Anyone got any tips for photographing jewellery?

stuart1266

I've got 2 rings and a gold chain to sell on Ebay, however, I'm having great problems getting a proper good photo of each of the items, mainly because of the focusing of the camera. The photos tend to be blurred and I'm not using any zoom. Has anyone who has sold jewellery on Ebay got any tips on how to photograph the rings? Could I get them photographed professionally but would I be charged an arm and a leg for it!?

frivolous_fay

If you haven't got a camera with macro mode you'll struggle. Beg, steal or borrow one!

I listed some gold jewellery a while back... laid it out on a piece of black velvet. Use a tripod if you can for less camera shake.

stuart1266

I've got some black velvet and I've tried it on that. I've got macro mode on the camera, but for some reason the photos still come out blurred. My worry is that if the pictures are poor, it will obviously affect the final price of the items, which SHOULD be in the region of £400

alanjuk

As previously mentioned a tripod or something to mount the camera on is what you need to avoid camera shake also if you can do this try without the flash on.

frivolous_fay

If you have macro mode on and the pics are still blurred, your problemn might be...

- Autofocus focussing on the wrong part
- Camera shake
- Poor lighting making the auto focus struggle
- Lousy camera

What model of camera is it?

stuart1266

It's a Fujifilm 601Z (5 meg pixels). I've no tripod, but that sounds like a good idea. I supposes no matter how still you keep the camera in macro mode, you'll still get a bit of shake. I've been meaning to get one for some time now and now I've got the excuse!!

frivolous_fay

My Canon has 5 point autofocus and it just LOVES to focus on the wrong bit!

Gotta love a pic with background perfectly focussed and a blurry mass in the middle

Contains_Mild_Peril

Camera shake should not be a problem if you use flash. If the flash is overpowering at such close range, stick a single layer of masking tape over it to tone it down and diffuse it a bit. If using avaiable light, use a tripod or other suitable support.
My camera is a Fuji Finepix F610, so probably has a lot of similarities. You can check in the instruction manual how close your camera will focus in macro mode, and watch out for a warning on the screen if you get too close for it to focus, or if it has difficulty focussing for any other reason (e.g. low light or unusual subject reflectivity). My camera diplays "!AF" in red on the screen to let you know its autofocus can't cope.
Remember, with 5 megapixels to play with, you don't actually have to get too close: if you have a willing model, you can photograph a whole hand wearing the ring using your camera's high resolution, make a copy, crop it to show a close-up as your main photo, and resize the whole original pic (to show how it looks on) as a secondary photo.
Hope that helps. If you still have problems, give me a shout and I'll see if I can troubleshoot some more.

mishkanorman

The only place I can get a clear shot of my jewellery is when its sat on my wheelie bin !! ( on top of black material obviously )
This time of night is great aswell, full daylight just gives flares.

mishka

apprentice_tycoon

I'd experiment with a spotlight (an ordinary desk lamp will do) on the piece, if you don't get a good result then try the light played on to the wall close to where you're working.

Also try lifting the item up a bit on a small mound so that you get more of a 3-D effect. I've used a flattish pebble to drape things like your chain on or you could use a folded cloth underneath your background cloth to mound it a little.

If you are struggling to get a good view of the ring try using a little blutac to hold it upright , this could be out of the shot if you are going in close on the stones

BuddyBonthenet

I read two good tips in the eBay guides on this.

1. Use your bath - a white bath is similar to a light cube. eBayer .v.bretagne says

" For good all round lighting of your object, place it on white paper on the bottom of a white bath (without the water)! Switch on the bathroom light. You may find that this is enough to illuminate your jewellery as the light will bounce off the sides of the bath. You might not need to use the flash. Just make sure your shadow doesn't cover the item. This is especially useful in the winter, in bad weather or at night, when there is not enough natural light.

Use the cropping tool on eBay's picture service to make your object look even closer. "

It does actually work quite well!

2. Use your scanner - best for non bulky jewellery but again it does work!

I agree a macro setting is a must!