Kerry's Jewelry

I tried recently to photograph some of my friend Kerry's jewelry. It was a lesson for me in how to go about doing this. I learned a lot. There are a couple of decent photos, though, and the jewelry is lovely, so I thought I would share a couple and tell you what I've learned about this so far:

First of all, it should be said, it was a HOT day.

And I had this one with me because S was out of town on business.

Kerry's cute granddaughter stayed and played with him.

They played pretty well together, especially considering it was the end of the day.

We tried this neutral background...

...and a black background.

If I were to do it again, I would use only white or black, and black that was lint free and not patterned. And, I really need a macro lens for this work. I couldn't get close enough with the 50 mm I was trying to use. 

This was an unusual angle I tried that served up an interesting result.

I also used a shady spot outdoors, so I had some pretty good diffused light. But, I think, for jewelry, I need more reflective light, perhaps more direct and brighter light. Not sure. I think some brightness might be good for the stones, especially, though. Of course, I could have raised the exposure in post processing, but I didn't really like the look of that either. I also found shooting the metal jewelry to be tricky. It would pick up light in strange ways and it was hard to control the color in post processing. I have a lot to still learn on this topic, that is clear.

Kerry's sweet dogs...

...were there for moral support as well.

I tried to take clasp photos on almost every piece...many of them weren't clear. 

Back to that macro lens idea...

So, there you have it. I hope to try again sometime - maybe with a lightbox and a macro lens. We shall see how it goes. 

See you soon.