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The following is a reply that I have just emailed to a client regarding product photography. It is not a carefully crafted and planned essay more putting things in as they came to mind. I thought that some of the information could prove useful to others so here it is.

If you have any questions regarding this type of photography, or criticisms for that matter feel free to comment. I will attempt to answer as best I can,

Hi ____

A belated reply about web site and photography. This will get a little technical but don’t panic and skip to the last paragraph if you get to bogged down.

One thing about selling on the web, the photographs have to be nigh on perfect especially with something like jewelry. The image has to look good and the customer has to get a really good idea of what the product looks like - otherwise you will be spending a lot of time and expense dealing with complaints!

I have attached a photograph which shows an ‘acceptable’ amount of shadow with objects on a white background - I wanted to find an image that was really borderline and this is it, if I were being really critical I would reject this one. Unfortunately I have no pics of jewelry but the same principle would apply.

Composition is very important, we are not making a stunning artistic photograph so much as giving as accurate a picture as possible so, for example, chains should be shown either straight or with a gentle curve but more importantly a single strand needs to be easily seen.

Lighting - a few points

We have to be careful when mixing lighting, daylight and the type of lightbulb that mimics daylight can be used together but sunlight and a normal lightbulb cannot as this will do weird things to the colors and especially the whites.

It is very hard to work with on-camera flash as this gives a very harsh flat light and hard shadows. I don’t use flash for product shots but prefer two or three natural daylight type lamps. The downside of this is that the light levels are low compared to flash so a long shutter speed is required which means that a tripod or other support is required.

With your set up the best approach, I would guess would be to position your dime as close to a window as you can on a sunny day. This might give enough light that you don’t need a tripod (not sure about that though) Best way to find out is through trial and error, if you are hand holding the camera, the shutter speed must really be at 1/60 second and ideally at 1/125 or faster. I don’t know how much control you have with your camera but one adjustment which will boost the shutter speed is to raise the ISO. Don’t go above 200 with a point and shoot camera though as this will degrade the image too much.

Backgrounds - I have a hunch that we may be better off shooting against a black background, this will negate the harsh shadow problem and probably provide better contrast. One downside with black - it can give a slightly ‘chunky’ look to fine chains but this can be worked around.

Suggestion, If you can make it to downtown Valpo (any time that works for you) I would be more than happy to work with you to do the photography. I think that it will be worth it for you to see the various problems and how they are solved, it is a bit technical but also interesting (I think). Also we can try different options here as I have good black and white backgrounds, lots of different types of lighting, a space where the lighting can be controlled and tripods etc, etc. I would be more than happy to do this within the original price that we agreed i.e. free - think of it as a workshop!

Again apologies for the delay, and if you have any questions just give me a call or reply to this email, incidentally feel free to call at anytime, outside normal business hours is fine.

Steve

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but can’t afford it.

This article by Ken Rockwell will cheer you up- it’s all about the photographer not the kit. The trap of believing that your equipment is not quite up to snuff is a very easy one to fall into. Follow this link for the perfect anecdote.

Remember if anyone laughs at your equipment it is because they are insecure. Note - this doesn’t just apply to photography but you probably already knew that.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

The following encapsulates rockwell’s thinking pretty well.

Why is it that photographers loaded with the most extraordinary gear who use the internet to get the exact GPS coordinates of Jack’s or Ansel’s photo locations and hike out there with the image in hand to ensure an exact copy (illegal by US copyright laws and common decency), that they get something that might look similar, but lacks all the impact and emotion of the original they thought they copied?

I’m not kidding. A bunch of these turkeys used university astronomers to predict the one time in almost two decades that the conditions would match and had 300 of the clueless converge at just the right spot. They still didn’t get the clouds, snow or shadows right. This makes Ansel or any other creative artist cringe. Of course they didn’t get anything like what they wanted. Art is a lot more.

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Third of three new posters. View from a dune at West Beach Miller

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Second of three new posters. Distinctive Chicago Skyline shot from the Aquatorium, Miller Beach

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Here is the first of three posters currently at the printers. All the posters consist of a single photo with the Indiana dunes as a part. These will be sold at Lifestyles, Lincoln Way, Valparaiso, IN and Marquette Perk, Miller Beach IN.

All posters are 16″ x 12″

Will hopefully have them in both outlets by the beginning of September (2008).

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