First Time Jewelry Photography For Store

gohan2091

Senior Member
A local jewelry store has approached me asking if I would be interested in photographing 900+ items of jewelry. I have agreed to meet them next week but I have no experience with still photography (I shoot Weddings and portraits) I have a fair bit of equipment but willl tell you the equipment I think is relevant to this job:

- Nikon D7100
- Sigma 105mm macro lens
- 80cm Light tent (on it's way)
- 30cmx30cm black and white Acrylic boards (on their way)
- Two external flash units (SB700 and YN-568EX)
- Yongnuo YN-622N and YN-622N-TX wireless triggers
- Tripod
- Remote
- White and black foam core
- 5in1 reflector
- Light stands

Am I right in thinking I have all the gear required to do a half decent job? I understand having photography lamps such as these would be more convenient but would flash work well? The store wants a white background on all the images but I have concerns that silver on white would not look good. What would be the process of setting this up? What general settings should I use? I was thinking the following:

- Full manual mode, ISO100, F16
- Manually set white balance (place grey card in cube)
- Spot metering
- Flashes on manual power (one either side of the light cube)

Once I am happy with the lighting, is it the case of leaving the settings the same for each item? Or would photographing a gold ring for example require different settings to say a silver pendant? I'd appreciate any tips you can offer me.
 
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Fred Kingston

Senior Member
do yourself a favor and ditch the light tent... get something like this...

NG STUDIO TABLE

It lets you move items in and out faster than those cube/tent things... and greater handling flexibility... the different colored papers also give you more flexibility... and you'll wanna grab a bunch of different modeling props to hold the jewelry... they come in both white and black... the props are also a PITA moving in/out/around inside those tent cubes... another reason you want the open backdrops
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
I know what you purchased, and that's fine for onesy twosey items... ;)

You can make the table I linked from materials at any arts & craft store... It's basically a hinged piece of plastic..(you can make a hinge out of tape.) And large pieces of construction paper in various colors... they're held onto the plastic (heavy cardboard) with paper clips...

You did ask for advice...:)
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Since you'll be switching between gold and silver... I'd also recommend a color calibration target, and creating specific color profiles for your setup once you get your lighting setup...
 

gohan2091

Senior Member
Yes I did ask for advise and I appreciate your input, however, my crafting skills are extremely bad, I don't feel comfortable locating the peices I need let alone setting it up correctly. I really don't see what's wrong with a light cube, I mean that's really what the cube is made for; this sort of work. If it's difficult to move items in and out, then I shall find out when I am doing it, and then maybe I will look at other options. I'm more concerned with my camera settings, are those that I listed above a good start? Will flash be suitable or do I need constant lights? I really don't want to spend anymore money to be honest, I've spent way more than I've earnt from photography jobs.

Colour calibration targets cost a fortune for what you get. How does gold and silver change the way the photo looks? How does the different metals alter my cameras exposure?
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
You seem to be worried about costs. You are being paid by a business to shoot 900+ items, aren't you?

You can use flash... I use fixed lights... flash creates a lot of glare on shiny objects... Using fixed lights lets you dial in a color temp, and start shooting...

Color Calibration targets are $10
 

gohan2091

Senior Member
Yes I'm being paid but that money is to help pay for the equipment I've purchased over the last 2 years. If you can find me a colour calibration target for $10 in the UK, I'll likely buy it but everywhere I am looking, the prices are much more expensive than that. I have a grey card, can't I use that? How do I set my white balance when using flash? and would glare be caused even when I am firing the flash through the tent? Wouldn't it be diffused?
 

gohan2091

Senior Member
Posting an Amazon.com link is useless to me, I am in the UK and it cannot be shipped here. Here is one at $100 :(. A light meter is more expense I'd rather not pay for and I understand it calculates light exposure, not white balance? is that right? How would I set my white balance when I am using flash? I'm asking a lot of questions but only a few have been answered. Anyone?
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
You can set your white balance to "flash" if you're using flash. And make adjustments in PP by including a grey scale card in a few images.

You can set your white balance to the specific color temperature of your lights if using fixed lights, and then make adjustments in PP, and save as a preset...
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
I have done a lot of product photography, your sigma 105 is a very good lens for this (I own one), especially manually focused. I would not be using flash rather fixed lighting for the job. You shouldn't need to change exposure settings much once it's all set up. Use fixed lights (even shop lights used in construction) a remote shutter and use the exposure meter within the camera. I have shot such items on black material and it worked out very well. You can adjust the white balance in Lightroom or Photoshop but concentrate on really well focused and sharp images, you will do just fine. Shoot in manual, manual focus, Highest f stop number the lighting permits, and watch what your shooting on the lcd. Good luck, sounds a little tedious.

Ps Watch for and adjust your lighting to eliminate shadows.
 
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gohan2091

Senior Member
I've ordered focusing rails, thanks for the suggestion but I was going to just turn the manual focus dial to adjust DOF. I'd love to buy some fixed lighting but I don't drive and going to this place via bus, I can't be carrying too much gear with me. I will try with flash on either side of the tent and see how I go. I am hoping once I set up the lighting, I won't need to adjust it as I change items but I'm not sure. Why would one use manual focus instead of auto? Also, how does one get a white background while not blowing out the highlights in the jewelry?
 
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PaulPosition

Senior Member
Well, focus stacking will let you composite an image with impossible depth of field, obviously. But that wasn't implied in "I'll just turn the focus dial to adjust DOF"... Aperture is used to adjust the depth of field.
 

gohan2091

Senior Member
Well, focus stacking will let you composite an image with impossible depth of field, obviously. But that wasn't implied in "I'll just turn the focus dial to adjust DOF"... Aperture is used to adjust the depth of field.

Yes, I am aware aperture adjusts depth of field, however, I don't want to use extremely small apertures such as F36 because I hear the images come out soft. With my Sigma 105mm macro (new version), I think I can go to F22 without it becoming too soft.
 

gohan2091

Senior Member
I've photographed around 50 necklaces now for the store and I am happy with what I have done considering I have no previous experience. The owner wants the necklaces displayed on a black velvet necklace stand to hold the shape of the necklace. I am having SERIOUS problems with lint and white marks on the velvet. It's making my editing times seriously long. I am having to use a dust/scratches filter to remove all the marks and then paint back the necklace with the masking tool. I am also having to darken the top right and left edges because my black background isn't as dark as the holder. Any tips? I've tried a lint roller (for those found for suits) but it hasn't helped much at all. I also tried dabbing sticky tape over the velvet and even adding water but nothing is really working.
 
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