Experience with Photo Boxes

Orchid friends,

I need help taking photos of jewelry. I can create and repair
jewelry very well but I take lousy pictures. The glare of the metal
and the reflection of the stones present particular problems. I’ve
been looking at some of the photo boxes available and was hoping some
of you might have some experience with these. The cheapest models are
a soft sided type that pops open into a cube form. These are
certainly affordable and easily stored. The more expensive models are
a box within a box. A plastic inner box is the stage for the jewelry
surrounded by lighting and an outer box. Some of these are quite
elaborate with lighting on all sides and various electronic
adjustments. There’s no doubt these would take a great photo, but
many of them are out of my price range.

All I want are some photos that are crisp and clear and show the
details of the jewelry. Many clients want to see previous examples of
my work. If the soft sided type will do that it would be great.
However, if not, I’d rather save my money until I could afford the
gear that would do the job. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
James Cantrell

Hi James:

There are instructions (which I used) on the Ganoksin website. Here
is the link,

If the link doesn’t work, it’s in the tips from the jeweler’s bench
library under jewelry photography. It’s the first article that comes
up. One mistake I made with it is that my soft-sided photocube is not
big enough and my camera is not good enough. For your purposes, if
you follow the advice in this article, you should get great results.

Best of luck,
Kim Starbard
Cove Beads

Hi James.

I have a light box from Gesswein (the expensive kind) and a Nikon
Coolpix camera. My camera is a 3 megapixel model which is about 3
years old. It’s not the box-- it’s the camera that determines the
crispness which you’re looking for. The Coolpix has the nicest macro
lens around (IMHO) which allows me to even take a 3/4 ct diamond set
it on it’s edge and zoom into the stone. I can then download the
picture into my computer and it is large enough to fill the screen.
Save your money on the lightbox, untill you get a Nikon. By the
way-- I don’t take 3 meg pictures… they are mostly about 600K. (I
megapixel I think–but i’m not an expert in that.) What I’m saying
is that you dont need to spend $800 buying the most expensive camera
they have. I’ve used small Nikons the same way as mine and they are
just as clear. For the stage… I’ve been using a few pieces of
regular computer paper with a white flourecent lamp. Kind of like
the Ott lites. The wholesale clubs sell them for $30.

Stanley Bright
A&M Jewelers
Baltimore, MD

There are a lot of comments on jewelry photography in the orchid
archives.

As well I have a lot of articles on jewelry photography, extracts

Jewelry Photography

best
Charles

James,

In a previous life, I was a commercial photographer specializing in
tabletop work for catalogs. Lots of jewelry. Jewelry and shiny
objects are difficult, but you can do it. It’s all about controlling
the light, and the answer is soft. No direct light, it must be
either reflected (usually white art board will do the trick) or
diffused through something (hence the light boxes and tents. You
will see all sorts of boxes and domes, all of which have limitations
that become apparent when you start to use them, but are never
mentioned in the advertising (so what else is new?).

With a little thinking and a VERY few dollars, you can make a frame
out of 1" white PVC pipe, just a simple box, maybe 20 inches on a
side. Drape it on the top and sides and back with white trash bags.
Use a white or pastel colored glazed tile from the hardware store as
your base, remembering that jewelry generally acts like a
mirror…if you use black tile, you will see black in your jewelry,
as a rule. You can also use a piece of non-glare glass as a base,
with colored paper underneath it, etc. Very nice.

Most folks will tell you to use photofloods from the photo store
(expensive and hot, short life, color changes as they die) or
halogen shop lights (hot, bright, so-so color, cheap). They are
fine, but they are HOT!!! That means, sooner or later, you will burn
yourself or set something on fire and I’m not kidding.

The best light source is electronic flash, off the camera. Lots of
ways to get the flash to go off when you want it to go off. It’s
cheap, controllable, repeatable, NOT hot, and will still be working
when your work on Earth is done.

Two hints: When thinking about light, more is better (increased
depth of field is possible), weak light will lead you to very
tough-to-solve problems. And RTFM!! That means, Read The $^%
Manual!!! Camera manual, that is. You need to learn to use your
aperture in your favor and yes, you need a tripod or other very firm
support. You DO! Honest!

