jewellery C&C

Calina

I may regret this.





I'm a little bit lost on the photography front at the moment, and somewhat frustrated. I don't really know if it's connected to other stuff going on the background (probably) and also the fact that somewhere buried inside my head are grand plans that I can't quite make happen for some practical reasons.

One of the most precious things I possess is a book I bought back in 1998 in Finland. I can't remember what it is called because it's safely in storage waiting for me to find my own place to live, but it's a story illustrated by some stunning photographs of Kalevala Koru jewellery in the oddest places in nature. I don't much go for product photography and in general I loathe the fashion industry for a while pile of personal reasons, but I make an exception for some jewellery. One of the projects that was on the backburner (along with the saga of the broken wineglass and the icecube hearts) was a plan to see about photographing some of my own jewellery and seeing what came out of it. This was taken in my bedroom, otherwise known as my office, photography studio and sewing room. From it I have learned that I really need much more expensive white fabric to set these things on as the texture of the fabric I'm using is just a little too detailed for my liking, and a box of Lego wouldn't go astray either.

These were both exposed for 25 seconds or so, and lit in the darkness with an off camera flash. Both got some heavy treatment in Photoshop which okay, is corrupting me greatly.

First to the opals. Both are pieces from Australia, one bought for me by my family, and one I bought myself when I was a bit younger than I am now. This got a little curves treatment and a green/black gradient layer.

The amber necklace has a second photograph, of the beach in Garretstown County Cork flung in somewhere and everything excepting the amber and the silver mount it's in was converted to black and white.

My main objective in playing with the stuff I have lying around the house by way of jewellery, ornaments and (when i get around to it) expensive fruitbowls, is to get outside my comfort zone of the kitesurfers and do something a little different. I shot landscapes for 10 years and they aren't getting to me really at the moment. So I don't quite know what to do other than to play with stuff like this. Ironically, the next wild plan I have is to do a jewellery design course. I'd like to be able to photograph - effectively - anything I manage to create in that...so here's the start.

steelydan99

Great attempt, but what seems to be lacking is the correct lighting. You have to make that jewelry sparkle and you need the correct light source. What a lot of photographer do for they type of photography is use a lighting tent or cube, translucent sides to diffuse the light.You could also use available window light and if the sun is strong you can the get that sparkle. I think the shadows on your photos are from the flash (what type of flash do you have) and its not the most desirable lighting to use for that type of photography. Beautiful jewelry though great subjects to photograph.
Anytime i am curious about a certain type of photography, i type it into You Tube and there loads of video clips
heres one i found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Q984qiGNk&feature=related

*Dallas

i like the composition of both shots, the second is cool but with the first one, the lack of lighting makes it hard to make out the design of the piece.
maybe a higher or lower vantage point would fix that

PeakOutput

firstly they are better photographs than i could ever take but

im not sure what you are going for, if its advertisement like shots then i think there is too much focus on the background its drawing away from the jewelry

in the first one the jewelery looks like it is part of the backround but that background is wrong for the jewelry, i think it might be the chain obscuring things but again that could e me thnking of it from an advertisement point of view

the scond one i think the lightning of the jewlery is great and the background is good but it dosnt look like the jewelry was part of the background, maybe this was deliberate but for me if it looked like it was literally lieing a little buried in the sand it would be a great again i dont liek the chain but your a consider my opinion one of somene with no photographic knowledge as i try to take nice pictures but know f all about it really

PixelTrawler

The subjects are a great choice but are being under utilisied - shiny, silvery jewellery should jump off the picture - these looks a bit flat

A few suggestions...

Try using a plain background that doesnt clash with the silver... its causing confusion in whats the focus of the photo - the jewellery...
Or use black...

Also bump up the light sources, perhaps use multiple sources to get different sparkles and highlights...

Perhaps using a slightly narrow DOF and blur out the very ends of the jewellery chains... just add a bit of interest...