I have a home-based jewelry business, and I sell my jewelry online. I need tips for getting better photos of my jewelry. I'm using a Toshiba DCP3300, though I'm thinking about upgrading. I use it in macro mode, no flash, and I have the white balance on incandescent. My problems: I have been using a white background, but the pearls and light coloured beads disappear. However, if I use a black background, the pearls and light coloured beads reflect too much light. I've tried using natural light (from a window on a fairly bright day) and incandescent "daylight" bulbs. With natural light, the problem of "glowing" beads is gone, however the quality of the photos is terrible, even if I enhance them in Photoshop.
I've tried shooting them with a softbox (homemade) but the pearls still glow too much. Any suggestions to keep the pearls from disappearing, without having them look like glowing white blobs in the photos?
You might try using a diffuser dome for your jewelry photography in conjunction with dulling spray. This is a common solution for minimizing reflection and specular highlights on shiny or metallic surfaces such as jewelry. A second solution would be to take two exposures; one for the highly reflective surfaces and a second for the rest of the piece. Use Layer Masks in Photoshop to composite the two images.
I guess your problem with the white pearls on black background is caused by your camera's automatic exposure control: it is averaging the whole pictured area, and because of the black background, it is increasing the exposure so that the pictured area is rendered with the 18% (standard grey) exposure. To render the black background, which likely covers 80 to 90% of your picture area, grey, means a coarse overexposure which causes your pearls to glow, as you describe.
To counter this, underexpose by 2 steps or more, using the manual mode or exposure correction.
Jay, thanks for the input, but a dulling spray isn't a viable option, as I work with beads and they can be very difficult to clean. I'm a bit of a novice with PhotoShop too, so honestly, I haven't a clue how to do what you describe!
Wus, my camera doesn't have manual exposure controls. I am thinking about getting a new camera, so maybe this would be the best thing to do.
I specialize in jewelry. Until three months ago, I shot transparency film on a 4x5 view camera.
I now own a Canon 10D. Shooting digitally poses several challenges, the greatest of which is the white balance. Once you get that issue solved, life is so much easier.
I am unfamiliar with your camera's capabilities, so i cannot address the specifics of your camera settings.
When I actually NEED a background, i will use a light gray paper beneath the jewelry, or if it's a ring, I'll use clear photo laminating wax on a piece of ceramic tile to keep the ring standing up. I trimm it with an EXakto knife.
For lighting, I travel light. When I was using the view camera, I had to use studio lights because the view camera is a light hog. With the Digital 10D, I get by just fine with a couple of Vivitar 285's.
For my shooting environment, I use different sized and shaped white and transluscent Tupperwear or RubberMaid plastic bowls with holes strategically placed for the specific type of jewelry I intend to shoot. (These bowls are SO cheap that ten bucks will buy enough bowls and tubs to get you through any situation).
To cut the holes, I use a cheap $10.00 rotary tool that I bought at Pep Boys.
For lighting the environment, I made light stands out of heavy black rubber toilet plungers. I cut the handles to the appropriate height, and then drilled 1/4-20 screws into the top ends of the plunger handles. To these screws I attached Photoflex supergrips and then attached my Vivitars to the Super Grip.
The Vivitar 285's can be bought on eBay for 25.00 used. The toilet plungers cost $6.00.
I place the bowl over the jewelry and then I place the Vivitars near the bowl. I take several test shots to get the right placement.
Most of my work is high-key because the jewelers like that look in the newspaper.
When you light pearls, shadow placement is everything. You need to light the product from above and behind the pearls.
Do you know how to set your camera to work on manual mode? generally, I shoot at 1/180 @ about f.16. This gives me the best depth of field. I set the Vivitar 285's at about half power on manual.
To get my white balance, I took a piece of white paper outside in the sun, put the camera on manual focus so that the lens wouldn't go crazy. I then selected the custom white balance setting and then took the picture. The 10D allows the user to refer to virtually any picture on the CF card for the white balance, so I have this picture on all of my cf cards.
Post your email and I'll send you pictures of my setup. You'll be shooting like a pro in no time.
Okay, I just reread your post. If you have no manual controls, you are pretty much stuck with shooting on an 18% gray card. (You can buy one at any decent camera shop).
You see, all still cameras (film and digital) set on auto want to make the image exposure to average the equivalent of 18% gray--- even in color. Imagine that you could take every color and tone in your proposed picture and put them in a blender then spread it on a piece of paper. The camera wants the resulting tone to be that color--- about the same color as the dark gray on a HP computer. This is why your pictures come out so dark when you shoot on a white background.
This is pretty dark.
In order for your whites to come out white (without the aid of photoshop) you need to shoot on a background which is about the same darkness as an 18% gray card. It's the only way.
My recommendation is that you get another camera. You can buy a GREAT Canon 650 film camera and a lens on ebay for about 60 bucks. It's Canon's first generation of autofocus pro film cameras. If you shoot transparency film, you'll have excellent images if you shoot on manual mode as i described in my previous thread.
Used Canon 10D's are available with a warranty on Ebay for $600-800.00. This is a steal. The 10D has been on the market less than 2 years and already people are upgrading to the 20D that came out last month.
A GREAT camera for getting started would be the Canon A95. They are around $350 and have all the manual settings you'll need without getting in over your head. It's a great camera for close-up stuff.
I own its big brother the G6 and shot this with it;
With some clever lighting, you should be able to get close to those pearls and get some nice pix!
Remember, it's almost ALWAYS 80% lighting, 20% camera. You don't need to spend a thousand dollars to get a decent image.
I sell a lot on www.ebay.com myself. Try this before you drop a wad on expensive cameras and equipment. Tape some toilet paper over your flash to defuse it. If it appears to work but you're still getting glare, double it. Old trick we used to use when we'd photograph crime scenes years ago.
I've tried to figure out ways to shot professional pearls pictures. I have Fuji S7000 camera that has supper micro mode and all manual setting. I also bought "Cocoon" and photo light. I still have problem to shot good quality picture for light color (white) pearl. If I set explosure for pearl, the background will be grey. If I over exlose by 2~3 stops, the pearl is sacrified.
In your message, you mentioned calibrate the white balance under sun. The part I don't understand is if you shot picture by using photo light, the white balance may not right. How do you use the white balance setting under the sun?
p.s. I'd appreciated if you can send me the picture of your light setting.
I've tried to figure out ways to shot professional pearls pictures....If I set explosure for pearl, the background will be grey. If I over exlose by 2~3 stops, the pearl is sacrified....Thanks,
-- Milkman
Common problem with any such photography, regardless of camera. The problem can only be cured by having separate control of the object lighting and the background lighting. That way you can increase the background lighting to force it white or, in the complimentary situation, decrease its lighting to force it black.
One common and easily controllable way to accomplish the white background is to use a lightbox as the background. If you use a high quality color corrected lightbox (if fluorescent, its CRI must be greater than 90) as the white background you can easily achieve a clean white, shadowless background. You can adjust the foreground lighting so that when the pearl is properly exposed the backgound, the surface of the lightbox, is a clean white. Other methods of backlighting a translucent background are also very effective.
Jewelry photography
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