Plea for Help/Macro/Jewellery

Calina

I could call it a C&C but that might imply that I actually think these are any good.

I bought a new 40D this morning. I'm very pleased with it. Compared to the last one it has a big advantage - it still works. I got slagged at work by a photographer friend who pointed out to me that at least he had a camera.

I do again. While I was at it, Gunns didn't have a 60mm macro but they did have a 100mm. I want it all I want it all I want it all I want it now. Bonus marks for identifying the band.

So I bought the 100mm. Actually, when I bought the 50mm 1.8 I had visions of doing stuff like this with macro extensions but somehow never got around to buying them. I did get around to buying the cloth to rest the jewellery on, so here we are. The jewellery is mine.



I took the lens and the camera out to play, naturally enough (well the weather is dire and I was too busy to go to the rally these morning and anyway i didn't have the camera until around 11am). I like this but see the comments at the end for why there's this plea for help stuff going on.



I like the detail of the chain on this one. Also I'm appalled by how tarnished the silver is on the amber mount and as amber is fairly fragile I am reluctant to dump it in Coke(r) to clean it. O/T - any hints to clean that silver would be good.



Some technical notes:

1) All the photographs were lit with a 580 Speedlite II (which survived the trip to Brazil which killed my last camera). In some cases, the flash was bounced off the ceiling; in others, off the jewellery and stones. You can pretty much tell which is which as the direct flash caused harsh reflections in one of the transparent stones.

2) Prior to the flash firing, the room was almost dark. The photographs were on autofocus which is a bad habit I picked up when I was shooting kitesurfers. I am wondering how appropriate it is here. Because of the lack of ambient light, the autofocus battled hard to find focus.

3) Someone else's camera has a bit of my tripod so hand held.

The apertures varied between 2.8 and 6.3. In fact, I upped from 2.8 because the lack of DOF and ambient light caused the focus point to not necessarily be on what I wanted it to be. But I'm still not altogether happy. The last shot in particular, while I like the composition of it, is far from adequately in focus.

anyway I'd welcome opinion and hints. I've a crystal thingie somewhere that I want to play with when I get my tripod working again and I'd really like to see if I can get the flash to bounce off the cut edges.

I haven't done a whole lot with the flash either and while the ceiling bounces left me with very balanced/natural looking light, they didn't quite get the impact I was looking for.

ThOnda

Pretty good, I must say. And some thougts now...
From my lack of experience, I would suggest softening the light from the flash - a pure white paper napkin or some white cloth. Lots of reflective (white) surfaces for brightening shadows. I have even tried shooting flash from the (laundry) softbox and it makes huge difference. Not to mention getting/making cheaper light tent.
The jewelery is not 100% cleaned and it could be seen - be careful about it. Macro lense is going to show everything.
The worse are metalic objects - they will show reflected colour. If you have shiny surfaces, strategically placed gold/siver reflectors could enhance the colour of the metal.
Do you have the miniature desktop or compact camera tripod? That helps me with keeping camera steady for focusing when I am shooting small objects on my desk. It is not a solution, but it helps.
I would recommend using manual settings, MF including. Well, it is easier with a tripod. And also exposure chart and colour chart would help you to set processing values.
Other than that I would mention again softening the light, using lots of reflective surfaces and a lens hood (the flash light falling onto the lense could soften the whole image).

John

I've never tried to shoot jewellery but one thing I will say is that always use manual focus on macro, the autofocus never works as well.

Not much help other than that.

Oh and the song's by Queen

Borderfox

Have a look at this months Professional Photographer magazine, good article on jewellery/watches shooting. http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/in-this-issue

Also as thonda says above soften the light as with most other shooting, perhaps use live view with the 10x magnification to perfectly focus on what you want.

rymus

light is quite harsh, would agree with the above. As was pointed out to me earlier, why not get yourself into dunnes, buy one of those cheap white popup laundry holder things and shine a bare bulb into it from either side. You'll get far softer light and using continuous light instead of a flash should give you more predictable results. Pop the camera on a tripod and set to manual maybe? That's what I'd do anyway!

Calina

Ah, there are tripod issues at the moment and I am broke so not spending any money for at least 24 hours. I saw my gas bill this morning. I was lucky not to faint.

1 was lit differently to 2 and 3, so if you're talking about the light being harsh, I'd be interested to know if it's across the board or just either 1 or 2/3.

oshead

These are nice for a first attempt.

The images are a bit too contrasty, probably due to inadequate diffusion. The main rule to remember I guess is bigger and closer diffusion. The DOF is too narrow in these also. For this type of photography, usually you see very wide DOF. Try starting @ f16 to see how much difference it makes. If you don't get enough DOF you could investigate how to do focus stacking. Its quite easy once you master it. Helicon focus is one of the more popular programs to use. Its freeware too, and easily found in google.

Another item you might find useful is a macro focusing rail. The best low cost entry model is made by Velbon. I think its called the Mag Slider Focus Rail. I got mine really cheap from ebay about a year ago. Havn't used it much though. Its way too slow for insects but perfect for your needs.

Just another tip regarding hand holding and macro shots. It can be very difficult, especially @ 100mm. Because you need the widest DOF to shoot these things, the shutter speed goes through the roof. What you need to do is let the flash do the work of freezing the image. This is easily achieved using the settings that I've laid out below. I regularly use these when shooting lifesize and higher.

• Set the camera to shutter priority (TV on a Canon) mode.
• Underexpose the ambient light by 2 full stops.
• Set flash exposure compensation (FEC) to -2/3.
• When exposing the image try and keep the shutter speed no slower then 1/40th of a sec.
• The f value could be anywhere between f8 to f16.
• Adjust ISO speed settings to 400 or more.

The settings can all be adjusted slightly to suit your needs and are easily saved off as a camera custom setting.

Calina

Many thanks for that. I want to take this out in daylight (have you seen the weather) tomorrow, maybe to somewhere around Portmarnock (if it's not raining, that is) and have a shot at these things in daylight-ish.

pixbyjohn

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=RNCmuExlHvM&feature=related

Would this help?

oshead

Calina wrote: »

Many thanks for that. I want to take this out in daylight (have you seen the weather) tomorrow, maybe to somewhere around Portmarnock (if it's not raining, that is) and have a shot at these things in daylight-ish.

I think its forecast as sunny and clear, maybe a bit overcast without rain would be preferable. Any way, good luck.

Dave OS

Calina

It's also freezing cold here. I think I'll be hitting into the ornaments and jewellery again later on.

Thanks for all the advice.