Jewellery

adam · Jewellery

i have landed a job doing the product shoot for a jewellery company...
dont think i thought it through before saying it was easy!!!
been reading up and it sounds like a nightmare...

anyone got any experience of taking jewellery shots?! pls!!!

the shoot is saturday!!!

creators

White box...... can I come and play? Nice one! But definitely a white box.

In fact you probably son't even need ot go there, a white sheet tent would probably be perfect, you want white diffused light, no reflections.

Edit: Just dragged the white box out and quickly set it up, I had no sheet at the front so there is a reflection. I've probably lost too much of the lid by having the lights facing each other horizontally. a little more facing back and I reckon the top would have been pretty well defined. Once you have the soft set up, it's all just experiment.

adam

mate...you can certainly come and play...
i am in Croydon, Surrey, Saturday to start the process!!

i have ordered my tent and pray to god it turns up tomorrow!!

thanks for the advice...a star once again...

creators

Oh pants.... I actually really wish I could Adam, it'd be really great to meet you just because I feel that we have quite a bit in common, but I can't possibly make this weekend. I was being silly.

If you do get time to practice and want many heads, reckon as many as can will rally round, I am certainly around Friday night if you start gibbering. Good luck mate. Keith.

adam

i am already in a bit of a panic! i had my mums birthday last night and the mother-in-laws birthday tonight so i haven't been able to have a practice yet..so Friday night is my one chance to practice before i have to do it for real..
so yer..i will be online tomorrow...PLEASE help me!

Venom

Good luck m8, you won't need it,
found THIS makes good reading.
Apologies if you've already seen it, but if not hope it's of some help.

Mike

adam

you are the king of finding stuff on the internet!!!
i will have a read, or two!.
thanks mate...

hil26

best of luck - looking forward to seeing the results

creators

flyingkites

Good luck Adam.

Brian

creators

I'm quite looking forward to tonight, some live, online, ideas swapping will be a new experience on the forum.

I am just about to go and raid the family jewels over the road and have some practice with some rings and necklaces, not least to see if I can't get a sparkle light to work.

Later, as they say...

adam

i got a lightbox delivered today..but its not what i wanted..so i am having to think on the fly..
i will post my setup before i get snapping...

welcome to Mikes Photography, live feed!

creators

adam

i wish!!!

next bummer bit of info...
the shutter release for my new 5d didn't arrive today...
was planning on using it alot tomorrow!!!

is this a trend? a sign of things to come? or am i getting all the bad luck out the way before the big day?!?! we shall see!!!!

live feed time: 1643!

creators

Ouch, not good! Mind, having been practicing this afternoon, I'm shooting at 1/250 at f20 and using button release without a problem.

I don't believe in luck, but I do know s**t happens, let's hope it's over.

creators

What I have definitely discovered so far, for me, is that the rings need to be hanging up or mounted in some way. I am about to try fishing line.

I have been working with my macro lens and am very much in my own way, gonna try the Tamron 70 - 300 macro and see if I can't get the glint light better positioned. This was taken at f29 1/250 so I think my lights are way too bright as well.

hil26

creators

creators

Problem with the glints. Mag light is not powerful enough and a flash unit on its lowest setting is too powerful.

Dropped the light power and lost depth of field - f13, 1/250 with lights at half power. Also tried hanging them up and it's ridiculously hard. Haven't tried wax yet. And none of my images are as sharp as I think they should be, I've been using auto focus, and my eyesight is rubbish for manual focus.

Simonzphotoz

could you use two rings and use one to balance the other. double the bling!

creators

Simonzphotoz

creators

This is seriously challenging. Wax would have driven me insane about five minute after I gave up. I cut a slit in a piece of white board and cloned out the slit after for this. Wonder how Adam's doing?

adam

oh mate!!! having a bit of a mare!!!

what sutter speeds!!! how much light!! how many lights!!!

all i am getting is too much light..WHITE photos!!!

just finished setting up....

STRUGGLING!!

adam

ok, the setup i have.. 3 lights...one light box...tripod..camera attached to laptop..

so, 3 lights or 2?!?!

camera settings?
shutter speeds..

Keith..you are a diamond...thanks so much for getting in on this..
you are a star...

creators

It sure ain't easy is it? I've gone back to high f numbers, the one above was f25, 1/250. Lights at 1/4 power.

This is what my setup looks like.

Three lights.

This is, in part, what a forum should be all about, shouldn't it?

adam

interesting you have a light infront...i take it the camera is going above it...

i am getting shadows with 2 lights..so its gonna have to be 3, but my shots have a PINK tinge at the moment!!!

adam

i am wondering if i am getting the pinkness cos i am on a wooden table...?

cant get rid of shadows either...

creators

Oh, I see, you have one on top. That'll probably be great to reduce ground shadows. My third one is still trying to get glints.

creators

adam

yer..i can hook up the soft boxes...

i have a 2second shutter speed at the mo..to try and sort the DOF..
but its not working..

creators

How many studio flashes have you got? And are some those you are using incandescent?

