Photographing Jewelry

[larry_page]

Hi..My problem is taking digital photos of jewelry using an Impact

light shed w/ two - 500watt EBW GE photolamps...My camera is a D70S

with an SB800 Speed light.....I have tried using the lamps from the

side,letting the shed diffuse the light, and also have removed the

top and shot the photo straight down on the item with lamps overhead

pointed inside the shed....I seem to always get a light gray or

light blue background with different hot spots.....I have tried

setting the white balance as well as using auto white balance with

no results...The jewelry is silver necklaces with different color

glass crystals added in....I have a 50mm 1.4 & 28-70mm 2.8-4

lense...Can anyone share any similar problem or can offer any

help....I want to use photos for web site...As always, thank you for

your help...Larry Page

[leicaglow]

I would shoot them on frosted plastic or glass and light it from underneath as well. That should do the trick. Also, I have a Cacoon for small stuff, and it will give me a gray background under normal lighting. I simply elevate it and put a light underneath it, and it comes out completely white.

[erik_loza]

I shoot lots of small machinery components for our company and esperienced some of the

same issues. For tabletop-sized stuff, I use either tow or three speedlights in XS Photoflex

lite domes. The results are excellent and proper diffusion is what you need. Also, I would

strongly suggest picking up a dedicated short macro lens. Since you will always want to be

controlling the strobes (as well as exposure) manually, an AF lens is not needed. I use a

55mm f3.5 AIS Micro and the results are amazing. You can pick one up for about $100.

Your solution is easy and affordable. Good luck.

[ben_kriete]

If most of your background is pure white, you will have to overexpose by at least one, and possibly two, stops to get it from the 18% grey the camera would like the scene to be based on its metering, to pure white.

[robert_hooper1]

Photographing jewelry is not easy, and there are some professional photographers who specialize in it. In my career, I usually recommended another photographer whenever a jewelry job came my way. I found that it was extremely time consuming and not cost effective for me to take these jobs.

 

As you seem to already know, a diffused lighting approach is probably the most common solution. However, a colleague of mine got fantastic results without diffusion using polarized sheet material over her strobes and a polarizing filter on her camera. You have to fiddle with the orientation of the the filters one strobe at a time and then together. Time consuming, but her results were often breathtaking. Unless you are going to shoot jewelry often, the cost of the sheet polarizing material is probably prohibitive.

 

My relatively quick and dirty solution for you would be to use a black velvet background with your diffused lighting. Real velvet is better than synthetic because it reflects less light. Velvet absorbs light and thus a lot of the problems you discuss with your background. By using velvet, you can concentrate more on the lighting and exposure of the jewelry without having to worry too much about the background.

[lex_jenkins]

Take a look at the free online tutorials on the B&H and Photoflex websites. You'll find some useful tips with illustrations.