# Need Help with jewelry photography



## dcb83 (Sep 25, 2012)

I'm pretty much all setup. I have three flash heads, light tent, macro lens and camera. Been playing around with the lighting positioning but I'm not satisfied. I positioned two lights on the front side and one directly behind. It's great because I don't need to crop since I'm looking for white background images. But I find there's no contrast and my images don't look as sharp as they can. I'm trying to get my shots to look like tiffanys photos. 
here's a sample...


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## ryanwaff (Sep 25, 2012)

Im not sure what kind of help you were looking for, but in terms of editing help, here is what I came up with (in Photoshop): 

 (I hope you don't mind me editing your photo - you didn't specify whether it was OK or not? )

I duplicated the silver area of the ring, added a Gaussian blur to it, masked out areas that went further than the silver surface area. 

Then I added an unsharp mask to the background layer.

Added a vibrance layer to boost colour.

Then I added a curves adjustment layer setting the black-point on the black strip on the ring, and the white point on the highlight on the ring.

Then I added in some white reflections on the silver area using the pen tool, to give it a slight reflective look again. 

After that I added a levels layer and adjusted the contrast slightly.

Thats all  

In terms of the actual photography, try and angle the ring a bit more, so that you aren't seeing the entrance to your light tent in the reflection. I find it very distracting...
Please note that I have never attempted jewellery photography before... This was just my attempt to help


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## joel28 (Sep 25, 2012)

Ryan, i like it thanks, thanks for explaining how u did it.


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## dcb83 (Sep 25, 2012)

ryanwaff said:


> Im not sure what kind of help you were looking for, but in terms of editing help, here is what I came up with (in Photoshop):
> 
> View attachment 21243 (I hope you don't mind me editing your photo - you didn't specify whether it was OK or not? )
> 
> ...




Thank you! Looks very nice. Quick question, how did you soften the back of the ring? (gold part) Gaussian too?


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## bianni (Sep 25, 2012)

Not sure if this is ok. Selected the ring and put it in another layer and duplicated the duplicate and set the blend mode to multiply, adjusted the opacity and merged. on blank layers selected some areas and applied gradients. Placed a white bg on the ring and duplicated the ring and flipped it vertically and reduces opacity to make the soft shadow and at the same time removes the (modeling clay?) under the ring to make it stand.


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## ryanwaff (Sep 26, 2012)

dcb83 said:


> ryanwaff said:
> 
> 
> > Im not sure what kind of help you were looking for, but in terms of editing help, here is what I came up with (in Photoshop):
> ...



Only a pleasure. yes, sorry, i forgot to mention the gold band part. But yes, it was done the same way as the silver part.


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## FacetFlash (Sep 27, 2012)

Hello guys! No offense but the Photoshop jobs don't do the photo any justice. It just makes it look even more fake and miscolored.  You're lighting and tent needs to be setup differently in the first place for sure.  I recommend a strobe and not using white paper because it creates a very flat look in jewelry.

http://i47.tinypic.com/5otw0m.jpg

This image I did had the contrast I'm talking about like you're band.


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## Kolander (Sep 27, 2012)

Can you show the tent that you are using? You must work with a no-visible-black-frame one, shooting round jewels, watches and so on.


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## ryanwaff (Sep 27, 2012)

FacetFlash said:


> Hello guys! No offense but the Photoshop jobs don't do the photo any justice. It just makes it look even more fake and miscolored.  You're lighting and tent needs to be setup differently in the first place for sure.  I recommend a strobe and not using white paper because it creates a very flat look in jewelry.
> 
> http://i47.tinypic.com/5otw0m.jpg
> 
> This image I did had the contrast I'm talking about like you're band.



None taken, as I stated, I am NOT a jewellery photographer. I simply had a bash at it


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## dcb83 (Oct 1, 2012)

FacetFlash said:


> Hello guys! No offense but the Photoshop jobs don't do the photo any justice. It just makes it look even more fake and miscolored.  You're lighting and tent needs to be setup differently in the first place for sure.  I recommend a strobe and not using white paper because it creates a very flat look in jewelry.
> 
> http://i47.tinypic.com/5otw0m.jpg
> 
> This image I did had the contrast I'm talking about like you're band.



Yes I agree, the work done makes it look fake. I am using strobes but what do you recommend instead of white paper? I'm trying to get it right on the camera and not have to do too much in photoshop. These items are for an online catalog and I need them to be on a pure white background. When I crop, it looks really bad. This is an image (no post work ) shot with with one strobe pointing at the back of the tent (left side) and another on the right side pointing directly at the side of the ring. On white glossy paper. I feel like like I'm getting somewhere with this setup but I'm having trouble with post work. Take a look!


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## tirediron (Oct 1, 2012)

Light, Science... MAGIC!


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