Want to take simple, good photos of loose gemstones?

On a google adventure the other day I stumbled across this post about using an LED 10x with your phones camera.
It is pretty straight forward so I gave it ago straight away!
The results are pretty good if you dont have an expensive set up or in a hurry.










You can see here how shallow the depth of field is.

Where has the time gone?

I cant believe we are well into 2014 and sadly I haven't achieved much jewellery or gem wise.
I have been getting into photography more learning how to use my newish camera, a Pentax K30, and have started to use a Flickr account I opened ages ago. Flickr by the way REALLY sucks you in! So many talent people out there which has really inspired me.

I spent a week at home visiting my Mum in New Zealand which was fantastic. We went on many bush walks and beaches and just relaxed in general.
This year I have decided to 'Do More Stuff' so have been making an effort to do the things that I have been meaning to do for ages but usually get left by the way side.

Also exciting news is that I entered a jade carving competition! At the moment there are currently 31 people registered from all over the world. There are two categories Jewellery or Sculpture and I have selected the piece I am going to carve and working on the details before I begin. There are people that have been carving longer than I have been alive so dont expect to win (haha) but think it will be a great learning experience and a bit of fun. There is a popular choice component where all the entries are anonymously posted on the site and people can vote..... I will be happy if I just get one vote so cross your fingers for me!

If you are interested to check out my photos here is the link to my Flickr account.

Info on the World Jade Symposium can be found here.

Jewellery Photography

Last night I was lucky enough to attend a lecture on jewellery photography by Rick Merrie. It was hosted by the NJCV (National Council of Jewellery Valuers) and was held at Leonard Joels, a local auction house.
Rick has been a photographer for over 40 years and is the man responsible for producing the catalogues for the auctions - I think he said they process up to 400 jewellery items per WEEK!! Yikes!

At the front of the room he had a camera set up along with some perspex accessories and free standing studio lights hooked up to a remote on the camera.
A power point slide show was used to show the difference between various lighting options - Standard camera flash, defused light, indirect light, back lit along with studio light....... It was pretty amazing the difference between the various shots.

His tip was to be consistent with your set up. This way you can calibrate the camera to your lighting insuring predictable results. Avoid using the flash on the camera unless necessary as it produces strong shadows and glare on the polished surfaces. Defused lighting is best - bounce the flash off a wall or shield the jewellery with some tissue like paper to soften the light.

One hot topic was on what to use to stand the rings up with out a giant hunk of bluetac. The answer? Wax. We use it at work and it is fantastic. There is currently some listed in ebay (try search words: Jewellery holding wax - some times it is listed as pressure wax) and it isnt too expensive. Sadly no one seems to know anywhere in Australia that stocks it so buying online is the only option for the time being.
This is what to expect

I was hoping to find out some tips for getting various gemstones to show correct colour - The answer is there are no hard and fast rules/set ups to achieve this! Trial and error sadly but the discussion on colour was very interesting.
Everyone's eyes are different as to how we perceive colour - one person to the next will see the same image completely different and apparently this can even vary eye to eye! I am going to try this next time at work to see if my eyes differ!
TEST YOU ABILITY TO DETERMINE COLOUR

Depth of field was covered and he explained the strange way that cameras focus works. I hope I am remembering this correctly as my notes are at work....
The area in focus is: from the point focused on, back half the distance (between the focus point/camera) behind that point, back to the camera and two thirds in front of the focus point.
Ok. Worded that terribly. Wish I could draw a picture of what I mean!
Anyway the point is that even though it seems wrong, focus the camera one third down the ring rather than on the top of the setting. This will increase the chance of the entire ring being in focus instead of the back band being fuzzy with a shallow depth of field.

Ok. So writing this while tired was probably a bad idea. I hope I havent confused anyone with that ramble!

Essentially I left feeling more confidant that I was on the right track with what I had been doing at work regarding photos and to not be too hard on myself!
Rick with all his experience confessed to having a few years of hating jewellery photography! Apparently it is one of the hardest things to photograph as with polished surfaces reflections are always an issue and faceted stones (whose prime viewing is in motion not static)cause grief never quite looking as nice as they do in real life.

All up it was a very informative night and a lovely surprise that drinks and nibbles were provided! Yay!
A great turn out and a great night :)

Oh. I have just realised.... I didnt mention why I was at this lecture!
My work is designing an online shop and I have been taking the photos! I dont have any training and have been learning as I go. I have always been interested in photography so happy to give it a shot but stressed as I dont want to let work down with inferior pictures. Learning how to use photoshop to delete the wax and dust from pictures and feel miles out of my league at times. Will post a link when the shop goes live so you can check out the results.

If you made it to the end of this ramble.... Well Done!