solution is to control the reflections by using a light tent and also a sheet of Mylar to filter out the harshness of the studio lights.
A secret that a professional photographer told me is to freeze the silver piece to get a frosted coating on the silver. The piece is then quickly photographed before it warms up too much.
Another tip is to use an atomizer to spray Milk onto the silver. This gives a soft finish that gives a similar end result. You can also buy dusting sprays from photography suppliers that serve the same purpose.
Glass photography
How to get dramatic photos of Glassware
Taking good quality pictures of glass objects can seem intimidating. However, there are some simple techniques which even amateur photographers can use to obtain dramatic results with minimal effort.You will need a Light tent, a set of studio lights and a light panel. The lights all need to be at the same color temperature. Either all tungsten, 3,200 K or all daylight 5000 K lights.
The light panel is placed under the Glass piece with the studio lights around the light tent. A graduated background is needed to create a backdrop for the glass.
There is a very good guide to Glass photography at Table Top studio
Get great photos of Beads and bead necklaces.
The keys to good glass bead photography are focus, exposure, lighting, and in some special cases under lighting.
It is important to use Spot focus, the use of a tripod and a light tent is essential. Placing a light panel underneath will help to illuminate the interior of the beads and create more Life.This Link takes you to a lot of good info on Bead Photography at Table Top Studio LTd.
The best system for organizing your photos
Keep all your digital files well organized
The images of your jewelry have to be organized so you can quickly access the exact image you want. After a few years you can easily end up with thousands of photographs.
Set up four folders, name them, Master Raw, Edited Masters, Print images, Web images, and organize each by date created. This way you will always have your newest images in view first.
Here are the 6 versions of each image. Save each to the proper folder.
1. Master file - Unaltered Raw image from the camera or scanner. - Back up a copy to disc.
2. Edited Master - corrected in Photoshop or it's equivalent saved as a 600dpi Psd or tiff file. - Back up a copy to disc.
3. Magazine Print file - Large, optimized for print in CMYK format if possible, saved as a 600 dpi tiff file.
4. Home Print file - Medium size, optimized for print in CMYK format if possible, saved as a 200 dpi tiff or Psd file.
5. Web - Large size 300 - 400 pixels tall, 72 dpi in RGB jpeg format.
6. Web - Thumbnails size 70 - 150 pixels tall, 72 dpi in RGB jpeg format.
Notes on editing.
There are different needs for your image based on intended usage.
Print -
Do not crop the image too closely as magazine editors are looking for well composed photos that will look good in print.
Web - Large images
Crop more closely to the subject as we are looking to keep the file size of the image lower to enable fast downloads. Keep to the same height for each image for a consistent look and feel.
Web - Thumbnails
Create drama, by very close crop or selecting a detail area from the original. Small in size and keep all of your thumbnails at the same height to create a consistent look and feel on your site.
Make your smaller images for the web by copying from your Edited Master files. Never resize from an existing jpeg file as the picture quality will deteriorate.
Set up four folders, name them, Master Raw, Edited Masters, Print images, Web images, and organize each by date created. This way you will always have your newest images in view first.
Here are the 6 versions of each image. Save each to the proper folder.
1. Master file - Unaltered Raw image from the camera or scanner. - Back up a copy to disc.
2. Edited Master - corrected in Photoshop or it's equivalent saved as a 600dpi Psd or tiff file. - Back up a copy to disc.
3. Magazine Print file - Large, optimized for print in CMYK format if possible, saved as a 600 dpi tiff file.
4. Home Print file - Medium size, optimized for print in CMYK format if possible, saved as a 200 dpi tiff or Psd file.
5. Web - Large size 300 - 400 pixels tall, 72 dpi in RGB jpeg format.
6. Web - Thumbnails size 70 - 150 pixels tall, 72 dpi in RGB jpeg format.
Notes on editing.
There are different needs for your image based on intended usage.
Print -
Do not crop the image too closely as magazine editors are looking for well composed photos that will look good in print.
Web - Large images
Crop more closely to the subject as we are looking to keep the file size of the image lower to enable fast downloads. Keep to the same height for each image for a consistent look and feel.
Web - Thumbnails
Create drama, by very close crop or selecting a detail area from the original. Small in size and keep all of your thumbnails at the same height to create a consistent look and feel on your site.
Make your smaller images for the web by copying from your Edited Master files. Never resize from an existing jpeg file as the picture quality will deteriorate.
Books on close up photography on Amazon
Digital Macro Photography
Amazon Price: $19.46 (as of 10/12/2008)
Closeup Shooting: A Guide to Closeup, Tabletop and Macro Photography
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 10/12/2008)
Macro Photography Photo Workshop
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 10/12/2008)
Macro and Close-Up Photography Handbook
Amazon Price: $23.36 (as of 10/12/2008)
Macrophotography: Learning from a Master
Amazon Price: $26.40 (as of 10/12/2008)
New RSS: New articles from Portraits in Stone Blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byPortraits in Stone
My website for portraits carved into gemstone cameo jewelry.
Come and browse my site at Portraits in Stone for the full story of Portrait cameo jewelery.A beautiful and Personal gift. Create your very own family heirloom with a cameo portrait, destined to be treasured for generations. Bespoke design, truly one of a kind. Hand-crafted with great skill and care.
Your cameo portrait jewel is sure to surprise and delight your loved one. This may be remembered as your most thoughtful and imaginative gift.
Browse my Portrait Cameo Jewelry Gallery for examples of Gemstone portrait pendants, brooch pins in layered agate, cameo earrings and carvings of nature and wildife.
Hand carved in agate and other gemstones and set in Silver, Gold or Platinum. Each cameo portrait jewel is custom designed for your needs and my price range is from US $15,000 - $50,000.
Studio Photographers.
Portrait cameos are a great product to offer your best customers. Please visit my professional photographers page for more info.
I have recently completed a cameo brooch that was presented to Queen Elizabeth, while she was in Virginia, USA. You can read more of the fascinating Pocahontas Cameo project here
Than you for reading my Lens,
Gareth Eckley.
Reader Feedback
Fawad
I am a photographer and these are excellent tips for jewlery and other general type of photographers. Thanks
www.microglobe.co.uk
Posted October 07, 2008
Fawad
I am a photographer and these are excellent tips for jewlery and other general type of photographers. Thanks
www.microglobe.co.uk
Posted October 07, 2008
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MagiCatGlass
Great info! Great lens! Posted September 13, 2008 |
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bbug
Excellent resource. Great photos and tips. 5* Posted August 03, 2008 |
JudyEvansCollection
Thanks, this was great, I can hardly wait to photograph more of my jewelry!
Posted August 03, 2008
