Macro Questions From Newbie

Greetings everyone! You all came highly recommended from another forum I frequent.

A little background on myself and my interest in photography: A few months ago, I purchased a Canon Rebel XTi for several purposes, mainly to use at work. I have also been interested in photography for quit some time, but know next to nothing about it. However, I’d like to think I’m slowly learning.

Mainly, I’ve been keeping it on the “auto” setting, but my wife is starting a website to market the jewelry she makes. Obviously, we wanted to take ‘professional’ photographs of her work to put on the website, which is where we are having problems.

After hours of research, I made a macro light box. I added two ‘light balanced’ florescent light bulbs (5000k) 100w equivalent to the mix. Also, after hours and hours of research I purchased the Canon 60mm macro EFS. As you can see by poking around here, http://tammaleensbeads​.com/store/Default.asp , the images are substandard.

As we are clearly not well versed in (macro) photography, I need some help and advice. Most of the photos are ISO 100, 1sec exposure and f36. Tonight, I’ve been toying around with adjusting the aperture AND the exposure time (a giant step for me), and have been getting some pretty good (for me) results Below is an example. It may be a little overexposed, but I’m trying. IIRC, it was 400ISO, 1/10, and f9.

So any comments or advice you all can offer would be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah, if I’m not stating any terminology correctly, feel free to let me know!



edited to add pic

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I wish I could give you advice on this. But the picture above is too bright....or something. It's not showing enough detail in the smaller silver beads, and the fish hooks on the earrings are barely noticeable. They're blending into the background.

first off Welcome. The picture looks too bright to me you might try moving the lights some, smaller wattage bulbs, or getting a dimmer. Try not to shoot in auto and shoot in raw if you can. It can also help if you get a white/gray card to make sure your white balance is right.

You might try a different color background

You also might want to give you image some 3 dimensional character. Try and shoot from an angle other than 90 degrees to the background. You can also use your light to emphasize (maybe side light) the solid nature of the jewelry. As others mentioned, try a little more contrasty background. Good luck, Dennis

Thanks for all of the help so far!

I figured out that taking shots with an f in the 30's does not produce the most desireable images. I have slowed the shutter speed way down to ~1/10, f9, and ISO 400 and with a little help from Paint Shop I the pic below.

I'm also wondering if it is 'OK' or customary to edit these types of images. I still have yet to get a perfect image for her website, but we're getting close.

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You may find this helpful:

http://www.tabletopstu​dio.com …s/jewelry_photo​graphy.htm

If you represent the subject accurately and/or the viewer isn't mislead then it's perfectly acceptable (and customary) to take advantage of PP to enhance an item's visual appeal.

I shoot a lot of jewelry with a variety of lenses, cameras, lighting, backgrounds, underlighting, etc. There is no one formula that works for every type of jewelry product out there and it takes time and patience and experimentation to develope skill. Here is a client's necklace i shot this week that she approved. Also, here is a bracelet with anopther set of challenges. I shot several exposures because of the challenge of white pearl stones, silver clasp, etc. All I can say is keep shooting and trying out differnet angles and exposures. Thanks katt

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