Photographing my pearls

[missy]

icy jade, your collection is absolutely g rge us!!!
And amazing photography skills! Such vivid pics, I feel I am seeing them in person!

And Fly Girl, I love your pearls as well- they are stunning!

 

[bsomlo]

fly girl -- that is very funny -- pictures with you wearing the red sweater near the pearls and then with you hiding. What a difference!

 

[mrs taylor]

fly girl -- that is very funny -- pictures with you wearing the red sweater near the pearls and then with you hiding. What a difference!

I laughed.

 

[icy_jade]

Thanks missy and alice87 for joining my experiment!

Thank you so much for this thread and the wonderful comparison photos, icy_jade. I think I see a Photo Dome of some kind in my future. The dome allows the pearls to reflect back a neutral white color, rather than whatever happens to be in the background, thus eliminating what you can see here, my "red sweater" problem. The pearls here are sitting on the window sill using reflected natural light.

However, sometimes it is fun to look at the scenery reflected in a pearl. But then, I'm not trying to sell them or my backyard.

Fly Girl: omg I love how the clouds are reflected in your pearls!!
And thanks for the red sweater pics! I was going to do the "colour of your clothes experiment" but I guess it's no longer necessary!


Btw I browsed amazon for supplies but unfortunately they don't ship to my location... If you do plan to get some equipment can I suggest:

A bust

http://www.amazon.com/Graceful-Necklace-Jewelry-Display-Leatherette/dp/B0035YEZSG/ref=pd_sim_p_35

Any one of those light cubes available on amazon - different sizes available:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_kk_1?rh=i%3Aelectronics%2Ck%3Alight+box+for+photography&keywords=light+box+for+photography&ie=UTF8&qid=1376913521

Perhaps even 5000k lights...
http://www.amazon.com/Table-studio-lighting-5000K-daylight/dp/B002PNEDFS/ref=sr_1_6?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1376913703&sr=1-6&keywords=5000k

 

[icy_jade]

So it bugged me that I couldn't try a shot with normal indoor fluorescent white light, so I continued today...



Compared to warm lights, the pearls look better under white light... In real life the colour looks a bit better than the photo. The white balance is quite badly off in the pic.

So... If you do open your box of new tahitians and since opening in a lightbox is obviously not possible, I'll suggest a shaded area with good natural light, followed by a fully shaded area (with indirect natural light), then white lights and than warm lights. Hmm... Could be a problem if you don't have any white lights at home like me.

Ok, or just be aware that your pearls will probably look better in the day and don't get too upset.

 

[icy_jade]

A quick recap of what I have learnt so far...

1. Using a light box makes a huge difference.
2. Artistic composition and props can make your pearls look better.
3. Direction of light - lighting from the side is better than from the back (of the photographer)
4. Don't wear red tops when photographing pearls

Ok, next I was curious if the material used underneath the pearl matters... The standard advice is a paper towel but I wanted to try other materials that are commonly available at home, so...



What do you think?

I kinda like paper so that distracting background patterns are eliminated but it has some drawbacks as I just realized.

 

[LitGeek]

I think it looks best on the paper towel, but I agree that the background can be distracting.

 

[bsomlo]

Icy Jade -- You may have found your calling...

 

[icy_jade]

Icy Jade -- You may have found your calling...

Erm... Don't do this to me. Dying to know what so that I can quit my day job.

 

[bsomlo]

Pearl photographer -- DUH! (Well actually, anything pearl.)

 

[icy_jade]

Pearl photographer -- DUH! (Well actually, anything pearl.)

Oh... Hmm... I'll stick to IF then. More exciting than pearl photographer I think.

 

[icy_jade]

Ok, so I am a bit stuck cos I haven't found a good material for the background (printer paper is too reflective but paper towel pattern is too distracting... But I have one last set of photos to share.

So far, I think one of the hardest pearls in my collection to photograph is the blue baroque akoyas and the next set of picture will show you why.

First, a standard taken in natural light shot:



Not very impressive right? Doesn't show why this is one of my favs...

But take a light box and...



Yes... My reaction like

Like is it even the same strand of pearls?! Omg. I want that one!

See the difference without and with a light box...

 

[icy_jade]

Ok, so all the overtones POPPED and it literally took my breath away. Imagine that IRL it looked even more gorgeous (in the light box) than in this photo. Luminous and softly glowing...



In reality think this is probably a bit closer...



And this was the vendor pic.



Ok, think I really need to figure out how to take more accurate photos of this strand...
So that's it till I have time for more snaps (and I need to figure out the background problem). Till then, I hope you have enjoyed my experiments and photos so far!


TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[Pattye]

Thank you so much, Icy Jade , your experiments are extremely helpful and revealing. Greatly looking forward to the continuation and appreciate your taking time to do this~

 

[LitGeek]

As always icy jade, very cool! haha, now I have just have to figure out an attractive way to wear a light box when I wear my pearls

 

[bsomlo]

LitGeek -- I laugh out loud more than ever since joining this forum. Thanks for the visual!

 

[mrs taylor]

HOW do your pieces just keep getting BETTER?!

 

[LitGeek]

LitGeek -- I laugh out loud more than ever since joining this forum. Thanks for the visual!

I find myself laughing out loud reading posts on this forum all of the time too

 

[icy_jade]

HOW do your pieces just keep getting BETTER?!

Mrs T: Why don't you send me your new soufflé pendant and I'll let you in on the secret?


LitGeek: let me know when you succeed!


Pattye: Have some ideas so I will see if I can experiment this weekend if I manage to get the stuff.

 

[bsomlo]

icy jade -- sorry, the line for Mrs. Taylor's souffle starts HERE! Remember, you are just imaginary, after all.

 

[baby monster]

As always icy jade, very cool! haha, now I have just have to figure out an attractive way to wear a light box when I wear my pearls

Perhaps a lampshade will work just as well.

icy_jade, thanks for the photos. Very educational. I still think the ones without the light box are more like what I see in real life with my regular lighting.

 

[dkata]

This blue akoya is just breathtaking! Could you tell more about the pearl size?
Your photos inspired me, and I just ordered yesterday a light dome! I am so curious, how my pearls are going to look! I am going to post also pictures about it!

 

[icy_jade]

Perhaps a lampshade will work just as well.

icy_jade, thanks for the photos. Very educational. I still think the ones without the light box are more like what I see in real life with my regular lighting.

Yes and no for me... Cos the sunlight is so strong in the tropics, my pearls can look really washed out under all the light. Unfortunately I don't have normal white lighting at home. And I probably spend the most time in the office! Maybe I need a new lamp... Hmm...

Hmm... Hat maybe instead of lampshade? Haha.
Or... An umbrella that's really a light box. Omg brilliant or what??

This blue akoya is just breathtaking! Could you tell more about the pearl size?
Your photos inspired me, and I just ordered yesterday a light dome! I am so curious, how my pearls are going to look! I am going to post also pictures about it!

My blue baroque akoya is 9.5-10 mm and from Rakuten. Went for bigger ones since I have a fat neck.
Wrote more about them here:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-pearl-projects.189138/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-pearl-projects.189138/[/URL]

Have fun with your light box/dome! Now I sometimes put my pearls in the dome just to enjoy the colours.

 

[LitGeek]

Hmm... Hat maybe instead of lampshade? Haha.
Or... An umbrella that's really a light box. Omg brilliant or what??

Haha, yes brilliant! I want one like those beautiful white umbrellas from Jeremy and Hisano's wedding

 

[icy_jade]

Hmm... Hat maybe instead of lampshade? Haha.
Or... An umbrella that's really a light box. Omg brilliant or what??

Haha, yes brilliant! I want one like those beautiful white umbrellas from Jeremy and Hisano's wedding

Hehe ya feeling quite pleased with the idea... And we will all have beautiful neck shots too! Yay!

 

[icy_jade]

icy_jade, thanks for the photos. Very educational. I still think the ones without the light box are more like what I see in real life with my regular lighting.

I just threw the pearls onto my kitchen counter (sort of creamish solid surface) that is in full shade to demo what the akoyas look like in real life. You have seen how awful they looked under natural light.

The photos below come pretty close to real life. Think the photos are just a tad darker. And it really demos what I mean about bright sunshine washing out the pearls if you compare against earlier pics. I tend to be in the shade or artificial lighting so these babies usually look really good in real life.









Oh ya, it's a scorching 32 Celsius or approx 90 F out in the shade. So no photography experiment today I think.

 

[mrs taylor]

I want those baroque akoyas.

 

[bsomlo]

I am still giggling at the "light box umbrella" idea and how absolutely FAB our neck shots (and ear shots) would be!

I've loved your blue akoyas since you first posted them. There is something indescribable about them -- icy, organic, temperamental, elusive... I could look at them for hours.

 

[HHPmom]

icy_jade,
This is the best baroque akoya strand I've seen. The luster is incredible. Surface is smooth with barely any ripples. Pearl shapes are consistently uniform and look semi-round from a distance. Excellent overtone.

This thread is very educational and funny at the same time. I chuckle about the lampshade and umbrella. I still like natural light the best. I have some pictures of my bracelet when on vacation this summer. They are all marked which lighting they were taken in. The indoor picture on towel was taken on a counter 3 feet from a very large window with afternoon light, window facing east.

 

[HHPmom]

Hisano showed me a picture of the white metallic that Angela took under natural light. This allowed you to see the metallic luster better. Too bad there is not picture of color pearls taken by a professional photographer for us to compare.