Jewelry question

[Dave Wooten]

I have a lot of jewelry to photograph-any suggestions on favorite color film?

Will probably use soft box-negs or transparencies must be scanned....

Thanks as always!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

My parents used to be in the jewelry business, so I did this kind of thing occasionally once upon a time.

I like a neutral film like EPN, maybe you might use Provia for a little more punch without overdoing it.

If you have a lot to do, consider making or purchasing a light tent so you can control reflections more easily. You can put strips of black tape or black cards inside the tent to add form to certain pieces.

 

[Dave Wooten]

Thanks Dave

I do have a light tent, and I do have a lot, individual pieces and then ensemble groupings mainly necklace, bracelet, ear ring ensembles etc....

Then I will start with the Provia and am going to shoot some in the different formats just for my own education and portfolio ..

Do you recomend shooting the Provia at 100

Thanks again Dave

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Yeah, I would shoot it at 100 for this kind of thing.

 

[Aggie]

A big thing is the color of the back ground the item will be resting on or highlighted against. if it is a more transparent colored stone, go fo the color that will make the stones color stand out. Blues for colorless diamonds, blacks for rubies, aquamarines and morst tourmalines. Yellow for alexandrites, shappires go with a nutral light color background. If you have an opaque stone such as like a pearl, darker colors tend to show off the luster. If it is a smaller stone, it can get lost in a busy background, if it is a large stone, be really careful of the fill lights they can make them look funny.

If you have a ring, use a bit of that clear stuff they use to adhere posters to walls to hold it in the position you want. Props to lay the item against are good, just be mindful of the texture patters of the background. You don't want to have you jewelry disappear in the texture.

 

[Dave Parker]

Depending on the format used, I have used my ring light in the past along with the studio lights to help even out the light, I set mine to minimum flash and then balance with the studio flashes, I even have an older ring light that I adapted for use on my 4 x 5 and have used on the LF gear also.

Dave