Photographing Focals

[Sue H-K]

How do all of you big bead/focal people get such great photos of your beads. I am pretty pleased with my ability to photo sets, but my focal photos just stink....I've got great super macro on my camera, but I still take stinky focal photos. Any tips???? Do you prop them up, lie them down, do you have some special bead stand for them???? Helpppppp!!!

[LavenderCreek]

I went through the same thing when I began making focals, there's definitely a difference! I have a piece of wood paneling, it's about 4" wide and 1/2" thick. I cut a piece of mandrel so it was about 1 1/2" long then hammered it into the center of the wood. I put a piece of white paper over that so I get a white background and put my focals on the mandrel. This works pretty well. Sometimes I lay focals on their sides too, it just depends on what focal I am photographing.

Did you watch Evan's $5.00 photography video in the tutorials section? He had a neat little set-up and it was really helpful to be able to watch him taking the pictures and then editing them in photoshop.

[sleekbeads]

Sue... you're nuts... those pics you sent me of the focals I ordered from you were terrific... AND BTW... I don't think I ever pm'd you and told you how lovely I think those beads came out... I LOVE THEM...
I am using them for several strand jewelry... big hole beads just look great with several strings of seed beads running through them.... or a knitted rope choker with a large hole bead.. yummy. I will show you when I make them.

Teresa... yes, that post by Evan was awesome!
Joanna

[GinnyHampton]

I have more luck lying them down . . . for bicones, that's easy since they kind of sit there by themselves:
9721

For round focals I've tried sitting them flat (on the hole) but I like the way this picture turned out . .. . all I added was a couple of spacers and it kind of balances on its own.
12366


I set my camera on macro and get closer to the bead than I do when I photograph sets. I probably get just about as close as I can while making sure the camera can still focus.

[sleekbeads]

Ginny... those beads are breathtaking!
Kazowie!!

Joanna

[Sue H-K]

Thanks Joanna...I'm so glad you liked them! I cannot wait to see what you do with them!

Ginny...I love that top bead and it is a great photo too! I've done some focals lately that are a bit irregular and organic and when you lay them down you lose most of the details. I'll have to try the mandrel in wood trick of Joanna's!

THanks everyone!

[sleekbeads]

Oh, that was Teresa's idea...
I think I'll try it too!
sounds like a good plan.
Although, I also like just laying them...
Joanna

[DesertDreamer]

I use a light tent and 3 halogen desktop lights for lighting. I lay some beads down but I also use those 3M clear sticky mounting squares to "pose" my beads upright or at a good angle (flutters are tricky to shoot).

Have as much light as you can, and adjust your Fstop for the highest number you can get without your shutter speed going below 60 (100 is better). The higher the Fstop the greater your depth of field, which will make your bead's details crisp over the entire surface of the bead. Shooting focals is easier than sets, but you can still get "blurries" at the edges of larger beads if you depth of field is too low.

[ltsexpressions]

Thanks Joanna...I'm so glad you liked them! I cannot wait to see what you do with them!

Ginny...I love that top bead and it is a great photo too! I've done some focals lately that are a bit irregular and organic and when you lay them down you lose most of the details. I'll have to try the mandrel in wood trick of Joanna's!

THanks everyone!

Sue,

The ice cubie things I got from the puffy mandrel folks work GREAT for focals! They are pretty good asthetically too in the pic, no colors to take away from the beads...

[Sue H-K]

I use a light tent and 3 halogen desktop lights for lighting. I lay some beads down but I also use those 3M clear sticky mounting squares to "pose" my beads upright or at a good angle (flutters are tricky to shoot).

Have as much light as you can, and adjust your Fstop for the highest number you can get without your shutter speed going below 60 (100 is better). The higher the Fstop the greater your depth of field, which will make your bead's details crisp over the entire surface of the bead. Shooting focals is easier than sets, but you can still get "blurries" at the edges of larger beads if you depth of field is too low.

3m clear stickies....what a great idea! Between that and the mandrel trick, I may be in business!!!!

[Sue H-K]

Stacy, what ice cubie thingies????? little risers????

[ltsexpressions]

yep, ck the bottom of this page! They are great w/customer service too. I guess Jeri saw my pics with my "makeshift" metal piece on the horizontal stand cube b/c the piece they sent broke in half, with my impatient self, and she sent me a replacement piece. I didn't even ask, she just saw what I had used and offered the replacement!!! I got 3 small cubies and one of the horizontal cubies.... Look at my pic in the gallery today and the ones on my blog page for how I use them.

http://jeribeads.com/Puffy%20Mandrels.htm

Stac