Hey Gang,
A new question for all you photo wizards.
Will flourescent ‘grow lights’ work as a substitue for natural
light, it has a 5000K temp rating.
Dave
I'll put it on my old Canon FTb and I'll get a picture spot on on the first roll, in the first five pix.
G’day Jess; I tried to send this direct, but my *%&#@@ computer
said that your name was ‘insufficient’ or something equally daft.
However:
Thought you might be interested to know that I have a Canon FTb
which I bought about 20 years ago, and it’s still as good as
ever it was. I was using the 50mm primary lens that came with
the camera until about 4 years ago when a very old friend (we met
when we were 14) came out to NZ so we took him and his wife on a
tour around the South Island - and he left me with a 28-200mm
zoom lens with macro facility which I now use all the time. But I
used to get excellent jewellery pics with the old lens with a
close-up attachment. If you are interested enough have a look at
http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/johnb.htm (Te Hei Matau) Which of
course is in orchid gallery. (And have a look at the others too
of course) That photo was taken using the standard 50mm lens
with the 3 dioptre close-up in front of it. The jade was
photographed in sunlight outside the house, but with a mirror
shining a shaft of light through it at an angle, so the ray
didn’t get in the lens. I only took two shots, and was using
slide film at the time. Mind you, it’s a whole lot easier with
the macro-zoom! Cheers,
Ruth:
Interesting to hear about your use of “plus lenses”. What do
you do with your photos —enlarge them or what? Are they sharp
enough for you?
The full title of the magazine is American Jewlery Manufacturer,
from the Manufacturing Jeweler’s Society of America. Metalsmth
Whoops,
The title IS American Jewelry Manufacturer, and Dr. Aspler is
right, it’s from the MJSA- Manufacturing Jewelers and
Silversmiths of America… Sorry, folks, sleepy here. Metalsmth
My photos are sharp enough withthe plus lenses- I usually send
out the slides, or have them made into prints to send out or
reproduce. Eventually, I would like to get a digital camera, so
I can play with theimages on the computer. I have tried sending
film to seattle Filmworks, but wasn’t satisfied with what I
received…yet. I haven’t sent the phots to thehigher quality,
i.e., ACC shows yet, so the juors aren’t as picky, and I’ve
gotten in without professional slides, so far. My setup is very
easy, and so far, so good. Ruth
The full title of the magazine is American Jewlery Manufacturer,
from the Manufacturing Jeweler’s Society of America. Metalsmth
Whoops,
The title IS American Jewelry Manufacturer, and Dr. Aspler is
right, it’s from the MJSA- Manufacturing Jewelers and
Silversmiths of America… Sorry, folks, sleepy here. Metalsmth
Gary,
I used a white sheet for a light tent for a while, too, then
discovered mylar. It can be found in different opacities at a
drafting or art supply store. Bend it into whatever shape you
want; it can be heated… well, warmed, and formed into domes,
etc. You get more light through it, so you don’t have to flood so
much light to begin with. Helps in metering the light, too. Cut a
hole for your lens, and you can completely surround your piece-
zero ‘little black reflections’ in a shiny surface. Metalsmth
Reply to Tobey Robinson
Hi Tobey, and all.
I’m not prepared to reproduce it here, mainly for contractural
obligations, but an article I first wrote for shutterbug magazine
is being reprinted, with some revision, in the March or April AJM
Magazine. (American Jewelry Manufacturer) The topic is Jewelry
Photography! I explain in some detail how to set up a working
tabletop photomacrography studio and produce jury quality images.
I shoot commercially for a number of craft artists as well as
myself and have had 3 magazine covers this past year.
You may contact the editor to inquire about getting a copy of the
magazine at: SWade@mjsainc.com
Her name is Suzanne Wade and though she’s usually quite busy will
take the time to help you I’m sure. You should expect to pay for
the single issue.
In terms of picking a photographer, I’d just make sure that they
have some experience with jewelry and look to see if you like work
that they have done for others. I’ve worked with a number of
excellent photographers who just didn’t understand what it takes
to shoot jewelry succesfully. Ask them to keep the images simple
with uncluttered backgrounds, feature the jewelry, not the
photographer.
Hope this leads to much shooting success! If you end up with
specific questions pertaining to this topic, feel free to ask! G
Some questions about problems I have had photographing jewelry…
1- How do you determine the correct exposure for this small shiny
object when the light meter (built int the camera or not) sees a
very different exposure requirement for the much larger background
? 2- How do you fill the frame when photographing such small
objects ? If I use a macro lens I’m getting in the way of my
lighting. The longest focal length lens I have is 90 mm. and
doesn’t come close to letting me fill the frame.
Help anybody ?
Sol K.
@solk1
Gary:
Thanks for the post about your article on jewelry photography. I
have not really had time lately to try out things to see what works
for me. I know about tenting jewelry to reduce reflections. I
know about backlighting and using white lucite or a light table for
a background for some shots. What I am wondering about is how to
best shoot jewelry with faceted stones and do justice to the
jewelry and the stones. Facetors I have talked to feel that the
stones have to be lit almost from the lens axis, maybe with two or
more light sources which are small and encourage specular
reflections, to get the best brilliance out of the stone. This
would seem to be at variance with what most recommend for jewelry.
