taking pictures of pearl jewellery

[New Zealand Natural Pearl]

The fabric I used is non woven fabric, very eco friendly. Great for letting the light through but not so easy to secure its position with white masking tape..
My light source is an old desk lamp with an energy saving lamp 20 watt cold white, which gives a similar light output to a 100w incandescent lamp.Best picture results if the lamp is pointing down in a 1 o'clock position towards the object. I took this picture using the AV option on my canon 14.7pixel camera, ISO 200, light to nearly +1,

 

[GemGeek]

Preciousssssss.......

Yes, we misses our Smeagol-puss.

 

[Caitlin]

Thanks! That is so DIY! Next thing you know, I'll be making good photos too.

 

[New Zealand Natural Pearl]

Smeagol fell asleep over Jewellery by Margaret Flower. Bus he is sending his greetings to his fans.

 

[GemGeek]

Tell Smeagol that he just made my day!

 

[bluidragon]

This is masterful. I tried everything to get the right lighting and in the end it was ....ugh. thank you for showing the pictures of your white box. I need to bring out my cardboard box and check out the stores for the lining.

 

[waimeamomi]

Wow! Finally figured it out. I've been fighting with pictures and had just about given up on getting good ones. Took this one, no retouching except for cropping. Guess how?? After 3 years, I finally picked up the camera manual and started reading. Still working on it and this is not perfect, but omg, such a relief.

 

[GemGeek]

That's great! What's the filler? Rough diamond, silver?

 

[waimeamomi]

They are little bright silver beads. I need to tweak it just a little more so they will show better. Plus I seem to lose detail when it get's posted here. Gonna keep playing with that camera & the manual! Then redo on the shop.

 

[whiteferrero]

Love this thread! Very helpful!

Although a question, i like to see the pearls with their wearers. Like good old Smeagol here.
Or more commonly, human models. Do you have any tips on how to bring out that shine? Similar to the DIY lightbox approach.
Would there by a humoungous light box for human use? O_O

Thanks in advance!

 

[Katbran]

Bumping this thread for the great photo information. I've been on a quest to improve my photos !

 

[GemGeek]

It's worth it just to see Smeagol again!

 

[Katbran]

LOL That's very true GemGeek ! That's a perfect (purrrfect) name for that cat !!

 

[Amrita]

Really what a great thread this is - with so much useful information on taking pearl pics! Just went through it all again. Thanks for the bump Katbran! Loved seeing Smeagol again too!

 

[Amrita]

A light box really does make a world of a difference to the quality of pearl pictures. Of course, the question remains though whether the pearl pictures look more realistic (as they would most of the time when worn) in outdoor light, under indoor lighting or in a light box?.

Below are 2 pictures of the same necklace in a light box and under indoor lighting. Comments on the comparison of the 2 pictures??

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I'm guessing the photo on the right is the light box photo. It is a lot more colorful, the green colors in particular. I will go so far as to say they don't look like the same necklace.

Seems to me that those green overtones are often lost in normal lighting.

 

[Katbran]

I just took similar photos yesterday while experimenting...so I'm guessing that the right is the light box ... tho I got my best results from using the light box outside in the sunlight (no direct light on pearls). I had lots of shots indoors with the 'grey/blue' background or 'yellow' background .. only clear white (and still not the same colour as the cloth) was outdoors in the light box.

I think the lights I am using are too 'yellow' . My son is going to bring down his huge car detailing lights (yet another hobby pursued and dropped lol ) which are a 'white' halogen light...be interesting to see the difference. It would be good to point out that my light box and lights are not high quality and that's probably another mistake.

Lovely ripples by the way !!

 

[Amrita]

Thanks Pearl Dreams and Katbran. Well actually, the picture on the right is the one taken under indoor lighting (indirect though) and the one on the left is in a light box. I think the problem might be that I had taken the light box picture in the evening when the light was fading. I do not take the box outside like you Katbran - maybe that is the best thing to do. However, I have it in my bay window and I think there is enough light there during the day. I should remember to click the pictures during the day.

But the question remains: which kind of pictures are closer to how the pearls look most of the time? Here is another example of what I mean - a set of 3 photos, 2 taken under indoor lighting and one in a lightbox. The strand in the lightbox is not the exact same strand as in the other 2 photos but it is taken from the same lot of pearls so it is similar. I am sure I clicked the light box picture when there enough daylight from the window, but do you think it shows enough details?

 

[lisa c]

Anybody else have the photos stacked top to bottom, instead of side to side? I like them because they're huge, but I think I'm missing the points.

​I must say, Gloriously huge!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Lisa,

Widen your browser window and it will change the way the photos are laid out. (If I narrow my window, the photos are top to bottom.)