If you have two studio flashes, try having them at either side and binning the incandescent.

adam

3 lights...no colour settings on um tho..
just unplugged the camera from the pc and the background is white as...
but for some reason.not on the pc!!!

I DONT GET IT!

creators

I have my camera set to flash, which is actually giving me some blueness, which sort of surprises me. I'm compensating with PS.

The problem with mixing flash (blue light) and incandescent (yellow light) is the temperature. On flash setting you'll have pinky/yellow light and on incandescent, I'm not sure, probably a blue cast.

creators

This is mine straight off the camera.

adam

Great speaking to you Keith!!!
wont be the last time, thats for sure!!!

as discussed!!!!

creators

These two are the same shot, I have set the WB in the second one in PS. For the shot camera White Balance was set to Flash +3, f25, 1/250, lights set on 1/3 power.

adam

thats the stuff!!
ok..so i am resigned to sorting all this out in ps after..
so how did you get it so white?

creators

Two heads working here, Adam. This shot was done with a sheet of glass raised on shot glasses, with the lights on full power behind the ring so that the background gets most of the light.

f29, 1/250, WB Flash +3.

adam

is that un ps'd?!

you are STARS!

adam

i am sitting here dodging a background to see how feasable it is...
its really not!!!!
i will be at it for WEEKS if i go down that road..

let me dig the shot glasses out!!!

creators

Another un-PS, just with the lights on the background and the rings quite far forward. Set photo as well.

creators · The site Mike found.

Just been looking at the site mike found over the page and most of their stuff is photographed on raised stands, or hanging (ear rings), only the pearls are on a white base with one overhead light.

adam

latest attempt is a failure!!!
better.....but no cigar..
back in a mo!

adam

Keith, you are a legend...thanks for helping me out tonight...really is appreciated...
may not be all the way there yet but i am a lot closer because of your help...
been great speaking to you too...

thank your brother for me too!!!

cheers
Adam

creators

We've enjoyed the process and learnt a lot, I'm only sorry we couldn't get further. It's been great doing the 'live feed' and chatting to you. We both REALLY hope it goes well tomorrow.

Keith and Terry (great ideas man).

creators

One last suggestion if you do go out and buy some glass and stuff tomorrow, maybe get a piece of non-glare/non-reflective glass (not sure what it's called), as well as a sheet of ordinary glass.

adam

keith...
different lens...same settings and steps as you suggested..

strange ay!

creators

Well go figure! Nice one, delighted to see it.

Venom

Wow looks like you guys have been busy, let us know how you get on Adam and good luck.

creators

It was an interesting experience. It was incredibly frustrating because we were unable to replicate each others experiences, so finding a solution was near impossible. Having different cameras meant that we could not work off the same playing field. The breakthrough for me came when my brother Terry came over. Terry is dyslexic, so when he wanted to view the link that Mike found, he analysed the pictures down to the finest details. Where I thought that photographing jewellery on mounts was a way to present them in a sophisticated way but not relevant to the process, he asked why they had done that and suggested trying it. As soon as we did, it became obvioius why they did it and the results instantly improved.

Who would have thought, though, that the final break through would come with a change of lens? That was amazing. I suspect that Adams sigh of relief was greater than ours, as he's the guy in the firing line, but given the intensity of engaging with the problem, the sigh here was pretty intense too.

I learnt a huge amount from doing an 'online workshop' with Adam, it was a great experience, and maybe something we could do more of. Maybe choose an idea or a subject and share the trials and tribulations and the results over an evening or even a few days.

Today's the day when Adam finds out if it will all work out. I wish you well mate and very much look forward to seeing some of the results.

Venom

I'm sure he'll be great especially with all the hard work you both put in as preparation.

hil26

Very nice workshop and one that I am sure people will come back to for information

creators

How'd it go mate? I've even had Terry over here asking about it.

adam

sorry for the delay in getting back to you mate..i knew you would want to know asap..but as soon as i finished the shoot i had to go out for another birthday bash for the parents...

anyway....

first off...there is ALOT more products that i thought...
and i have only shot about a third of them at the moment...

i managed to get hold of some white perspex which as much as it made it easier, made it harder too!!!

each picture is needing about 10 mins in photoshop at the moment...which i am not over the moon about but i guess as long as i get it done its ok...

but it went ok..i think i will get it done..its just gonna take ages...

i have 11 or 12 finished images that i will put up in the apprasal section, i would really appreciate some feedback on it...its hard to know what the company will say at the moment..but i will find out tomorrow i guess!!!!

everything we did friday meant i could go into it saturday knowing exactly what to expect..and in that respect i think i looked like i knew what i was doing!!!

thanks again for everything you did on Friday mate...i owe you one..big time..if i can do anything...let me know...

creators

Thanks for the update Adam, your family seems pretty keen on parties. Smile

Sounds like good and bad news and sorry to hear that you've got to do work on each one in PS. I'm delighted Friday helped, it made for an unusual Friday night. Have any more ideas occurred from doing the shoot that'll help with the rest?

It was a pleasure and you don't owe me, but I know what you mean, I am sure, though, that as and when things start to take off here, I will doubtless come screaming and pulling my hair out at some point.

Jewellery

The site Mike found.