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This month’s Blog Carnival** is about jewelry photography.
It is a necessary part of this trade that once an item is made it has to be
documented for a variety of purposes eg, inventory, sales promotion, exhibition
and a portfolio record of the artist’s work. Very few craftspeople can afford
to hire a professional photographer to take pictures of all the things they
make, so most of us become more or less proficient at taking our own photos.
Many of us do our own photography for the full range of purposes that images
are needed for, and supplement our efforts with professionally done images for
more important publicity work such as a magazine cover.
As anyone who has set out to do jewelry photography has
learned, information on the specific subject is scant, scattered and hard to
come by. Which means that the vast majority of us learn by trial and error –
and by talking amongst ourselves, when others are willing to share their hard
earned knowledge. These discussions are
usually kicked off with…”how did you get that effect”.
95% of jewelry photography is about controlling the
lighting. That said, we have several secret weapons (tools really) that we find
indispensible to the task. First and foremost among these tools are light
diffusers. Theses soften the light and reduce or eliminate harsh reflections on
shiny surfaces.
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| Soft Box lighting unit |
We use “soft box” lighting units that have a diffuser built
in, however we frequently supplement this with additional diffusing units for
additional control or to achieve a particular effect. Diffusing units can be
constructed of anything that is translucent. We typically use lightweight white
plastic film, which can be obtained from most art supply or photography stores.
The sheeting can be cut easily with scissors to make any shape or size needed.
We often make a specific diffuser shape from coat hanger wire and tape the
plastic material to it. It’s a cheap, fast and highly effective solution. This
photo shows two rectangle diffuser panels made from coat hangers. Thin milk
plexiglass or other types of plastic that will stand up on their own are also
very useful and we have an entire armada of such shapes and panels in our
studio.
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| Diffuser Panels |
Reflectors and light scrims are the other secret weapons
that we use extensively. The most common type of reflector we use is common
matt board, black on one side and white on the other. The matt board is easily cut to any size and
shape to instantly suite the task at hand. Reflectors are positioned opposite
light sources to bounce light or color back into specific areas of the object,
such as the underside of a curved surface.
We wrap the reflector board in tin foil if brighter reflections are
needed. The black surface is used when you need to eliminate a bright
reflection. We also have a good array of various colored boards to have better
control over the color tone of the reflection.
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| Reflectors and Scrims |
Scrims are shapes, usually cut from matt board or foam core,
that help restrict, form or shape the light source. They are very useful when
you need an extra spot of light on just one small area, or you want the light
to be restricted to a specific area on the object or shooting stage. Scrims are
positioned between the light source and the object. The distances between the
three will determine how “hard” or “soft” the lighting effect will be.
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| Tripod Boom Attachment |
One of our guilty studio pleasures is the boom attachment
for the tripod. We got by for years
without one, but doing jewelry photography with one is so-o-o-o-o much easier.
The boom allows you to position the camera over a small piece rather than
shooting obliquely. It’s a small point, but can be a big deal when attempting
to get the right angle on a piece and for gaining more control over depth of
field issues related to macro lenses.
For more tips and tricks about jewelry photography, take a
look at some of the other Etsymetal Team artist’s blogs who have generously
shared what they have learned.
** Blog Carnival is a project of EtsyMetal Team, an
international group of jewelry makers, whereby various team members each write
about a common topic, giving readers a variety of perspectives.
