Jewellery photography help

[Gouba]

Time to pick your brains

Im doing some jewellery photography for a friend of mine, i can get everything perfect (with my own and some borrowed gear) but am having trouble getting a consistantly straight shot, as in rings not being perfectly perpendicular to the camera lense, creating some distortion

Is there some magic trick, some piece of gear that will help me increase the consistancy of my photos so I dont have to reshoot any?

[PhotosGuy]

as in rings not being perfectly perpendicular to the camera lense, Thats a simple geometry problem, isn't it? Alignment of the ring with the front of the lens? And, superglue might help. ;)creating some distortion A long(er) focal length lens will reduce the distortion if you have misalignment.

[ssim]

Here is (http://www.tabletopstudio.com/) a link to Tabletop Photography (http://www.tabletopstudio.com/). They have some good information in there on the whole concept and some dedicated pages to jewelry.

[gasrocks]

But if you were using the 90/2.8 TS-E lens (and had some experience with it) you wouldn't be asking this quesiton. Hint, hint.

[Gouba]

But if you were using the 90/2.8 TS-E lens (and had some experience with it) you wouldn't be asking this quesiton. Hint, hint.haha your funny...

ill just pull one out of my ass ( i wish i could do that, it would be so handy)

[John_B]

ill just pull one out of my ass ( i wish i could do that, it would be so handy)

Gouba,
If you ever do that make sure you get some one to take some photos of it! :lol:

To your problem try using some rulers and make exact measurements to help placing the subject.

[JWright]

Check out these products by QuakeHold. These might help you to position the rings relative to the lens. I used to shoot archaeological artifacts and found this stuff invaluable for holding the artifact in the right position.

http://quakehold.com/collectibles.html

[Inspired Photography]

Can you post some examples?

I shoot alot of product photography, and find that I often use 200mm or longer focal lengths. Now i admit I don't shoot jewellery, but i am sure this still applies.

Shooting with a longer focal length reduces perspective distortions as the distance between the front and rear of the object is a smaller distance in ratio to the distance to the lens. Did i just say that?

It is hard to get product placement right. Especially shooting large products on an angle and making sure you get the right angle etc when they send you a late sample after you have shot the others GRRRR.

After shooting thousands of product images, I have no idea how to do anything better than tape on the floor, tape on the shooting table, and a few notes of placement if required.

I use something called Magic Tape, as once pressed onto the plexi table, it is almost invisible.

Hope that helps.

Rob