Need some advice on equipment.

[theam123]

Hello guys.

 

My dad is starting up a jewelry store, and I'm in charge for the photos. I have a lot of experience in photoshop, but you still need a good picture of the accessories of course.

 

Then I'm wondering.

 

I already have a tripod for the camera, and the camera itself of course. But what about lights and underlay? What would you recommand me getting ?

As far as I know I only need spots to light up the items and remove shadows (1 or more?) and some underlay for it (Which can be used?)

 

Thank you a lot for your time. And sorry for my horrible English.

[Bsmith]

Hello guys.

 

My dad is starting up a jewelry store, and I'm in charge for the photos. I have a lot of experience in photoshop, but you still need a good picture of the accessories of course.

 

Then I'm wondering.

 

I already have a tripod for the camera, and the camera itself of course. But what about lights and underlay? What would you recommand me getting ?

As far as I know I only need spots to light up the items and remove shadows (1 or more?) and some underlay for it (Which can be used?)

 

Thank you a lot for your time. And sorry for my horrible English.

NOTE:

this post might not seem serious sometimes, altough the intention is good, words don't really like me.

also don't forget to follow your topics

 

normal lights will mostly do, or the light on the camera it's self, to remove shadows the bast you can do is have a direct light(normal will do) form above of it and not to much form the sides, photographing on a white surface/area increases the visibility of your object and your ability to fix small incorrections on the sides/edges.

there are alot of ways and alot of things you can use for such a thing, i will make a few budget based lists below, since with very little alot is possible already.

 

no budget:

-white paper (A4)

-light source(any lamp) camera flash possible.

 

place your object on the paper sheet, try to get the light source directly above it (when you use your on cam flash, be aware that it is a short intense burst) the type of light doesn't really matter, nor does the colour since diffrent types(LEDs halogen TL etc) have diffrent colours and give a diffrent effect to your shot, every kind of light might work, even a flashlight.

 

small budget:

+/-$10

-white paper(A4)

-object stands

-light source

 

use object stands(or even the boxes, saves $$$) to display your object, placing multiple objects gives a better effect, be sure that the background is white when doing this, since your most likely will be facing the front of the objects, in that case try to get your light above it, the white background works as diffuser and gives a little better light spread around if your target.

 

 

normal/medium:

+/-$50

-silver/grey light diffuser

-object stands

-light source

-white cloth(or black)

 

the diffuser works just as the back ground, altough you keep this behind the camera and are able to control it a bit better, going form paper to cloth reduces the light coming form the back, black cloth works the best for this, when alse wrapping your stands with black cloth you might be able to reach a proffesional looking set-up.

 

 

no budget:

$?????

-2/4 studio lights

-light timer

-luxury black cloth

-2 silver/grey diffusers

-upgraded flash for your camera.

-top light source.

-stands wrapped with soft black cloth

 

 

 

okey let me draw this out first.

 

the gray dashes/stripes are possible locations for your light diffusers

 

this set up really talks for it's own and if you are able to accomplish this you have the a profesional photo studio, witht eh flash assists costing easiliy $1000+ it's not a reallistic idea, for this being only a single time project, but it gives an image of how it should roughly look like when taking your pictures.

 

 

i could ahve added more options, but that would ahve taken time, the most important thing here is that you have your background correct according to your light's, further on it's mostly trail and error along with moving thingsm you can already do this kinda thing without spending money, make a white box to make in your pictures, by glueing white paper on the sides of a plastic box, light it form the top and that's it, you are pretty much done, altough black would be better for jewelery since it sparkels, wich doesnt really work with white paper.

[theam123]

NOTE:

this post might not seem serious sometimes, altough the intention is good, words don't really like me.

also don't forget to follow your topics

 

normal lights will mostly do, or the light on the camera it's self, to remove shadows the bast you can do is have a direct light(normal will do) form above of it and not to much form the sides, photographing on a white surface/area increases the visibility of your object and your ability to fix small incorrections on the sides/edges.

there are alot of ways and alot of things you can use for such a thing, i will make a few budget based lists below, since with very little alot is possible already.

 

no budget:

-white paper (A4)

-light source(any lamp) camera flash possible.

 

place your object on the paper sheet, try to get the light source directly above it (when you use your on cam flash, be aware that it is a short intense burst) the type of light doesn't really matter, nor does the colour since diffrent types(LEDs halogen TL etc) have diffrent colours and give a diffrent effect to your shot, every kind of light might work, even a flashlight.