Wayne, figuring it out is half the fun

James,

We have one of those little soft-sided photo boxes, and have been
very pleased with it. There is a caveat here, though: we also have a
set of pretty nice lights. These were purchased for portrait
photography (which is what my husband is really into: taking jewelry
photos for me is just him being nice. ) and are big, floor- standing
monstrosities that cost a ridiculous amount to replace blown bulbs.
I’d never have bought them for jewelry photography, but as I say, my
husband is into portrait photography in a big way and they’re been
invaluable for that – so it’s a two-birds-one-stone kind of thing.

I do think you will need some sort of light with the soft sided
photo box, although probably not the fancy set up we have, and two
lights is a definite advantage. (Being able to move the lights around
gives you a chance to draw out details and create a less "flat"
look.) I think you’ll find some lighting suggestions in the Orchid
archives, many of which are quite inexpensive. I think these would
work just as well as our fancy set up.

Our results are no where near as good as the pro photogs I work
with, but they are usually clear, detailed, and perfectly adequate
for documenting your work. We use it a lot with project articles
where the artist has sent me samples rather than undertake the photos
themselves. As I say, our results have not been as good as
professional photos (so much to learn, so little time!) but they’ve
been good enough for publication.

If I’m looking for a cover photo, I call a professional. :wink:

Suzanne

I use a “cube”. It is a white synthetic material over a wire frame
that can be folded down flat, but I never do. It is about 14 inches
square. I put a small bag of sand in the bottom to weigh it down and
make it more steady. I purchased it on Ebay. The two lights I use
are from Home Depot, they are the compact fluorescent type, that are
close to daylight and will screw into any light socket. I have them
in a “goose neck” type lamp form a major office supply store. If the
photo is very important I will use the white balance feature on my
digital camera. If it is not I just use the lighting as is. My
camera is on a tripod and I use a high aperture and slow shutter
speed. To eliminate any shake I use the camera’s timer to take the
picture. The digital image is slightly modified in a popular digital
image software program. The pictures are not used for a juried show,
they are for my customers to see, and I get compliments on them all
of the time. I paid about $25 US for the cube and the lighting cost
about $35 US. For $60 I have “good” photos. With further modification
I believe that I could get “very good” photos.

I hope that this helps you.
Franklin

If the soft sided type will do that it would be great. However, if
not, I'd rather save my money until I could afford the gear that
would do the job.

Getting a decent shot is something almost everyone who wants to
photograph jewelry will grapple with at some time.

The most important considerations are evening out the lighting,
eliminating glare, and creating enough contrast to show the jewelry
in the best possible way.

The surface of your jewelry will ‘see’ whatever is around it.
Control this environment, and you will control the shot.

Soft boxes should work just fine. If you want a nearly heatless
light source, consider fluorescent bulbs in ordinary swing arm
lamps, or even common clamp on reflectors. White balance your
digital camera for fluorescent light, and it will do much of the
work of color correction for you. Most decent photo editing software
(Photoshop, and it’s cousins) will allow you to color balance, and
adjust brightness and contrast.

One designer I know scoffs at spending the money for the soft box
system. She uses the white plastic ‘doggie cones’ the vet puts on
animals to keep them from chewing on themselves. She says she can
buy the white plastic cones for about $8.00. I haven’t tried them,
but it makes perfect sense to me, and I’ve been shooting jewelry for
twenty five years.

I have actually used a cheaper version of the same idea. I make a
wide cone from a large piece of white paper, and drop that over my
subject. I leave a small hole at the top - just large enough for my
camera lens to poke through.

Try using a tripod to eliminate camera shake. To maximize your
light, and take clear photos, use a slow shutter speed, and a medium
to high f-stop. Write down, or save the settings so you have them
handy for the next time you shoot.

A little experimentation with the above recommendations should get
you pretty good results without breaking the bank.

Good luck!

Michael Rogers
M. M. Rogers Design
Albuquerque, NM