Thanks again, Christine!
I happen to be pretty well situated for fabrics, as my mother is one of
those little old ladies who does a lot of sewing -- quilts, blankets,
embroidery, you name it. She's got fabric aplenty I can pretty much
help myself to whenever the need arises.
And thanks for the exposure compensation tip!
Best,
Walt
On 12/14/2010 2:18 PM, Christine Nielsen wrote:
I'm glad it went well, Walt!
Yes, the lightbox has come in very handy for me. If you end up doing
a lot of this sort of thing, you can also purchase one that is made of
fabric& a wire frame, that twists up& folds down like those car sun
shades for easy storage. (After a year of use, my DIY set-up was
getting pretty ratty, and I was running out of places to stash it, so
I splurged. But I definitely recommend giving the DIY version a try.)
Another thought -- check your closet for other backgrounds... I have
pressed into service various items of clothing (mine& the kids') to
stage jewelry...velvet-like textures, linen, shiny, sparkly,
cotton-weaves. I have also found that working with white and black
backgrounds is a great lesson in exposure compensation. :) To get
the bright "white seamless" look, you'll dial in at least +1 stops,
and -1 for deep black.
Happy trails...
-c
On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 9:31 AM, Walter Gilbert<[email protected]> wrote:
Thank you, Christine!
I did the work last night, and some of the shots turned out surprisingly
well for two people who didn't have the foggiest notion what they were
doing.
I burned about 150 shots getting the lighting and staging right, but once I
finally got things situated, I got some pretty pleasing results. I sure do
wish I'd had that DIY light box, though! That would've made things so much
easier! I will definitely be using one of those from now on. Thank you
*very* much for passing it along to me!
I wound up using the 50 at f/8 throughout the entire shoot. Some of them
would have been wonderful with a proper background, but we were using what
amounts to black construction paper, which turned out to have a pretty warm
reddish tone to it by the time the camera was finished with it. I don't
think that'll be too tough to deal with in post, though. I also had some
difficulty dealing with reflections at first, but we got on top of it pretty
early. What we did have wasn't overly obtrusive, though. So, all in all,
I'm pretty happy with the results for my first time out.
Thanks again for the pointers -- particularly the light box! This could end
up being a fairly regular source of income for me, due to the fact that the
next town over is virtually crawling with people who make jewelry of various
sorts. If I can tap into that market with the work I'm doing with this
lady, it could keep me fairly busy.
Best,
Walt
On 12/14/2010 8:03 AM, Christine Nielsen wrote:
Walt,
I've done a little of this type of work... here are a few thoughts for
you...
- Currently, I use the fa 100 macro, which I like a lot for shooting
small things, like beads. But, I've used a shorter lens in the
past... a 50 might be better, if you are trying to get a shot of a
whole necklace, etc...
- Use a tripod. You'll want enough DoF to show the entire piece in
enough detail, so stopped down apertures (I usually go f8-13),
especially at close range. Then you don't have to worry about slow
shutter... and it will help with sharpness, too.
- Watch out for reflections in silver/shiny pieces. A white
posterboard or sheet placed strategically can minimize the chances
that your surroundings will be visible in the jewlery's mirror-like
surface.
- Have you thought about using a lightbox? You can make one yourself
for very little $$, and you can use it with natural light, strobes, or
even desk lamps. Check this out:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html
Have fun!
-c
On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Walter Gilbert<[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi all,
I have a friend who makes some really nice turquoise jewelry
(http://www.sisdesigns.com/) and she's asked me if I'd like to take a shot
at doing some photographs of her work for catalogs and design conference
submissions. We've already worked on some rudimentary lighting and staging
for the pieces, and are going to do some experimenting today. Before I jump
in, I figured I'd ask if any of you might have any pointers.
Of course, I'll be shooting in RAW, and have decided to bracket the
shots. Beyond that, I wonder if it would be best to use my M-50/2, or my
18-55mm kit lens, or something longer?
Thanks for any advice anyone can offer!
-- Walt
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