Diamond Ring Photo's

[lexus]

I am selling a ring on ebay and it is full of diamonds every time I take a picture it is too shiny or blurry if there is no flash. Do you have any tips?

I am using a Sony R1, a N1 and a T7 all which produce the same results.

Thanks alot

 

[Blue Velvet]

Why don't you post the results so far so we can see what's going wrong?

 

[seenew]

Yes, post the results.

Based on what I hear, it sounds like it could be cleared up by just using a tripod, or something else to mount the camera on. Maybe one of those dime-a-dozen tabletop tripods?

 

[jared_kipe]

Sounds like bad flash reflection+low light.

First of all, find something to prop the ring up on, and put it infront of a backdrop of some kind.
Either tripod, or put the camera on something that isn't going anywhere.

looking through the camera rotate, or tilt, the ring untill something pleasing is coming through the viewfinder. Then use the 10 second timer and don't touch the camera when it is shooting. Make sure flash is off.

 

[spitfirejd]

Check out http://www.webphotoschool.com. They have several lessons on shooting jewelry, including "Shooting Jewelry for Print and the Web." Excellent resource. Some of the lessons are free, others have a small fee. I got their free one month subscription and downloaded all the ones I was interested in.

 

[garfield2002]

My wife is a diamond fanatic and she frequents the forums at http://www.pricescope.com. There are lots of diamond experts there and if you search for 'diamond photography' there should be a ton of free advice.

PS. Don't let wives, fiancees, or girlfriends near this site.

 

[mattw126]

Edit: Where did ringsrus go? Spammer I guess. In regards to my follow-up post below, now it kind of makes me feel like a shumck, oh well.

I posted this shot in the November thread for the hell of it. Ambient sunlight, no flash as mentioned. This came from the JPEG, I'll notch down the exposure on the RAW in Aperture before I post the pics online for the couple. Is this more or less (sans the reflection) what you're going for? I've got over a hundred examples on my hard drives, but as mentioned, post what you have so far...

EDIT: Same JPEG, slight Levels & Shadow/Highlight adjustment and a little Smart Sharpen filter on a 78% opacity merged layer. Not happy at all with the resulting artifacts in the surrounding reflected flowers, so I'll definitely work the RAW a bit, but I guess in part what I'm trying to show is that if you don't have exotic flowers in your shot the Smart Sharpen filter can be very helpful (or if you do I guess it's nothing the Art History brush can't negate).

 

[mattw126]

great job, mattw126! i really love it.

Thanks, this is a somewhat typical arrangement of the three rings shot on a glass table. I have some more 'creative' compositions from many a wedding. That to me is half the fun of wedding photography - coming up with new ideas on the same themes and executing them correctly and quickly.

As far as lexus' problem is concerned, I would say the more attractive and accurate the image of your item (especially a diamond ring), the higher the emotional urge to bid will be. It seems like all the above members & myself will have no trouble getting you squared away.

 

[creative78]

If you do have to go with flash, try and diffuse it as much as possible. If you only have an onboard flash try holding a piece of white paper in front of the flash, that should help reduce some of the harsh reflections you are getting. You can experiment with where you hold the paper as well, try some closer to the flash and others near the end of the lens. (although this would only really work with a camera that has a pop-up flash).

As suggested though, natural light (in-direct) sunlight will likely give you the best results and show off the "fire" of the diamonds nicely.

(I believe in professional jewelry photography they have special flash bulbs that bring out the best qualities of the diamond i.e. the fire).

 

[ipodtoucher]

I learned that jewelry is hella hard to photograph... I used to sell items for a jewelry store on e-bay, and it was always hard to get the right shot. Its total trial and error, try different angles, different lighting, etc. Just try try try... I will show some of my shots when I get home, but they aren't outstanding, I had limited prop options haha

 

[iGary]

I shot jewelry for hire once.

Last time I'll do that.