Finally I can take a decent pearl photo!

[Casey.R]

I've had a very hard time in the past taking photos that really show the colors. I noticed GemGeek was using paper towels which seems to work well and not using the flash helped too. The photos are a little dark.
Oh yeah, and these are my Tahitian drop earrings and pendant. The colors are subtle and show up best in indoor lighting.

 

[pattye]

Very nice, Casey! Those look sooooo beautiful! Great job with the camera, too! I will have to try the paper towel thingie also.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[GemGeek]

Your terrific photos really bring out the lovely overtones. Great job!

Yeah, for some reason, the papertowel thing helps bring out the true color and it's not reflective, so it doesn't interfere. Indirect natural light helps too, but the angle and strength of the sun keeps changing so it can be frustrating. I've found that there is a 15 minute period in the afternoon when the sun is about to go over the houses across the street, to be particularly magical.

We do what we can for our art!

 

[pernula]

Hi Casey,

Beautiful peacock overtone on those pearls!

Pernula

 

[danachit]

I grew tired of having to rely on my girl from college to show up with her Canon Rebel so I treated myself to one.

Can't wait to start taking pics! I think Sundance has some good ideas for jewelry props. Hopefully I can think of something original for my pieces.

 

[youngster]

Lovely! I so want some Tahitians. Do you wear them often?

 

[Casey.R]

Thanks! Youngster, I go through phases where I'll wear them like four days in a row ( not to bed of course) and then I won't wear them again for a few weeks. I feel I get pretty good wear out of them.
I got them at Pearl Paradise.

 

[SteveM]

Sitting on the plane today looking at 'Sky Mall' I ran across this. Looks like it may be worth a try. Shall I be the guinea pig?

 

[jerin]

Sitting on the plane today looking at 'Sky Mall' I ran across this. Looks like it may be worth a try. Shall I be the guinea pig?

Hi Steve,

that would be nice. Please let us know whether this is a good investment for photographing pearls!

 

[Sueki]

Hello Steve,
I've got one of those light studios and it's brilliant for photographing every kind of jewellery except pearls.
The best for pearls - for me, anyway, is natural daylight.
Mind you, I'm no expert when it comes to photography, but I've tried every which way to get decent pics. of pearls, and the light tent set-up doesn't do pearls at all well for me.

 

[Mandy]

Nice photos Casey! You can really see the colors on those pearls

 

[SteveM]

Please let us know whether this is a good investment for photographing pearls!

As 1)we can use this for photographing our wine bottles and 2) results will no doubt be superior to many I've posted here, I'll give it a go. Will post results!

 

[Caitlin]

We have a thread somewhere- I can't remember where, where Jeremy recommends just this kind of lightbox setup. I think they have the pro equivalent at Pearl Paradise

Good luck and post the results!

 

[judimcc6]

photographing pearls

photographing pearls

I use a Cloud Dome system to photograph pearls and other jewelry pieces. The light is diffused around the piece so you don't get any direct harsh and single source lighting. Using daylight type lighting is also recommended. There are some fairly inexpensive lights on the market. The system in Sky Mall looks interesting and well priced, but the angles of the tent trouble me a little.

Also, I have found that using a frosted piece of glass from a glass shop and raising it off the surface with small juice glasses in each corner placed under the glass works really well for a neutral base.

Good luck,
Judi

 

[jerin]

Hi judimcc6,

that sounds like very good advice. Thanks

 

[SteveM]

As 1)we can use this for photographing our wine bottles and 2) results will no doubt be superior to many I've posted here, I'll give it a go. Will post results!

Just posted this over at 'Exotics' and remembered this thread. Today was my first use of the inexpensive SkyMall portable photo box. No indoor lighting, and a rather cloudy, dark Seattle late afternoon providing practically no natural light. Focus and resolution issues, for sure (and a four-year-old Nikon), but these FW exotics look pretty much the way they do in person?

 

[lisamla]

Wow, the picture looks great. I'd be curious to see pictures of the same strand without the photo box setup.

 

[Raisondetre]

I want ovals ...