Photographing jewelry can be particularly challenging for a number of
reasons:
1. Since most jewelry is highly reflective, the size and placement of
light modifiers is crucial.
2. To appreciate the attention to detail of jewelry, it is imperative
to use a macro lens or fit your regular lens with a close-up lens.
3. Certain fabric dyes and natural colors fluoresce under the light from
electronic flash and this can cause colors to be rendered incorrectly,
whether capture is on film or digital. In jewelry this is sometimes seen
with the green of emeralds.
Until recently, the cost of purchasing equipment coupled with the lack
of knowledge in how to photograph jewelry has prevented most people from
doing it themselves. Large format cameras with long lenses, expensive
electronic flash and other lighting equipment, and fundamental approaches
to lighting have been the major obstacles. With improvements in camera
technology and cost, affordable alternatives to daylight-balanced lighting
systems, and Internet access to photographic techniques, taking pictures
of jewelry is no longer exclusive to specialists.
To illustrate this point, we decided to approach a local jeweler here
in Santa Cruz who sells beautiful jewelry and fine glass works. On my
initial visit, I discovered they had a web site which I later checked
out. The site was very well designed, but one thing I noticed was that
the quality of images varied from excellent to adequate. When I brought
this up to the owners (Joy and Doug) on a later visit, they explained
that all the slides, prints, and scans were supplied by the artists themselves.
While most of the images were great, there were some that did not do justice
to the effects the actual pieces gave in person. In addition, there were
many pieces with no accompanying images that they could put on their site.
Joy mentioned that it was not in their budget to hire a professional photographer
to shoot all of their jewelry, and therefore they had to take what they
could get. I suggested we might have a possible solution for them, and
we set up an appointment for them to come to our studio to take some shots
with an inexpensive camera and lighting setup.
The following week they brought a variety of pieces, including a stunning
blown glass sculpture of a jellyfish. Just before they arrived, I set
up a homemade PVC shooting table that we had built a few weeks before,
and attached a roll of white seamless paper to it. I then set up two medium
sized softboxes, positioned them on either side of the table, and affixed
a small digital camera to a lightweight tripod. Once they were in the
studio, we put the items on a small table near the set, and I explained
what the different components were (Figure 1).
The first items we placed on the set were three rings on cloth finger
displays. A general rule of thumb is to surround jewelry with broad light
sources to render even reflections all around. To demonstrate the effect
of the softbox, I turned off the left one and positioned the right one
closer and at a 45° angle to the rings. Bringing the face of a softbox
closer to a reflective object increases its area of reflection. It is
therefore advantageous to bring the light source in as close as possible.
I set the aperture to f/11 (its smallest aperture setting) and dialed
in the shutter speed (prompted by the camera) to 1/3 of a sec. After taking
the shot the camera's LCD screen displayed the captured image to confirm
the correct exposure (Figures 2 and 3).
This shot revealed the overall dynamic of the series, but was unable
to illustrate the fine details of the rings. This particular camera is
made to fit a relatively inexpensive optional close-up lens, which is
exactly what we decided to use next. I wanted to illuminate both sides
of the ring where the diamonds were set, so I turned on the left-hand
softbox and moved it in so that it abutted the right. I attached the close-up
lens and zooming all the way out, focused on the left-hand ring and took
a shot with the same camera settings. If you look closely you can make
out the reflections of the softboxes in the four silver balls holding
the stone (Figures 4 and 5).
Backgrounds can help to enhance the particular qualities of a piece of
jewelry. For the next shot, we pulled out some fake ice cubes and rested
this emerald ring atop one (Figure 6). I adjusted the softboxes 90° to
the camera to better reflect light into the emerald and diamonds, and
took a shot with the same camera settings. Since emeralds can be difficult
in rendering accurate color because of their tendency to fluoresce, we
decided to look at the captured image on the computer screen. I turned
the camera off, removed the SmartMedia card and inserted it into the card
reader attached to the computer. We brought the ring over and compared
the color from the ring to the color of the image of the ring. As expected,
the ring appeared more cyan than it should (Figure 7).
