# New here, in search of help.



## kylerpiercings (Aug 12, 2014)

Hello forumers, I'm new here and this is my first post so I'd like to take a second to introduce myself. My name is Kyler, I own a very high end body piercing and jewelry studio in southern Louisiana. I'm relatively new to the photography scene and I got started with photography out of necessity but it  has definitely grown into something I'm much more passionate about.

Anyway, I've been dabbling in product photography for a couple months now along with taking photos for my physical portfolio, but I'm not really happy with my results. I've been using a Nikon D7000 with a 40mm Nikkor macro lens, and just recently I Bought my own D7100 and a Tokina 100mm macro. For the product photography I've been using an ebay soft box and table top lamps, which has produces okay results for me, but I'd like them to be better (don't we all want better photos?.

I'm putting a link here to some of the jewelry that I've taken recently and I would love some feedback from you all.

purity-body-arts

And here is a link to my portfolio: purity-body-arts


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## minicoop1985 (Aug 13, 2014)

It appears you have a good understanding of depth of field. Very nice. Welcome!


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## kylerpiercings (Aug 15, 2014)

minicoop1985 said:


> It appears you have a good understanding of depth of field. Very nice. Welcome!




Hey there, thank you! I try, but I'm still unhappy with my results.


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## KmH (Aug 15, 2014)

Get your items up and off the table. The busy patterns of the table tops are stealing attention from your products. 

Learn the fundamentals of photographic lighting - like how to minimize hot spots and glare on shiny surfaces by being aware of the 'family of angles'.
Light Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Suspend your pieces using fine wire and then clone the wire away post process.
Or set them on a clear plastic pedestal that you clone out post process.
Getting the items off the table top leyts you get some light under your items.


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## The_Traveler (Aug 15, 2014)

there's alternate ways of suspending them.

I used common pins stuck through a piece of cardboard and cloth to raise 3 dimensional pieces up off the background.

If the piece isn't be stable when put up on pins, then I used sticky wax to attach the pieces to the common pins. 
A box of this wax( Sticky Wax - Kerr Mfg Company ) and a small alcohol lamp will cost very little and will last essentially foreer.


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## webrotate360 (Aug 19, 2014)

I'd also look into focus stacking to not have parts of the products out of focus which I don't think works very well for jewelry. That way you could also keep your props in focus where needed.

Here's a Focus Stacking Guide to Great Macro Photography


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## dennybeall (Aug 19, 2014)

You have some nicely done photos that show a good eye for composition and interesting textures BUT you're trying to sell jewelry so the suggestions about isolating the pieces make a lot of sense.


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## kylerpiercings (Aug 24, 2014)

My issue is that while I am trying to sell my jewelry, I've never much cared for plain white background product photos. Perhaps there's something aside from the backgrounds I'm using that would be more aesthetically pleasing to my eye.


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## snerd (Aug 24, 2014)

You may want to change the word "preform" to "perform" on your policies page. It just jumped out at me. Okay, okay, so I'm a grammar nazi!!


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## dennybeall (Aug 24, 2014)

You can change from an interesting complex background to a less complex background that's not boring totally white.


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## kylerpiercings (Aug 24, 2014)

dennybeall said:


> You can change from an interesting complex background to a less complex background that's not boring totally white.


 Do you have an example?

And Snerd, I'm fixing it now!


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