Jewelry & Models

[laawaaris]

I have a gig to phtograph some jewelry that someone custom creates. I have a Nikon D50 with 18-55mm lens.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to photograph the jewelry? We don't have any jewelry stands and so are thinking of laying the jewelry flat on nicely decorated silk fabrics as well as nice granite counter-tops, wood floors, leather sofas, etc. Sometimes we will hang a necklace on a nice vase.

All of the shooting will take place in a person's house, where the lighting is fairly dim. The lights that are available are yellow-ish and are really not that supportive. Some of the surfaces that we will shoot on (leather couch, wood floor, granite, etc) are very reflective or absorbent and so using the flash will start adding weird colors to the background, etc.

The jewelry is also really small (earrings, etc) so I want the focus to be on the jewellry itself. How do I get the DOF so that the jewelry comes into focus? So far I have only been able to get a fading effect, where the rear part of the jewellry is in focus but the front part is a little blurred (focused on infinity).

I am including some sample shots that I want to improve - where what I am pointing at comes into focus. The main problem I have right now is that the lighting in the room is real yellow, so I cannot shoot in Auto mode. I have been trying Programmed mode with ISO set to 1600, Incadescent or Auto White Balance, and the Flash Disabled. I have to zoom in real close and this seems to make the focus suffer.

[adirty1]

go get a construction light and bring it with you and get some black velvet to put the earings or what have you on. this way you know your going to have one good background.

[laawaaris]

How much is a construction light? Where would you recommend getting it?

Will that help to improve the focus on the subjects? I am using Auto Focus but the lens is very slow and picky when focusing and is not achieving the results. I have been thinking of trying Manual Focus but I'm not too adept yet at it.

[Bill]

You can also place round/rectangular bottles/cans under the fabric for a stand.

Shoot in RAW, use Incandescent for White Balance. If more adjustment is needed, do it in the computer with your software. Shoot a very white piece of paper to set color balance, or shoot a photographic gray card.

Cameras and eyes focus on a plane parallel to the camera/face. Hold a book with both hands in front of your face/camera. It will be parallel to the face/camera and all will be in focus. If the book is angled left or right closer to the face/camera, all will not be in focus. If you tilt the book forward or back from the face/camera, all will not be in focus. If the jewelry is at an angle, you will have to decide where you want the focus to be.

What you want in focus should be in that plane parallel to the camera, just like the book. Your jewely cannot have part of it further away than another part and stay in focus.

If you stop down, you get a deeper depth of field. This means f/11, f/16, and f/22, if available. Set the camera for Aperture Priority or Manual, not Program. At very close distances, the DOF becomes very shallow.

Try focusing manually at close distances. Often better than autofocus. Instead of focusing with the lens, move the jewelry or camera forward and back to focus. This is very common in close-up work.

Use ISO 200 for much better quality. The jewelry isn't moving, so speed is not a concern there. Place the camera on a tripod or a makeshift stand to immobilize it. Be sure it is stable.

[MoserPhotographic]

Originally Posted by laawaaris

How much is a construction light? Where would you recommend getting it?

Will that help to improve the focus on the subjects? I am using Auto Focus but the lens is very slow and picky when focusing and is not achieving the results. I have been thinking of trying Manual Focus but I'm not too adept yet at it.

Construction lights typically put out about 500 watts of light, which is very bright when working within 2-6 feet of your subject. The increased light will also allow the camera to lock focus a little better. They can usually be found at any Walmart, Home Depot, or Lowes for around $25-$65.
Also, to make it easier to focus, as well as to get better DOF (Depth Of Field), use your tripod. The jewelery isnt going anywhere, and by using slower shutter speeds, that will allow you to use smaller aperatures. Put the camera mode dial to "A" for Aperature Priority, set the aperature for around f/11 or f/16, and use about a 50mm focal length on the lens.(approximately 75-80mm). You camera will ajust the needed shutter based on the f-stop selected, it will expose up to 30 seconds if needed.
Also, set the White balance to the TUngsten setting, as this will be closest to the color output of the worklights. If it is still a little on the yellow-red side, it can be adjusted in Photoshop.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

[MoserPhotographic]

oops, ya beat me, Bill..

