product jewelry photography question

[daniel_seo2]

<p>Hi, I am a beginner at photography. I started learning to take photos with a DSLR after I decided to take photos of my jewelry products that will go online for selling. I am starting with jewelry stones before wearable jewelry products(rings, etc). I have a lighting set composed of two halogen lamps(continuous) that has a flash function as well. (about 700 USD) And I have two cameras: Canon D60 with a 100mm macro lens and a 50mm normal lens, and a Sigma SD14 with a 18~50mm macro lens. And an old lighting tent that has gone a little yellowish. My one main problem is: that all of my pictures seem to lose most of their shinyness. I use auto white balancing since I am shooting everything RAW. My two lighting lamps are pretty powerful: if I turn them up about 2/3 of the full light power, I can set<img src="http://cafeptthumb4.phinf.naver.net/20150907_20/dannymudd_1441558032132HibYg_JPEG/SDIM046602.jpg?type=w740" alt="" width="740" height="493" /></p>

<p>the exposure at 1/160, f32, and get an OK picture. How can I bring out that shinyness of my stones? I've included a picture that I think is the best one I took so far. Thank you. </p>

[tom_mann1]

To bring out the sparkle in gem stones, you need to have a mixture of two different types of light sources:

 

a) At least several (more are better) very small, point sources of light - These bring out both the internal and external reflections from the facets; and,

 

b) A diffuse source of light such as your light tent - This provides soft ambient light brings out the overall shape, the background, etc. It lets you see something looking through the stone, not just the starry night effect one would get if the only lights were point sources.

 

The peak brightness of the reflections of the point sources should be at least two, and often more stops brighter than the

ambient light. It's ok to slightly blow out the very brightest reflections. This lets you see the much larger number of weaker reflections, as well as some diffraction stars or halo-ing around the bright reflections. Right now you have no lights whatsoever from category (a).

 

Go to a good jewelry store and look carefully at how they light their display area. Often the ceiling is peppered with a very

large number of small, very bright, focused lights, as well as the usual, more diffuse sources, ie, exactly as described

above.

 

HTH,

 

Tom M

[SCL]

<p>At f32 you're probably getting some diffraction which hurts the image quality...try f11-16 and see if that improves things. Are you using a tripod with a focusing stage...you really need to do that for something like small precious/semiprecious stones - to ensure accurate focus and stability. Lastly the "shinyness" you refer to...is it surface shininess or the depth of color of the stones? Surface gloss is easily corrected by proper placement of a key light, whereas internal depth often requires some light from underneath exposing internal reflectivity. Also, have you considered stacking your images to create crisp depth and color?</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>I suggest you buy and read the book "Light - Science & Magic" by Hunter, Fuqua, Fils, et al. It explains how light works and shows how to light shiny objects successfully. But Tom's advice is right out of the book.</p>

 

[daniel_seo2]

<p>Thank you for all your info and suggestions. I have a few questions after reading your comments. The point source light: does it mean a hard light(without diffuser. lamp shining straight to the subject)? And by shinyness I meant surface shinyness but depth of field I also have to achieve. If you are lighting the subject from underneath like you suggested, should I do it right from the bottom or maybe at a 45 degree angle? And what does stacking mean? And lastly, is it okay to use a LED light along with the two halogen lamps I have now? I am thinking of getting a LED lamp (a desk lamp because it's cheap). I'll read that book. Thank you all. </p>

[SCL]

<p>Especially for product photography, I would think you don't want to mix light temperatures....it makes it too hard to achieve accurate colors. As far as the angle of the below light, it really depends on the structure or cut of the item you are illuminating....just basic physics regarding reflectivity of inclusions within an object. Since you seem to be unfamiliar with stacking, I suggest you Google the term, there are lots of tutorials on it...basically it is shooting a series of multiple shots at measured distances from the object (or different depths within an object) and combining them with software to achieve a much greater depth of field.</p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>I suspect your main problem is shooting at f32. "Shininess" or specular highlights require fine detail which you're destroying by stopping down so much. The proper way to shoot small objects is by using focus stacking, where you take a series of separate shots using f8, which doesn't destroy sharpness, focused on different parts of the object and then combine them into one shot via a software stacking program. </p>

<p>This creates a picture not only with a large depth of field, but will also provide the high sharpness and contrast you need to make your jewelry look its best.</p>

<p>If you're unfamiliar with focus stacking, just type it in Google and there are any number of articles and videos on how to do it. I use Photoshop for my stacking program since I subscribe to CC, but there are many more stand-alone stacking programs available.</p>

[daniel_seo2]

<p>Thank you both. Will try focus stacking. :)</p>