Image Comments Please - good or bad

flamesofglass · #1 2008-09-12, 3:45pm

Just hoping to get some feedback on the images themselves. Feel free to be as critical as you like :

Feel free to comment on background, focus, lighting and or anything else related to the image.

Not sure that I can get rid of all the glare but my cube does reduce more than when I didn't have one...

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Robert

FlameDancer · #2 2008-09-13, 4:46am

Your pictures are really nice, clear and crisp...very detailed. Umm...I don't really care for the backdrop though. My eyes keep going to it, instead of your earrings. Maybe just a plain backdrop? I don't know...who am I to ask. I'm having my own set of problems, lol.

Rob · #3 2008-09-13, 5:40am

the jewelry its self looks good, however the back ground has so much texture and shadow and light play that it draws my eye more than the jewelery does. First glance I see the jewelry, see the reds then my eye zips to the back ground and I have to keep making the point to look back at the jewelry. Not sure its best to display on something the eye thinks is more interesting than the product.

flamesofglass · #4 2008-09-13, 7:45am

Thanks so much for the input so far...

I had read that the gray background worked best? Maybe something less "shiny"? I have some others that are a bit darker but don't have that sheen. I'll take a few more pics and post them to compare and contrast!

bclogan · #5 2008-09-13, 8:05am

I agree with the background. It looks like a towel or something, although when you said shiny and sheen, I'm thinking it's something else.

I think white is fine, it just needs to be smooth, not textured.

flamesofglass · #6 2008-09-13, 8:39am

It's some kind of velvet or something similar as it was on sale at a material store. I bought a couple others that are darker but without the shine. I'm gonna give those a shot and re-submit...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bclogan

I agree with the background. It looks like a towel or something, although when you said shiny and sheen, I'm thinking it's something else.

I think white is fine, it just needs to be smooth, not textured.

squid · #7 2008-09-13, 11:10am

Try printing a gradient on a sheet of paper instead of using a cloth background.

flamesofglass · #8 2008-09-13, 11:12am

Gradient???

Quote:

Originally Posted by squid

Try printing a gradient on a sheet of paper instead of using a cloth background.

flamesofglass · #9 2008-09-13, 1:05pm

OK, here is a different background and also tried to reduce glare from lighting behind my camera but didn't do much good...?

Better with the darker background with less sheen? The silver comes out much brighter than I'd like it but if I take out more light the bead doesn't stand out as much...

Thanks a ton for your input

tiggybubba · #10 2008-09-16, 7:43pm

better but still too much texture in the background. you could try building layers and then blurring the background.

bshelle · #11 2008-09-18, 12:58pm

My eye is drawn to the background texture, too.

Try just plain black paper?

Janice · #12 2008-09-18, 1:03pm

I find the texture of the background very distracting -- it really takes away from your jewellery!

J.

flamesofglass · #13 2008-09-18, 2:11pm

What does everyone use that has zero texture?

KathyDinBC · #14 2008-09-18, 4:07pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by flamesofglass

What does everyone use that has zero texture?

I think there are 2 things you could try:
1. First, I think you need to have your jewelry suspended in your tent so that it isn't sitting right against the background. This will reduce the texture of the backdrop. For earrings, you can have them hanging on fishing line, for instance.
2. I use fabric with a fine weave that came with my photo cube as a backdrop, as well, but you can use white or grey paper instead. You can also print a gradient (fades from a solid color to a light shade) on paper and use that as a backdrop. I think you can create those gradients on Photoshop or similar software.

flamesofglass · #15 2008-09-18, 7:24pm

I'll have to give the paper a try but I certainly couldn't get my earrings to hang straight and evenly when trying to suspend from fishing line which was my first attempt.

Mike Jordan · #16 2008-09-18, 9:00pm

One idea is to go to Home Depoe or Lowes and look at the large tiles they have. I have a number of 10x10 and 16x16 tiles in glossy black, white, non-glossy sand, fired brick and a few other earth colors. They make great backgrounds for smaller things and to sit your things on. They don't cost that much either for single tiles.

For hanging, go to Toy's R US or some other toy store and buy some Tinker Toys... the toys that have wooden dowls and round wheels with holes spaced around them. With these you can make different size frames to hang your pendents, beads and jewlery from. If you have a drill you can get some wood blocks and some longer dowls at Home Depot or Lowes and make your own. That gives you more flexibility to use longer dowls and larger blocks of wood to stick the dowls in. A piece of peg board is also an option... put the peg board to one side and have a dowl sticking out of one of the holes. It will be strong enough that it will hold plenty without needing another peg board piece on the other side. You just have to have a base on the peg board piece that you are using so it will stand up on it's own.

I also have lots of clamps (the hand spring type) of varies sizes for clamping things together. You can get these at the hardware store as well.

Mike

DanielLipkie · #17 2009-05-02, 2:09pm

Put your camera in "manual mode" where you have control of both exposure time and aperature. By changing the aperature you can change the "depth of field" which is the area that is "in focus". At a particular aperature (f stop) setting these is exactly one distance from your camera that is "in focus" but there is some distance less and greater than this that is "nearly in focus" ... this is the depth of field. As you go from f/2.8 to f/11 this distance gets deeper. By playing around with this setting you can have your beads in focus but the background out of focus (just make sure you have some distance from the bead to the backdrop). Also as you go from f/2.8 to f/11 you are decreasing the amount of light used for the photo ... so you will have to compensate by making longer exposures, e.g. from 1/16 to 1/4. So by balancing the f stop and the exposure you can still get enough light to make a well exposed photo and you can control the distances that are in focus.

Daniel