[Summerleft]

Getting a feeling of deja vu but I dont think Ive posted this here before


I have a client next month wanting some photographs of Horse hair jewellery, Ive been doing more product photography lately however I am well aware of the pitfalls of the shiney stuff

If anyone has any hints or tips, especially as I have dull dark horse hair with silver /gold

Display has been decided either on A: knarled wood or B: equine equipment

They know this is my 'first time' so to speak with jewellery so Im not professing to be something Im not, but I hope that she will like them enough to buy some of the images

[Dabhand16]

I think Sarah has done some 'proper' jewellery photography, so might be able to help.

[Whipspeed]

Thanks Dabhand. Yes, took some photo's for advertising/catalogue last year, seriously expensive stuff that I certainly couldn't afford. You will need a light tent and I found that I really needed a good set of studio lights to capture the colour of the gold and stones correctly, you also need something in front of the tent and around the lens to stop any reflections as they are a nightmare to clone out and jewellery has to look absolutely perfect otherwise it just doesn't look right. Shoot in RAW so that you can fine tune the colour adjustment after.
For cut stones, you need to set your focus point through the stone to the back of it, if that makes sense, then you will be able to see every facet of the gem, also any dust or flaws, so clean the stuff over first, it is fairly easy if you do that to remove any specs left in PS.

[Summerleft]

Thanks sarah luckily there are no stones its just twisted horse hair mounted on silver or gold but there in lies one issue a bit like white bridal dresses and black groom suits

I have studio lighting and softboxes but I did see a tent made specifically for jewellery wondering if this would be worth getting.

[Kajuah]

A black velt backdrop is essential, too, not to mention something to mount the jewelry up on.

[Whipspeed]

Summer, just a light tent should be fine, you can get a fairly cheap one from Maplins or ebay, just position your lights either side and above and if the tent is open fronted, some material to stop the reflections on the gold and silver. You can also buy black and white acrylic cheaply to sit the jewellery on to get that nice reflective surface, again, dust can be a problem, so brush it off. But draping over wood etc should look pretty good.
PM me when you've loaded some shots, as the stuff sounds interesting.
Whats nice about this is you have time to take the shots, so can really do something interesting.

[Summerleft]

thanks, Tent purchased with a front and some inserts, only thing is I went a bit OTT and its huge!
I have the wood its a great shape for Jewellery. I've also brought the job forward and they are leaving the Jewellery with me so Ive got no stress time to get it just right.

[Whipspeed]

That's good Summer, when I took my shots, I was at the shop, so had to do several pieces, they also wanted them heavily photoshopped and layered and I like natural shots, I took some of an opal ring sitting in melting chocolate that was yummy! The staff in the shop loved it, said it looked really sexy, but the shop owner is a bit prissy and liked very clinical glamorous stuff.
anyway, let me know when you've done it, I'm looking forward to your results.
Size doesn't matter with the tent, as it affects the light in the same way, but a large tent may come in useful at some point.

[Summerleft]

Yes we already said we would go on holiday in it

[Whipspeed]

LOL!