What does one do — tent the shot and then introduce a light at
the lens to shine into the pavilion of the gem?
Thanks again,
Roy (Jess)
- How do you determine the correct exposure for this small shiny object when the light meter (built int the camera or not) sees a very different exposure requirement for the much larger background
Sol, use this old photgrapher’s trick. Put the lens alomost on top
of the piece (it doesn’t have to be in focus) to meter, then move
back, focus and shoot.
As far as filling the frame, you might have to buy another lens.
Janet B. in Phila
Jill,
I have quite a bit of experience in jewelry photograpy, and a
growing knowledge of working with the Nikon 4500. As a quick
reference check on that statement, you might check out my much
neglected website: www.goldwork.com. I did several of the photos
there with my 4500 and all with my foam core board setups.
If you haven’t bought the cloud dome yet, don’t. The mere fact that
the camera is relegated to a single subject to lens distance is
reason enough to avoid it not to mention the lack of shadow control
and the price.
It is even more problematic with the 4500 because you can use the
manual focus function only at or below midpoint in the zoom range.
And in macro situations the auto focus won’t work beyond a certain
focal length (which focal length depending on the subject to camera
distance), you have to keep going wider until the auto focus is happy
which may result in your piece being quite a bit smaller in the
framing than you would like.
For dead on shots I set up the camera pointed straight down at the
subject and get it framed. Then I make a four sided cone/pyramid out
of 1/4" or 3/16" foam core board with a base just exceeding the
framing at the focus plane and the top about 2" square. One side is
not solid foam core board, but only joined to the two adjacent sides
by thin strips of board at the top and bottom effectively making a
“window” of one side. This side I cover with frosted mylar available
at NY photo houses or in the drafting departments of art stores. In
a pinch a good grade of tracing paper will do as well.
I make this cone short enough that it can be lifted out of the setup
without disturbing either the subject ot the camera to allow for
rearranging of the piece, but as tall as I can to keep the
reflection of the opening as small as possible.
Position the cone so that the diffusion side is either opposite the
camera tripod position or to one or the other sides of it. Position
your light accordingly. You will find that this set up gives an
almost shadowless light. What shadowing does exist can be controlled
somewhat by increasing or decreasing the intensity of the light -
most easily achieved by moving the light closer of further away, up
or down.
At this point one of the few beauties of the digital camera comes
into play - white balance. Remove your subect item and put a peice
of 90% white paper down then replace the cone and use the White
Balance Pre-set function in the 4500 to get a perfect white in your
photos regardless of the color balance of your light source. This
means that any old light bulb - preferably in some kind of flood
reflector or use a flood style bulb - will give you the same quality
of color as the most perfectly balanced photoflood or strobe. Check
your manual out or write me further assistance on this if you need
it.
Once you have white balance set, put the piece back in position ,
focus and shoot. I prefer to use the manual mode and the meter, but
the auto, shutter preferred, and aperature preferred will work also
as long as you go for the highest aperature number possible. As a
side note, however, depth of field is not nearly as much of an issue
as it is in 35mm photography due to the relative small chip size to
lens focal lengths.
For side shots, or 45 degree angle shots I use a box made of foam
core, about one foot long, ten inches wide and ten inches tall. The
area on top just above the subject (failryclose to the front of the
box) has the diffusion material. I had a piece of 1/4" glass
sandblasted because it is nice and rigid. Position the piece near
the open end, at whatever distance allows the subject to fill the
frame and leaves the camera far enough outside the box to make using
the controls easy, and use more foam core or pieces or white paper to
mask the sides of the opening allowing only a narrow slit for the
lens to look through.
The box can be of whatever size necessary for the size of the work
being photographed. I oversize mine quite a bit in order to use
reflectors and shades for shadow and tonal gradation of the
background. The latter is easy to do by just cutting a square of
black construction paper across the diagonal, folding to make a
little open sided standing tent and position it behind the piece so
the light falls on the subject from above but is shaded in back of
the piece by the tent.
Again, before placing the piece use the White Balance Pre-set
function by just pointing the camera into the empty box and running
the function.
I used to always use the Hi setting (Tif format) until one day I did
both the Hi and Fine of the same shot and compared the difference
under high enlargement. Unless you’re planning on doing billboards
there is not much difference. What’s mostly lost in the Jpeg format
is color not detail. With the high setting you can
look forward to 20-30 second download times after each shot. The
Fine setting is about 5 seconds. So it depends on how fast you want
out of the studio as to which you use.
And very important with all digital cameras, but with Nikon CoolPix
cameras in particular - they “clip” highlights. This means that the
most reflective parts of the subject are wont to go pure white,
having no detail in the captured image. This is tolerable for small
highlight points on the subject, but can be detrimental to the
photograph in larger bright areas. Barring some complicated solutions
with blending high and low exposures in PhotoShop, the easiest
solution is to keep your lighting from becoming too contrasty (which
the foam core set-ups do naturally); set your camera to the low
contrast setting; and underexpose a bit which allows the brighter
areas to register some detail. You may however, have to do some
work on the final contrast and tonal range in your software later.
Les Brown
L.F.Brown Goldwork, Inc.
17 Second St. East, Ste. 101
Kalispell, MT 59901
406-257-1129