Photography Help

[Unearthed]

So I am trying to get a real money shot to send to my college friends who have moved all over the country (And want to see the ring) but I haven''t been able to get anything with a nice fire shot yet. Below is what I think has been the best picture I''ve taken over the last couple days...and I''ve taken quite a few. My question is, if I set up a similar type shot...where should I hit the diamond with light? If I stand near the window and turn it, I get fire. I just haven''t been able to capture it. Any tips for a novice?

 

[Dee*Jay]

You need to take the baby outside in the natural sunshine and you'll get plenty of fire shots! Just play with it at different angles for a few minutes and you'll get lots of color. My best fire shots are actually taken by putting the ring down on a stable surface and moving around it with the camera.

 

[Ellen]

Hi unearthed,

Beautiful pic!

To get fire, you need the sun. It can be on a table by a window where the beams come in (that''s where many of mine in the fire thread came from), or, just take it outside. I got some great ones on my patio, and patio table. Outside allows more shots too, as inside, you''re limited in how you can move around before you start blocking the sun.

It also depends on what time of day, early morning and late afternoon, the sun is lower, and laying the ring down may get you a better shot. Mid afternoon when the sun is high, just put it in the ring box, and you should be able to get some nice ones.

And try moving around, you, and the ring/box. Different angles get different looks. Just experiment!

Oh, and make sure it''s CLEAN, a dirty diamond won''t sparkle as much.

HTH!

 

[curiopotter]

Darker backgrounds help out too Try taking the picture between 4-5:30. That time of day is great for taking shots.

 

[Skippy123]

another vote for outside and take about 100 and you should get a dozen good ones.

 

[bujiatang]

The stone is getting overexposed.

take a small mirror or something with a reflection to it.
set the ring on a bead of wax, this will hold it up.
this way people see a second distorted image of the ring, I have a chessboard that I use to photograph jewelry on.
make the room dark.
Set the aperature to 20-45. you'll have a long exposure and need a solid tripod for this to work.

durign the exposure take the end off a maglight, not so that the ring is illuminated, but so that the stones catch the light. Andsel Adams called this process "painting with light"

notice how the hammering on my ring caught the light. I didn't need wax for this picture because of the uneven surface of the chess board and the hammered finish of the ring.

I shot this at f18 and 30seconds for the exposure. I held a bare lightbulb.

outdoor lighting is the best to look at the diamond, and the worst for photographing it.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 2/28/2007 1:08:00 PM
Author: bujiatang
outdoor lighting is the best to look at the diamond, and the worst for photographing it.

Really? You can''t get beautiful shots outdoors?

 

[bujiatang]

It won''t look as good as it could, and it will be easier to get a better picture inside. if you look in the under 1ct thread you see a lot of burned pictures, where the highlights are so bright they loose subtlety. The diamond will still be able to refract the light and you''ll see colors if you control the amount of light, and where the light is. What is important is that it will translate to the photograph better.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 2/28/2007 1:49:53 PM
Author: bujiatang
It won''t look as good as it could, and it will be easier to get a better picture inside. if you look in the under 1ct thread you see a lot of burned pictures, where the highlights are so bright they loose subtlety. The diamond will still be able to refract the light and you''ll see colors if you control the amount of light, and where the light is. What is important is that it will translate to the photograph better.

Well, I''m certainly no pro, but I have taken a few *cough* pics of my diamond, and I find the absolute opposite to be true, in my case anyway.

I''ll post two taken outside, and while I realize "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder, I doubt anyone would call these lousy. And I couldn''t even come close to getting something like this inside.

 

[Ellen]

...

 

[dfm00]

Ellen, I agree that it''s certainly possible to take good diamond pictures by sunlight. All of the images I posted in the fire thread and my other thread were taken in direct late afternoon sunlight. The ones I posted were taken specifically to show off the flashes of color, so I intentionally underexposed them. But I also got lots of nice "normal" diamond shots with the sun as my light source.


Dave