I am having problems taking close up pictures of my jewelry. What is the proper way to show the detail right without the pic getting fuzzy and/or showing too much light? i'm not an expert in photography, but I have a good digital cam with a "dumb" (meaning it automatically takes the pic for your properly) mode lol. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi, First is about the camera. Any camera with at least 4 megapixel resolution should be good enough. Next is ability to take close up photos and not be 1 or 2 inches away from the jewelry. Most digicams with macro do this only at the wide angle zoom setting which means you get physically too close to your jewelry. You can take a ring or pendant to a camera store and try out different models in the store with the sales rep's help. It's possible to do OK with a point-and-shoot cam with display on back of camera, but very difficult to get excellent results with consistency. I'd prefer a digital display SLR if I couldn't afford a full SLR. Highly recommend the Canon S2 or S3. Jewelry photos mean FLAT lighting = no shadows. Lots of white tents being sold on eBay, get a small one for most jewelry. Use daylight fluorescent type lamps available from Home Depot and Lowe's - not soft white or any other description. May write a book some day if I ever get any free time. Paul see more photos in my store
I use the macro button always on my camera.... but I also have a large magnifier that I can take pictures through... It is one of those lighted ones... It makes close up photos so sharp & clear... It took me a long time messing around with my camera & different light and distances to get it down but the results were worth it! & I hardly ever take pictures,(except for listing) I always forget my camera & leave it at home so I am by no means even close to being an expert! Good luck!
I have had the same experience as vintagejewelryrocks (cool name:) I always use the macro button (Canon Sureshot) and spent lots of time trying to find the right settings (nobody better mess with it now!). The one thing I always do is take my photo's in natural light. I have a fluoresent light that I use sometimes (hard to get the right color to come through in gemstones such as Paraiba Tourmaline). But my absolute best photo's come from taking them in a room that is painted white, all shades/blinds/curtains open (just one shade down gives off a yellow tint). I tried using a tent but did not like using it, it wasn't flexible enough for me. I hope this helps. Feel free to take a look at my photo's also.
I stand back about 1 ft and zoom in - once I get the pics to my computer, I crop, then click 'auto fix' and save them. I usually get the 'up close look' without being blurry. The auto fix corrects them if I had too much or too little light but it doesn't make all pics better then what you started with, if this is the case just click 'undo'. I hope this helps BTW: Nice to meet everyone ~kay~
I understand about being hard to get good photos. Natural light is the best. You the natural shine to show but not overwhelm the photo with white beacons. An overcast day is the best time. Second choice is in the shade but you will sometimes get a blue reflection from the sky. Take a picture with the highest resolutions. Center the jewelry in the photos. Take a few different angles if possible. I use a background that seems to show the item best. I prefer not use black because the camera with overdevelop the light color jewelry. I usually use tan or neutral green. You can look in my store to see what I am talking about. To prevent fuzziness you want a fast click speed and a steady camera. I am taking my images hand held but a tripod would be better.
I crop the pictures to expand the image of the jewelry. I am using a used copy of photoshop 4.0. It has really helped improved my pictures. I can get images that are larger than the originals.
Sunlight is the same light, same color light source. If you wanted consistency for your pictures, you'd need to take photos + or - two hours of noon, no clouds, no smog/haze, etc. A few companies make 'daylight' fluorescent lights - these have a 'continuous light spectrum' like the sun. Normal fluorescent lights are NOT a continuous spectrum light source and make terrible light sources for jewelry photography.
There are companies that make 'light boxes' for jewelry photography costing $1500 and up. They are worthwhile if you are doing enough work to be able to afford the $ as part of your overall budget. Most of us can't afford them. You can duplicate most of the benefit of these specialized jewelry light boxes by purchasing a white glass circular ceiling light globe and lighting it from the outside of the globe with 2-3 lights. Paul
I use a small light tent I purchased pretty cheap on eBay I tried taking pictures with daylight, outdoor light and daylight light bulbs and found the best combination for me was a light tent and 5000k daylight photo bulbs ( I also got on eBay), and reflectors. My camera has an optical zoom which is the same as macro (I think) Cannon sure shot - I am not a camera/photo savy person but through trial,error and research found this to work best for me.
dont know if it was this thread or another one, but THANK YOU to whom ever said to get a photo soft box. I just bought one. I have been working very hard over the last few years on taking the right pictures for my jewelry and now I can take even better pictures. I just bought a soft box with 3 backdrops and a tripod. Im so excited. I thought most of my pic have been pretty good up till now, NOW I cant wait to see how well they come out with the new light box. THANK YOU to whom ever suggested it. Lisa
Optical Zoom vs. Digital Zoom when taking jewelry photos.
The optical zoom is what you think you are using, because it makes the image look larger on the viewing screen.
But, if you use the 'digital zoom', it is digitally magnifying the image by reducing the number of pixels of the image. You will get less resolution, less 'sharpness' and detail with the digital zoom feature. Don't use it.
You are better off to enlarge the biggest optical zoom image in your computer's photo editing software. The image will have better color, better contrast and appear sharper than a digital zoom result.
Using the Macro setting was mentioned before. I always use Macro so I can get as close as possible to the object I'm photoing. **There is also a trick that will help: hold the shutter button down half way without taking the picture and this should put it in focus then you can take the picture.** I also try to get outside to take pictures, however if it's too sunny then you can get a lot of shadows. Do not use flash if outside to get the best results and try a neutral or white background. Using a photo editing software, like Paintshop Pro or Photoshop will help with cropping and to fix the lighting. Try to experiment to get the best pictures. Good Luck!! Christine
First rule is 1) invest in a good SLR digital. I use a Canon EOS with a macro lens, point and shoot cameras don't work well-I tried to use them for a year or two and was not happy with results.(I'm very picky) The Canon with macro was $1,000 and worth every penny. I think I have some of the best home-made photos on eBay. (Check items below). But it took a lot of experimenting. What is the first thing someone sees when they're looking at listings? yea, the pic. I bought a large cheap Rubbermaid clear plastic storage container for my "tent"-works really well to diffuse the light of the flash and I use a lot of flash to give the gems some "sparkle"-I don't use star filters or editing programs to add the sparkle. I normally take at least 30-40 pictures (memory is cheap) using different background colors and settings on the camera in terms of aperture sizes/depth of field. etc. And don't use autofocus-trust your eyes, not the camera. I have found Diamonds to be the hardest to photograph. You don't see many good photos of them, other than the black & white stock cop-out photos "cause-they-can't-get-the-lighting-right". Of course, I've been a semi-pro photog for 30 years so I do have some experience. Don't be afraid of flash, don't worry too much about the pixels, (eBay can't display them all anyway). You MUST use a tripod (and a delay timer helps since you won't be physically pushing down the button and cause motion.) They are cheap and well worth the sharper pics you get. Use ambient daylight in a room with neutral colors, experiment and above all-HAVE FUN! Check out my pics at my store "Diamond Sparklers Ltd Fine Jewelry" Hope this helps! floydlawson10
I also have the problem 'because my room is very small and the furnitures are dumn color. and I have had tried many times, finally I went out in the sunny day. I let my borfriend to help me shade the sunshine when I photo. It helps. But problem is It is not easy to meet sunny day each time I photo. Could you please give me some advice, if I take photos in my room? Thanks very much!
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