Jewellery photography advice
Discussion
i have a Nikon D7200 and need some advice for jewellery photography;
what would you recommend for the following i am thinking of;
macro lens- Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS EX DG Macro HSM Lens - Nikon AF
lighting kits that are fixed. don't need portable- Elinchrom D-Lite RX 4 set
I have a light box and tripod. Budget wise we are a business looking to expand rapidly so would need something that is beneficial in the long run. Any other items that you would recommend?
What setup do you guys have for small items?
For small jewelry items a macros lens is pretty much essential and the one suggested is a fine lens.
Your struggle will be firstly with lighting. Most lighting kits are designed to help give nice soft lighting which for most things is absolutely great. If you are shooting jewels however (diamonds for example), you need an element of hard light aimed at the jewel as well as soft light (for the non sparkly bits) - the hard light contours the shape of jewels and makes it sparkly whereas soft light dulls it out. This requirement for a combination of the two is what makes this so tricky. I've done a bit of this type of photography but its a challenge to light well and retouching macro shots requires quite a bit of skill and attention to detail - a lot depends on the condition of the jewelry and how clean it is to start with.
I'm a seasoned pro photographer and well versed with lighting and shooting all sorts of genres but jewelry I think is technically one of the most challenging things to do. Of course if its simple jewelry with materials that don't require hard light and are not too reflective in nature then a basic kit as you suggest will be fine. Anything else I'd consider hiring a jewelry photography specialist (not me!).
Your struggle will be firstly with lighting. Most lighting kits are designed to help give nice soft lighting which for most things is absolutely great. If you are shooting jewels however (diamonds for example), you need an element of hard light aimed at the jewel as well as soft light (for the non sparkly bits) - the hard light contours the shape of jewels and makes it sparkly whereas soft light dulls it out. This requirement for a combination of the two is what makes this so tricky. I've done a bit of this type of photography but its a challenge to light well and retouching macro shots requires quite a bit of skill and attention to detail - a lot depends on the condition of the jewelry and how clean it is to start with.
I'm a seasoned pro photographer and well versed with lighting and shooting all sorts of genres but jewelry I think is technically one of the most challenging things to do. Of course if its simple jewelry with materials that don't require hard light and are not too reflective in nature then a basic kit as you suggest will be fine. Anything else I'd consider hiring a jewelry photography specialist (not me!).
kman said:
If you are shooting jewels however (diamonds for example), you need an element of hard light aimed at the jewel as well as soft light (for the non sparkly bits)
.
The jewellery we sell is simple jewellery and not expensive. I am also thinking to get this for lighting http://www.bowensdirect.com/index.php/continuous-l....
any thoughts on the bowens?
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