Kenny Loc: Oregon

I have a friend who makes very beautiful hand -made jewelry; ear rings, bracelets, necklaces, and that sort of thing. These are relatively small shiny objects, made of gold, silver, and rare stones.

I am planning on using a Canon G-12 PS with which I've done some very nice macro work. I also have a black, non-reflective velvet-type material I want to use as a background. I also have available a Canon T3i SLR with a telephoto lens. He wants to use these on eBay.

Any suggestions on how best to proceed? Many pieces are involved and I hoping I can shoot more than one at a time. maybe not.

Thanks for the help!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Easy answer is- use a light tent like this:
http://www.amazon.com/XPRO-Studio-Photography-Light-Tent/dp/B000BFYXGG
or make you own:
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

I have worked on shoots for Helzberg and they don't use these.

RaydancePhoto

I used to make jewelry and taking photos was the hardest part of the job. I found that a black background makes it more difficult to get a good photo. I like wood, moteld grey, or stone as a background.

Use a light tent as suggested before.

Where a white shirt. Once with film, I took 3 rolls and had on a green shirt, the shiny parts of the jewelry picked up the green and the shots were useless.

Use a tripod and timer or remote shutter.

Good luck.

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

I purchased a white translucent Rubbermaid tall kitchen can and two desk flex lamps from Walmart for less than $20.00, works just fine. You can use any color material of paper for a backdrop or carpet.

RaydancePhoto

Thats great, never would have thought of it. beats 150.00 for a tent and lights

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

This is the second set. My wife took the Rubbermaid for the laundry and the kids took the desk lamps.

mooseeyes Loc: Sonora, California

Here is an idea that I figured out a number of years ago. Don't use a camera! Yes, that right.

If you have a high end flat bed scanner, where both the bed and the top scan (used for film scans), simply put your jewelry on a clean scannefr bed, and cover it with a piece of colored felt. The felt is cheap and can be found at most craft stores.

Depending on the color of the jewelry, you can pick the proper colored piece of felt. There is a reason that jewelers have those black matts that they use to put there jewelry on when showing a customer; however, the contrast is too great for many of your purposes. Also, you don't want to use light colored felt. One of my favorites is a nice dark blue color.

The attached image is a scan from my flat bed scanner, with a little PP in Photoshop. Granted, this is a floral; however, I used this same method for a website that I use to have where I sold high end pocket knives. Worked great, even with the blades open, showing any and all engraving.

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

Although a macro lens is handy to use it may not be necessary depending on what type of photo you are after.

As with any other type of photography the final use of the photo must be taken into consideration before the lens is selected, the photo is composed and the shot taken.

I take photos of jewelry everyday. My photos are catalog shots...those used by online retailers like Amazon to sell the product. Amazon has requirements that preclude the use of set props and backgrounds. The focus is on the details of the piece. This is the truest form of catalog photography and if the photos are to be used to sell the product online.

Point of purchase or advertising photography for jewelry is different. With POP or Ad shots you want to suggest a use or set a mood. They are designed to pique the interest of the buyer. You see this type of photo in magazines and on signage in retail locations. These are traffic builders and not as detailed as far as the subject matter is concerned.
Many photographers like to work on this type of photography because it is a composition of textures or lighting.

Here are a couple of catalog shots I have taken. All of these photos have generated sales of the items shown.

These were taken in a tent with a lot of light. The pieces are suspended by line to eliminate any shadows. The backgrounds were removed to allow for exposure adjustments. In th case of the ring I took the photo on a light box and added in the opals later.

gstephan73 Loc: California, Nevada, and Minnesota

Jewelry often has surfaces polished to near the wavelength of light of the light source, reflecting what is known as “specular light”. This light can be very intense and overexpose portions of the image spoiling its clarity. For a good example of specular light look at the reflection of the sun from a chrome bumper in full sunlight.

To correctly cancel specular light and truly enhance the quality of your jewelry images follow this procedure:

1. Position a nickel perpendicular to the lens-nickel line.
2. Position two photo flood lights at 45 degrees to either side of the lens-nickel line.
3. Place a linear polarizing filter over each of the photo flood lights, which will cause the nickel to be illuminated only by polarized light.
4. Focus your lens and place a linear polarizing filter on the lens of your camera.
5. Rotate the linear polarizing filter on the lens of your camera until the nickel appears black in your view finder. You may also need to rotate the linear polarizing filter over each of the photo flood lights to achieve this effect.
6. Place a Grey Card just in front of the nickel and manually measure it and adjust it for the correct exposure.
7. Replace the nickel and the Grey Card with the jewelry to be photographed and make your exposure.
8. There is no need for further tinkering as you go from one piece of jewelry to another, just switch to next piece of jewelry and make your exposure, and so forth.

Let us see your results.

Dancnbare

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

This photo was taken on a light box inside a tent with an additional overhead light source. This type of shot is tricky because the shadow of the camera can sometimes be an issue on reflective surfaces.

Dicko Loc: Apache Junction, AZ

One of the problems you may encounter is the auto-focus gets confused with the many reflections from complex peices. I have found it necessary to use manual focus and if your camera is capable of of it I strongly recommed it.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

Canon EF100 f/2.8L Macro, sunlight, flat plastic gray background

Treasure

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

You have way to much reflection in this photo. The stones are washed out and I find it hard to differentiate the jewelry from the background. If this set up is your only option then you need to use a polarizing filter to reduce the glare.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

Yeah - - princess liked it looking 'all sparkly' though - -

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

You can get sparkly without losing detail