A few more jewelry questions

<p>All:<br>

Much thanks for your input late last week on Lightroom/Photoshop handling of images of jewelry shot on a white background. I have a few follow-up questions as I'm trying to wrap up this project. Let me begin by saying that all of the shooting is done, and was done in a light box mostly on pure-white background boards. There's no chance to reshoot at this point. My questions involve processing what I have.<br>

First, I'm really struggling with certain pieces -- i.e., white pearls and pale silver engagement rings. Basically, when I pull up the white in the background, mostly by using the eyedropper tool in levels in PS, the pearls all but disappear and the rings lose a bunch of detail and depth. I've attached a few files right out of the camera. I'd love to do all this in Lightroom if possible, but can shift into Photoshop as well, which I have to do anyway for some of the rings to clone out the wax used to hold them upright. Any detailed tips would be welcome on how to get the background to go to pure white without losing so much detail would be appreciated. Again, I'm only just competent in portrait-type processing in LR and PS, so step-by-step would be appreciated.<br>

Next, I'm currently using Lightroom 2, but have the LR 4 upgrade sitting on my desk. A few commenters from last week were using LR 4, which seems to include a few new features that might be helpful here. So, should I upgrade right now, even though I'm smack in the middle of this project of processing 1,000-plus images? Does the new capability outweigh whatever bumps and glitches I might run into in switching over?<br>

Finally, a pretty stupid question which I can't seem to sort out because I've never worked strictly for web usage before. How do I crop by pixels, i.e., crop to 600x510 pixels?<br>

Much thanks for all.</p><div></div>

<p>You need to light your jewelry so that it reflects something other than the white surroundings. When you take a picture of a shiny metallic object, you are taking a picture of what it reflected in that surface. In this case it's a featureless white tent, that's the same color as the surface the object is sitting on. So, there is no real difference in the background or the reflections on the object.</p>

<p>This is exactly why many of us keep repeating that light tents are often not the best way to shoot jewelry and watches.</p>

<p>I suggest you buy and study the book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Fourth-Introduction/dp/0240812255/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348695132&sr=1-1&keywords=light+science+and+magic">Light -- Science & Magic</a>" to learn how to control light and shadow, especially when shooting shiny objects.</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote>

<p> Let me begin by saying that all of the shooting is done</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

That pretty much tells people where to start. It doesn't appear that shooting advice is that useful at this point.<br>

<br>

It looks like it would be fairly simple to select just the background. You can always clean up any issues with the selection using the quick mask. Then just jack the exposure on the background. For cropping, use the crop box that comes up at the top with the crop tool.</p>

<p>Sorry, I was too busy showing how much I know to read the OP's post carefully.</p>

<p>Guilty as charged.</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p>Jeff, much thanks, and I certainly agree with the earlier post of doing things differently next time...it just wasn't an option for this client at this time.<br>

Once again I face the risk of sounding stupid, but the only way I know to "select the background" is to use a lasso tool to trace the jewelry piece, then hit inverse. Is that the way to do it?<br>

As for the cropping, I'm still using PS 4, so the crop dimension boxes do not offer a pixel only option...I figured a work-around though by doing a bit of math and setting the dimensions in relation to the resolution to give me the exact size in pixels-by-pixels the web designer wants.</p>

<p>Chris - <br>

There are numerous ways to do a selection and there are tutorials on the web and books that explain it. The most useful thing for me was learning to use the quick mask to clean up a selection. The attached version below took about five seconds for the selection of the background, with three clicks of the magic wand and a very light feathering. That was followed by five seconds of adjustment to get it white. I'm not suggesting that this is great work - I did it quickly just to show you what can be done - but for a web catalog, it might be fine.<br>

<br />Regarding cropping, the crop tool in PS4 does allow using pixel dimensions. Although the default will show something like 4in, you can type in something like 600px. What I would do is set the final pixel dimensions, get the crop right for the actual ratio, crop, then use the Image Size function to resize to the actual desired size.</p><div></div>

<p>many thanks, Jeff... problem solved... I feel like a bit of a dolt, but thanks for pointing the way...<br>

BTW, on the pixel cropping, I got the ratio then simply exported from LR, setting the pixel value as the long edge... lot of ways to skin a cat I guess..<br>

thanks again...</p>