No pics, but question about taking pics

[NewDiamondMan]

I recently purchased a ring and was intending on taking a few pictures. I have seen that some people''s pictures on here turn out great....clear, closeup without blurriness, some of round diamonds such that hearts and arrows can easily be seen, etc. I have also seen some pictures that are a little blurry. Anyway, to make a long story short, my pictures fall in the blurry category - I was just wondering if people had advice on how they managed to take the best pictures, especially close up, of their diamonds and rings? do most people use digital cameras? or non-digital cameras and then scan the pictures in?
I imagine it is dependent on the camera they are using, but I was wondering if there were any tricks people used to facilitate high quality closeup pictures? (for example, purchasing an magnifying lense and shooting the ring/diamond through the lens, etc.)

 

[Dee Jay]

I confess up front that I'm not the best photographer, but here is what I learned while trying to take and post pics of my rings:

- I used a digial camera and the 'Macro" feature will help you get the best close-up photos.

- Stay as still as possible, especially when pushing the button! (I'm sure that seems obvious, but it took me a while to figure out that was what was making my photos blurry.)

- Lighting, lighting, lighting. Can I say it again - lighting!!! I tried every place in my house and without a doubt the absolute best photos came out when I stood on my deck in the bright natural light.

- Posting pics can be a bit tricky... There is a size limit and depending on the file size your camera creates (or that your scanner produces if you're scanning in rather than taking non-digial photos) you may have to resize the files. Try to post a pic, and if you get an error message there is a way to resize the files so they are smaller. I think my hubby had to reduce my pics to less than 100 X 100 to get them to post successfully.

Sorry for not have more/better info, but this is all I know..

Good luck!

 

[AndyRosse]

I second everything DeeJay said

I''ll also add that if your camera''s macro function doesn''t work as great as you like it to (my old digital camera was guilty of this

), try incorporating either a magnifying glass or a loupe. I found if I help my loupe in front of my camera lens and played around with it, I could actually get some decent pics! I know others on here actually tape their loupes to the camera too

.

What we PS people do so everyone can see pictures!

 

[Dee Jay]

Wow, Rascal, what a great idea about taking pics through the loupe!

 

[NewDiamondMan]

Thanks for the opinions. Its just frustrating because every time I went to take some pictures, they came out REALLY blurry unless I stood far away, in which case I couldnt really get a closeup picture of the diamond/ring. I will have to try that macro feature on my camera (I dont even know if my camera has a macro feature??). The lens/loupe idea does sound like a good idea and will have to look into that. Thanks for the input.

 

[Dee Jay]

If you're using a digial camera you probably do have a "macro" feature. Look in your manual to see which symbol represents "macro"; it isn't obvious (at least it wasn't to me) which one I should be selecting, and of course camera makers aren't kind enough to just put "macro" on there!