 

small budget:

+/-$10

-white paper(A4)

-object stands

-light source

 

use object stands(or even the boxes, saves $$$) to display your object, placing multiple objects gives a better effect, be sure that the background is white when doing this, since your most likely will be facing the front of the objects, in that case try to get your light above it, the white background works as diffuser and gives a little better light spread around if your target.

 

 

normal/medium:

+/-$50

-silver/grey light diffuser

-object stands

-light source

-white cloth(or black)

 

the diffuser works just as the back ground, altough you keep this behind the camera and are able to control it a bit better, going form paper to cloth reduces the light coming form the back, black cloth works the best for this, when alse wrapping your stands with black cloth you might be able to reach a proffesional looking set-up.

 

 

no budget:

$?????

-2/4 studio lights

-light timer

-luxury black cloth

-2 silver/grey diffusers

-upgraded flash for your camera.

-top light source.

-stands wrapped with soft black cloth

 

 

 

okey let me draw this out first.

 

the gray dashes/stripes are possible locations for your light diffusers

 

this set up really talks for it's own and if you are able to accomplish this you have the a profesional photo studio, witht eh flash assists costing easiliy $1000+ it's not a reallistic idea, for this being only a single time project, but it gives an image of how it should roughly look like when taking your pictures.

 

 

i could ahve added more options, but that would ahve taken time, the most important thing here is that you have your background correct according to your light's, further on it's mostly trail and error along with moving thingsm you can already do this kinda thing without spending money, make a white box to make in your pictures, by glueing white paper on the sides of a plastic box, light it form the top and that's it, you are pretty much done, altough black would be better for jewelery since it sparkels, wich doesnt really work with white paper.

Oh god. I don't know how to thank you for this, really. Woah. Thank you so much. I do have a budget of about 100$ to fix this up, so I think I'll invest in some different light sources to get a clear shot.

Now another question. Would you recommand both have black and white background or would you recommand one colour over the other?

[Williamchan87]

depending on your type of jewelery you need different backgrounds, but white is more useful in most occasions. 

[Bsmith]

Oh god. I don't know how to thank you for this, really. Woah. Thank you so much. I do have a budget of about 100$ to fix this up, so I think I'll invest in some different light sources to get a clear shot.

Now another question. Would you recommand both have black and white background or would you recommand one colour over the other?

 

it really depends on the subject, with sparkling/shiny jewelery i would go with black, since white might tend to incraese alround reflection of the light, since it bounces of the back.

 

depending on your type of jewelery you need different backgrounds, but white is more useful in most occasions. 

yeah it kinda matters, but black is the safest way to go with jewelery, all shiny and sparkly most of the time.

but i agree that white is a better alround solution.

[the pokemon kid]

Because the jewellery is going to be so small... Well I guess it is, you will probably need a prop to put it on, maybe you are using a chest prop to show a necklace off... or possibly a hand prop to show rings/ bracelets off. Could pull these off a mannequin .

I would suggest buying a pop up studio, they are only small but really you don't need it to be big I guess, if the jewellery is small. something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16-40-x-40cm-Photo-Studio-Light-Shooting-Tent-Cube-Soft-Box-4-Backdrops-/200928232031?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec841825f

 

You would then need one or two small lights which you would shine through the material to give the item even lighting and light the background up also to hide any wrinkles or blemishes in the backdrop...

 

You may also want to spend a small amount of money on some close up filters, this will allow you to get some nice macro style photos of the jewellery. Otherwise you could go more high end and buy yourself something like a dedicated macro lens. A lot more expensive but the IQ is much better compared to just using filters!

 

If however the jewellery is much larger, I mean the stuff is huge! then you would need to invest in a proper backdrop/ lights to be able to do this. A normal white muslin backdrop would work (Held up by a backdrop stand) and then a couple interfit lights perhaps as these are very cheap in the lighting world!

[BuntzenB]

Hello guys.

 

My dad is starting up a jewelry store, and I'm in charge for the photos. I have a lot of experience in photoshop, but you still need a good picture of the accessories of course.

 

Then I'm wondering.

 

I already have a tripod for the camera, and the camera itself of course. But what about lights and underlay? What would you recommand me getting ?

As far as I know I only need spots to light up the items and remove shadows (1 or more?) and some underlay for it (Which can be used?)

 

Thank you a lot for your time. And sorry for my horrible English.

 

Lightboxes are nice! You can DIY one or buy one 

here are some DIY articles

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Inexpensive-Photography-Lightbox

http://www.instructables.com/id/Photography-Light-Box/

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent/

[spexiono]

I've found this tutorial helpful but there's thousands of other tutorials available for product photography,

 

https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-take-great-photos-of-your-projects