macro lenses and focal distance

I am a jewelry designer and am new to the world of photography, so please excuse my ignorance on these issues.

I am planning on getting a rebel xt to take pictures of my pieces for the web and for print. The pictures need to show details, and several forum members recommended that I get a macro lens also.

How close would I need to get to the jewelry when I use a macro lens? It seems that with most, if not all, of the lighting set-ups marketed for jewelry photography, the camera cannot get closer than about 10 inches away from the item. Would the macro lens work with such a set-up? Do I need to get a different lens, or find a lighting system that will allow me to get closer?

Thanks in advance to all the experienced photographers in this forum!

Lisa

I suggest you look at "ring lights" designed for macro work. Sunpak, Vivitar, Phoenix and others have them starting just below $100.00.

J Rabin has written a very long explanation of macro lenses many times. Here is one of his more recent versions.

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=94767

How close you need to get will depend on how large an object you're photographing and what you want your final resolution to be. For instance, to get a full-frame picture of a ring for print purposes, you'll want to be shooting about 1:1, so the total distance from film plane to subject will be 4x the lens' focal length. For a bracelet, you'll be able to back off a fair bit more. If you're photographing for web use only, you can set up to fill the image with your subject and downsize it as needed, or you can set up further away and crop the picture.