[Jewelry making - Article 01293] - Re: [Orchid] Lighting for digital photographs

[Trevor F]

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>     Will Halogen work better, for example? 

Hello Jeanne,

    Do indeed check out the photography related pages at Ganoksin.
    There's lot's of good info there. For the most part it is what helped
    me solve my lighting problems.  I'd also recommend Amy O'Connell's
    "Basic Jewelry Photography" pages at
    http://lapidaryart.com/projects_2.html for good additional info and
    pictures of her setup. 

    That said, yes, halogen(s) can be a great solution to the lighting
    problem, assuming that we're talking about doing occasional photo
    setups as opposed to all day every day. After reading the Ganoksin and
    Orchid material I went out and bought some halogen yard lamps at a
    hardware store and mounted them on 2 x 2 inch sticks for positioning.
    I paid about $15 for a 300w lamp and the same for a pair of 150w that
    I (occasionally) use as side and fill lights. 

    I found that these particular halogens are slightly yellow compared
    to daylight but not a lot and with the white balance that many (most?
    all?) good digital cameras come with it's almost certain that you'll
    be able to color balance in the shoot as opposed to Photoshop. I
    found it helps to use bulbs from the same manufacturer in all of the
    lamps. That way you don't color shift noticeably when you turn an
    additional lamp on or off. 

    The next problem you'll likely face is light diffusion in order to
    avoid hot-spots (those halogens are real burners!) and get a better
    quality shot. I poked around, tried a bunch of things I'd read and
    then gave up and bought a cheapo white bed sheet that wasn't too
    blueish. I'm sure there's a thousand reasons why that's too
    bush-league for words but the sheet only cost me $6 and I like the
    photos I'm getting. A couple things worth mentioning are that (1) I
    drape the sheet overtop of what I'm shooting not over the lights as
    that would be a serious fire hazard, and (2) I fully understand that
    without white balance, such as I have on my Nikon 5700, the
    halogens-and-a-bed-sheet approach might not be so clever. 

    So, lighting problems more than solved for around $40, excluding the
    wood and clamps that I had beforehand. Add a few of those economy
    sheet-of-glass picture frames and some colored construction or art
    paper and you're pretty much set insofar as shooting surfaces and
    backdrops. Works for me! 

Cheers, 
Trevor F.

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