Fabric for photographing semi-precious stones jewelry

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello, I’m new to the forum. Can anybody recommend the best fabric to
photograph semi-precious stones jewelry on ?

Thanks,
Ella

2

Try a Photo Gray mat from a photo shop. It is not a fabric, but it
provides a uniform color back for your photos and it is also used
to set up your exposure.

Don

3 
Can anybody recommend the best fabric to photograph semi-precious
stones jewelry on ?

NOT black velvet: It swallows light. Actually, I’ve found paper to
be better than fabric, especially a matte finish paper that shades
from dark to light. Create whatever background that you like in a
computer and have a slide made of it. Then have matte finish prints
of the slide made in whatever size you desire (I use mostly 4 x 6
prints which work for everything but necklaces) and whenever you need
them. You can see examples of what I use on the Orchid gallery:
http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/beth.htm

Beth

4

Ella, I have used a medium gray Velour like material works well. The
rest of this advice is predicated on your making color prints at a
local automated color photo lab.

Purchase a Kodak Gray Card and set the exposure from the card . Then
place the jewelry on a like colored medium gray Velour . Do not
change the camera setting. Although photographers backdrop samples 2’
X 2’ square have been given to me , I still like the medium gray .

If you have no control over the quality or setting of the photoshop
printers used, it has been my experience that the automatic printers
will make the back ground look like the 18 % gray of the Kodak Gray
Card. Sadly the local photo shop at Wal - Mart has untrained and
unmotivated help.

I have purchased a book and video from Charles Lewton Brain which
goes into much more detail . If I were living somewhere that had a
decent photo lab, I would use Mr Brain’s book " SMALL SCALE
PHOTOGRAPHY " much more.

ROBB - Retired Old Baby Boomer

5

You can make your own gradient paper for photographing jewelry. (A
trick I learned from the talented, NH jeweler, Paul Gross). In
Photoshop, choose document size 8.5 x 11. Pick a light shade of grey
for the foreground color and a darker shade of grey for your
background color. Drag the curser from top to bottom. I printed it on
matte and semi-gloss photo paper. Works great and is much cheaper
than buying a roll of the gradient paper at the photo supplier. HTH
Kate Wolf in Portland Maine where it’s so windy that it’s raining
sideways. http://www.katewolfdesigns.com

6

Hello Ella, The fabric would be secondary step, first try to make a
good light arrangements, try out filtered light. Use a plain white
colored cotton fabric which should not have any wrinkles on it.

Rahul

7

Hi Beth, How do you have a slide made from something printed on the
computer, do you actually shoot the computer generated background
that comes from your printer with slide film to get the
slide…I’m lost! Thanks for the tip, the varitone paper I purchase
is so delicate, one move of an item and the surface is scratched and
unusable.

Diane

8

Diane there are companies that can take your digital computer file
and turn it into a slide. You can send them a disc or e-mail them a
digital file. Think of the opportunities for creating competition
winning designs on the computer without having to make the actual
pieces. etienne@etienne.com

9 
I'm lost! Thanks for the tip, the varitone paper I purchase is so
delicate, one move of an item and the surface is scratched and
unusable.

Try this. put the varitone paper on your stage. Then place a grass
platform over it, and spaced a couple inches above the paper. Your
piece to be photographed now goes on the glass. You end up with much
nicer photos doing this. The piece seems to float. I picked this
up from Jeffrey Scovil’s book Photographing Minerals, Fossils, & Lapidary
Materials.

10 
How do you have a slide made from something printed on the
computer, do you actually shoot the computer generated background
that comes from your printer with slide film to get the slide.

Hi Diane, Sorry not to reply sooner; I’ve been out of town. In
answer to your question, you copy the background image to a zip disc
or CD, take it to a lab that does this kind of processing, and ask
them to make a slide of it for you (and be sure they match the colors
as closely as possible).

Beth

11

I apologized if this reply sounds like a sales pitch but I hate to
see beautiful designed jewelry misrepresented with a bad photo.

Jewelry Photography is one of the most difficult subject in
still-life photography, it take years of experience to obtain good
results.

Please visit us at http://www.zerillistudios.com

Zerilli Studios is a full service studio specializing in Jewelry
Photography, innovative image enhancement services and break
through strategies for digital jewelry image distribution and
archival needs.

Francesco Zerilli