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02/09/2004 05:15:07 PM · #1 |
I've been asked to photograph jewelry for a website. My client likes the look of BlueNile.com with the white background. I am fairly confident I can get the lighting right, but I was wondering if anyone has a suggestiong for the best background material to use. I'll be playing around with some things at home tonight (good old cardboard might just work :) but I was wondering if any of you have some pointers for me.
Also, it is a start-up so there's not going to be much money in it (but that's ok, it'll be a nice thing on my photography resume). How would you charge, time spent taking the photos and then editing them? Per photo? We haven't discussed this yet but since this is for a website only I'm planning on providing files that are sized to be suitable to the web not the originals.
Any help is appreciated :)
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02/09/2004 05:17:58 PM · #2 |
my favorite is just some plain old glossy photo paper, that's what i always use
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02/09/2004 05:25:34 PM · #3 |
A light tent is usually the best way to shoot jewelry. I got one off eBay for around 75.00. Definately makes it easier, but you dont want to blow your earnings on the first job. :)
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02/09/2004 05:42:14 PM · #4 |
If you do run in to problems with the lighting, a Cloud Dome might provide excellent results.
The other thing to try is simply putting the jewelry (as long as it isn't too three-dimensional) on a scanner.
Photographing jewelry is definitely challenging... I'll be anxious to see your results and what your "setup" ends up being. |
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02/09/2004 06:06:32 PM · #5 |
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02/09/2004 06:12:06 PM · #6 |
| A light tent is definitely the way to go. If you don't want to buy a tent, check out this link: //www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19002.html. I have put a temporary one together before with excellent results. |
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02/09/2004 07:30:59 PM · #7 |
I think it might be available under different brand names, but Flexi Foam is my favorite choice for backgrounds, especially black or white. It's cheap (under $1 a sheet), it's available at most craft stores, and provides a reflection-free background with a pretty consistent coloring (i.e. usually no variations in shade, assuming you've got consistent lighting). The only potential problem is, if you're working with something messy, the white will pick up dirt easily. But working with jewelry, that shouldn't be an issue.
Here are some shots I've done using it:
Hmmm, didn't have as many with white as I thought. Here's some black:
"Spin" shows a problem I sometimes have with the black, which is a sort of sparkly reflective texture. I haven't figured out for sure what causes it, but I think it's probably tied to lighting placement. There are several other examples using other colors in my portfolio, so have a look if you want.
HTH. :) |
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02/09/2004 08:20:52 PM · #8 |
Looking at the Blue Nile website, it's pretty evident that the photographer there used some sort of light tent. You can buy one, or make one. Either way, please share your results if you can.
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02/09/2004 09:15:07 PM · #9 |
I put together a very cheap little "light box" using foam core board (available at most art and/or craft stores for something like $1.00 for a 24"x30" (size approx.)). I cut four equal square sides (my box is about 1 square foot-open in the front and the top), then taped/glued the three sides to the bottom piece. I used a light source from the top of the box and a light source from the front. This shot of my earring, and this shot of some of my scissorswere taken right after I put the box together. If you take the time, I'm sure you could get the lighting a lot better than I did. I was just fooling around to see what kind of shots I could get for auctions. (And also was practicing closeups.)
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02/09/2004 09:30:03 PM · #10 |
| Check out the useful hints recently posted in this thread. |
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02/09/2004 10:27:57 PM · #11 |
Thank you all for the feedback ... I started playing around with some of the suggestions tonight and here's a first example. Details of the shot are in the attached photo. I will be taken more shots with various degrees of highlights to show as examples. I'll keep you all updated as to how this goes ...
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02/10/2004 08:15:08 AM · #12 |
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02/10/2004 08:48:31 AM · #13 |
| there is also another free lesson at the webphotoschool website entitled "basic product closeup" or something like that....and the example is a ring shot against an all white background. |
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02/10/2004 08:50:39 AM · #14 |
If you look at the pearl, you can see the shooting setup. Big difused light above and slightly to the left rear with a big white reflector either side of the lens. A low key blue highlight (sharp) light just to the right of the lens. If you notice, every shot is the same lighting. The secret is to get the lighting set and then just shoot product.
If you were to shoot a color card in the first shot, you would have color correction (etc.) for the whole group.
If you are going to shoot this with an SLR, you will have to be very careful with perspective and DOF. The reason for using big lights is slow shutter speeds and small f-stops, f16 or f22.
A light tent is not always the best way to go as you can lose some of the dark lines on the tops of the pieces which act to seperate and define from the background.
Hope this helps.
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02/10/2004 08:51:51 AM · #15 |
For my vehicle image I worked very hard on the light:
I used a "tent" made out of white posterboard. Through a hole in the board I placed the camera. Most important was how I set the light.
I set the camera to 0.6 s selftimer and did hold my external flash inside the tent and fired it manually. I directed the flash to the paper, not the car.
That gave me a pure white background without any post-editing. Also no shadows what-so-ever, only directly below the car.
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02/10/2004 09:10:41 AM · #16 |
I just set-up a similar situation yesterday. I went to staples and found foam core board that was already "hinged" so I would easily have a back and two sides. It was made for a cheap presentation board. I also bought another piece of foam core board for the top. Right beside the foam core board were rolls of white paper, about 24" inches in width and about 30 feet in length. I bought the paper to use as the actual back and floor. By using paper, I could tape the paper to the foam core upright, let it come down and turn to make the floor. This way, there is no seem in the back that you have to shoot around. It make and "round" corner and is virtually invisible. I possitioned my flash to bounce off the top and then also put one last piece of foam core board beside my camera to bounce the front of the object.
Here is one of the shots.  |
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02/15/2004 03:02:43 AM · #17 |
Found this site that may work with jewelry also.
Message edited by author 2004-02-15 03:03:53. |
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07/28/2004 09:39:52 PM · #18 |
This is a hot topic for me because I am trying to make a good silver jewelry pictures and loose this challenge every day so far.
Brightly polished metal silver produces almost nothing but unpolarized direct reflection. That means that if you put your silver jewelry in some evenly lighted environment like lighting tent or cocoon you will get just a regular boring gray silver image. The best silver images produced when we see an interesting combination of black, gray and white colors in the silver.
I think that there should be something else besides lighting tent and lights to make images like BlueNile.com or Tiffany.com
When you look at the pictures on these web sites you can see a nice light gradient from dark edges to bright center. I can't achieve results even close to these gradients with such simple flat subjects as silver knife.
Look at URL below and you will see what I mean
//www.tiffany.com/quickorder/browse.asp?cid=G04B&page=7&
Any ideas on how to make this happened?
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07/28/2004 09:44:34 PM · #19 |
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07/28/2004 10:19:31 PM · #20 |
UHMW is a great solid, semi-opaque substance. you can buy it in a large sheet and bend it up in the back. It can be illuminated from the bottom as well as the top.
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07/28/2004 11:06:56 PM · #21 |
I often use a specially made white bent plexiglass. I get a lovely reflection which makes it realy professional. Bent white cardboard always works as well.
Good picture of the watch. Maby the dof is to shallow. The letters on the watch are slightly out of focus. The lighting is excellent! |
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07/28/2004 11:39:55 PM · #22 |
Originally posted by arnit:
I often use a specially made white bent plexiglass. I get a lovely reflection which makes it realy professional. Bent white cardboard always works as well.
Good picture of the watch. Maby the dof is to shallow. The letters on the watch are slightly out of focus. The lighting is excellent! |
Where do you find the white plexiglass? |
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