[rott]

Couple of things... First, that's a tough lens for macro-type jewelry shots. If I were you, I'd probably try to rent/borrow a macro lens, set it on a tripod, and stick some sort of light box over it (open on the bottom for the product, and the front for the camera lens). I pinned together some foamcore at about 16x16x16" cube for the shot below. You could set your ISO lower, bump the f-stop up to 16+ for DOF, back away from the product a bit for even better DOF, and use the on-camera flash (possibly re-directed up with some aluminum foil). That way the flash will bounce all around that light box and give you nice even lighting. That's basically what I did, except the product was sitting on a white base, obviously, and I was using a speedlite.



You're right about the weird colors, but that can always be adjusted. And remember, if you're shooting a bunch of individual pieces of jewelry in one location (floor, couch, etc), you can set up on the tripod, figure out your exposure, use manual focus/f-stop/shutter, and just press the button.

Even better, if the shots are headed for a website, you don't need to worry about high-quality ISO so much. Online pics are only 8-bit, 72ppi anyway, so shoot 'em at 1600 and don't worry so much about the low light. You can even back away from the product and crop later for better DOF. Again that's if the pics are headed for web only. If you want portolio shots and/or prints, I wouldn't do this.

[laawaaris]

Hey Thanks guys so much for the feedback. There's a lot of camera and lighting stuff for me to learn. This was defnitely my toughest shoot - and the client was demanding (even though she was understanding that I am a newbie).

These shots are in fact only for the web - and as such I had the same thoughts as rott. I just didnt listen to the little voice in my head saying I should back away and crop later. Until this shoot, I have been of the mindset that a truly good photo does not need any alteration via photoshop. I think I might change my mind a little bit now - Haha!

Anyhow, I'm going to try some of these adjustments tonight and see how it goes.

[laawaaris]

Actually I wanted to ask, how to photograph the model who is wearing the jewelry. The model is experienced and wants to get many different poses and is moving around her head every few shots. We were in a bathroom and in a narrow hallway (b/c the background was nice and neutral), so I'm not sure using a Tripod would work - there was not a lot of room for the Tripod. I think you need a lot more hand-holding so you can try different shots and angles (above, below, profile, etc).

But in that case I also had the same problem - the camera was constantly hunting for focus. As a result you can see in the model picture I put up that the first large earring is out of focus but the second earring farther away is in focus.

I don't know if using a Macro lens for this is appropriate and I definitely need a faster shutter speed, (and I guess high ISO) because I am doing hand-holding or else everything will blur.

What do you guys think?

[rott]

Yeah, you're in not-so-ideal lighting conditions with a not-so-fast lens. You'll have to make do with what you got. The ideal situation would be a full-blown studio with changeable backdrops, fully controlled lighting, etc, etc.

Not sure why the focus is hunting so much. I'm not familiar with Nikon focusing technology. Do you have it set to focus in the middle? If so, use it -- i.e. focus the middle of your viewfinder on the jewelry by pressing the shutter halfway, then while still holding the button, recompose your shot, and fully press to snap the pic. My assumption is that the camera is either too close to focus, or is trying to focus on something else in the scene, or it's too dark, all of which you can remedy, of course.

If I were in your shoes, I would rent/borrow a flash. If you're in a tight hallway or bathroom, you can point the flash at the wall or ceiling or a reflector (use a car windshield reflector or even posterboard if you have to, and have a helper hold it) and get some super flattering light. You should probably point it at the reflector or wall moreso than ceiling and definitely not straight at the model/jewelry. And it won't matter how much light is in the hallway/bathroom, because the powerful flash will override it -- you've just given yourself control over the lighting of your shot.

Oh yeah, and don't do what I did... I focused too much on the models and not enough on the jewelry. Your second shot is fantastic for jewelry, barring focus issues. You have a pretty model with a pretty neck, but clearly focused (attention-wise, that is) on the jewelry. In general, I'd avoid having the models look straight into the camera for a jewelry shoot, it could distract from the product. I messed up and focused too much on models, though everyone was still happy in the end.