Since the rest of the ring was accurate in color, I decided to create
a selection of the emerald and correct its hue. In Photoshop, I selected
the Pen tool and drew a path around the stone. I made a selection of the
path, and from the menu bar I chose Image>Adjust>Color Balance. I dragged
the middle slider toward green until the color matched the real thing
(Figure 8).
Next, we decided to shoot a necklace with accompanying earrings. We took
the close-up lens off and positioned the camera so that it was overhead.
The biggest challenge here was in the positioning and flow of the pieces.
Looking at the LCD frame of the camera, we worked to make the shot work
on two levels:
We needed to illustrate that it was a necklace without having to show
the entire piece.
We also wanted to arrange the pieces so that they were in relation to
each other and that they made an interesting composition.
Once the placement was set, Doug watched through the camera while I adjusted
the position of the softboxes until the light seemed right to him. This
was a much faster process than it would have been with a traditional camera
as we could see the changes immediately from the camera's LCD. Keeping
f/11, I adjusted the shutter speed to 1/2 sec and took a shot (Figure
9).
Next, I attached the close-up lens and took a detail shot (Figure 10).
Using the same lighting setup we replaced the necklace with a rainbow-colored
bracelet. I lowered the camera's angle and again took an overall shot
and a close-up (Figures 11, 12, and 13).
I knew our final piece, a blown glass sculpture of a jellyfish, was going
to be a bit of a challenge. The color of the jellyfish was almost electric,
while the surface of the piece reflected everything in the room.
To help increase the color saturation, I placed a black cloth over the
table for the background. I put the jellyfish back on the table, positioned
a single softbox up and off to the right, adjusted the shutter speed to
1 sec, and took a shot (Figures 14 and 15).
I didn't mind the overhead reflection of the softbox as it helped to
illustrate that it was spherical and not flat. However, the reflection
was refracted in three other areas of the glass and it was a little too
distracting. Placing the softbox overhead would have reduced the refraction,
but then the reflection would be directly on top and start to lose its
resemblance to a window light. I decided instead to take another tact.
I wanted to make it appear as though light was emanating from within
the jellyfish, and so I needed to eliminate all outside reflections. I
removed the softbox from the light and placed the light directly overhead.
To pre- vent lens flare from the light, I positioned a 10" black Litedisc
on a Litedisc holder in between the light and the camera (Figure 16).
There was still a reflection in the glass, but it was much smaller than
before. To throw the background out of focus, I opened up the aperture
to f/4 at 1/8 of a sec and took a shot (Figure 17).
Finally, to get rid of the light's reflection, I once again returned
to Photoshop. I clicked on the Rubber Stamp tool and chose a soft-edged
brush to clone out the reflection (Figure 18).
Doug left the studio that day with great enthusiasm. He was already figuring
out how he was going to set up his own mini photography studio. You can
visit Doug and Joy's fine web site at: www.vaultgallery.com.
This lesson will be posted in the free public section of the Web Photo
School at: www.webphotoschool.com You will be able to enlarge the photos
from thumbnails. If you would like to continue your digital step by step
education lessons on editing, printing, and e-mailing your photos it will
be on the private section of the Web Photo School. Shutterbug has negotiated
with WPS to offer our readers a special 33 percent discount rate of $30
per year. To enroll at this discount just go to: http://shutter bug.webphotoschool.com
and fill out the Shutterbug questionnaire which will help us to publish
lessons for you in the future.
Technical Equipment
Cameras: Olympus C-2020 Z; Olympus 55mm D-10 Macro lens; Olympus
C-2500L (for setup shots); 2 Olympus 32MB SmartMedia cards
Tripod: Manfrotto 3021 with a 3047 head
Digital Equipment: Apple G3, 350MHz; Adobe Photoshop 5.0 software;
Olympus Camedia USB SmartMedia Reader-Writer; Olympus Camedia 4.5 software
Lighting Equipment: 2 medium Photoflex SilverDome kits; 1 Photoflex
LS-2214 light stand; 1 Photoflex Litedisc holder; 1 Photoflex 10" black/silver
Litedisc
Background: Homemade PVC light table; black cloth
