I thank those of you who have been contributing to the question of
jewely photographs. I do have a question … I would like to find
a good way of getting the rings to “stand up” without showing a blob
of something or a “black” ring form. Are there any suggestions?
Attached is photo of my latest “blob” photo… by the way, it was
taken with an Olympus D-560 zoom with the built in macro lense.
Thanks for any suggestions! Charlene
you could use a piece of plexi glass with a oblong hole cut in it
and the ring shank will fit in it and hold it up. and it will not
really show up in pictures
Aaron A Tracy
I don’t take photographs of my jewellery - I put pieces straight
onto my scanner bed with a sheet of A4 white paper on top, and the
images are excellent. It has taken some experimenting to get the best
results, but this works for me!
Cheers
Pat
You can use a paper clip. They make nice inconspicuous stands when
put at the center back of the ring - like a foot. Get a good
paperclip, the best ones are the triangular ones with the center
prong bent up at the end.
brigid
Charlene,
I photograph my work on a piece of non-glare glass, suspended above
a sheet of black paper by two 2x4 blocks. I simply glue the jewelry
into position with a tiny drop of “Super Glue.” You can do all kinds
of amazing positioning without seeing any support. For brooches, I
have a thin piece of wire with a small pad soldered to each end. I
glue the brooch to one end of the wire, and glue the other end to the
glass. I then bend the wire so that the entire thing is hidden behind
the brooch. Just a little twist, and the jewelry comes loose, and
acetone or Attack will remove any glue.
Suspending the glass above the black paper helps to keep the
background out of focus, and allows me to use a mirror or white board
to reflect light from beneath the jewelry. Adds drama to the photo.
Douglas Zaruba
@Douglas_Zaruba
I sometimes use a piece of mounting putty on the back side of the
ring unless they are very heavy, and if they are they are usually
wide enough to put enough putty to hold them
To take pictures of rings and other ‘stand up’ jewellery, get a
piece of good unscratched glass and clean it thoroughly. Lay the
sheet of glass on two piles of books (or whatever) and put the item
on the glass with a suitable unfussy background beneath it. If
you light at an angle from the vertical, then photograph immediately
above the item, it will appear to be floating in space, emphasized
if there is a shadow to one side.
Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua, Nelson NZ
Blue tack. You can buy it at Staples. It is used for sticking notes
on a wall. I t comes off easily and you only need a tiny bit.–Good
luck. Jan
there’s a waxy thing that comes i a little can for holding up
candles, it’s pastier than plain wax and it’s clear. I think it’s
actually called candle holding wax. I guess i bought it in one of
those craft stores. it’s really sticky and strong so you should need
just a little bit for holding your stuff.
Julieta Odio Bernardi
Designer/Metalsmith
Thanks John for the hint, however, what do you use to get the ring
to stand up on the glass? Charlene
Charlene, A friend recently visited and was looking at rings I
previously had in a case that were still as they were set for
display. I wonder if that may work for a photo.
I had taken a fine linen table napkin and rolled into finger shape.
I slipped the rings onto it so there was no problem of them flipping
around while in a display case and no obvious glue or tacky stuff
holding them up. She declared it a very elegant way to display them
and would do so her next case presentation.
So, say your display background is black, take a tightly woven firm
piece of fabric and roll it think enough for the ring to slip onto
and stay upright. Take a photo and see if it looks ok, I think the
roll of black fabric may just merge into the background and the ring
should appear almost suspended.
Just an idea,
Teresa
I made a tack stick which I use for pulling cabs from bezels-- it is
beeswax which I kneaded with powdered charcoal. got the recipe from
Carles Codina’s book. I use it to pick up small stones, and it is
also so wickedly sticky that I can use it to pull a stubborn
cabachon from a bezel. When photographing cabachons, I have found
that I can take a very small pinch from my tack strip (aka setters
waxstick) and use it to position the cabs and set them upright.
Being black, it has it’s advantages when photographing stones.
Lee Einer
Dos Manos Jewelry
http://www.dosmanosjewelry.com
Thanks John for the hint, however, what do you use to get the ring to stand up on the glass?
G’day again. Charlene; I should have mentioned that the ring is
laid flat on the glass. Being photographed from above the result
will seem that the ring stands up alone in space with nothing
holding it.
Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua, Nelson NZ
Hee Hee… I found a very old roll of surgical tape works well. The
older the stickier the better. A small piece of it will pull a tough
cab from its bezel… What ever works…
On a piece of non glare glass laid upon a cardboard box with a dark
cloth covering it (under glass).All, I use a white sticky stuff to
hold vases etc. stable (forgot the name of it. It is not so sticky
that it stays stuck to the glass or jewelry ( and you can reuse it)
Take a look at my website to see results.
Thomas
www.islandgoldworks.com
I have found that the best way to hold the object to be photographed
is to use a hot glue gun and put a small dab of the glue on the
surface, you have a small window of opportunity as to how to place
the object “just so”, but enough time to get it at the angle you
want to have. The glue, once solidified, holds the object sturdily
and you can even move the base to change the angle of the object
being photographed. When finished, the glue simply pops off,
leaving no marks or residue. This also works very, very well on
glass as it is almost colorless and does not create shadows. It
works equally well with both the hot melt glue and the low melt
glue. Beth Katz