Hi folks , I work for a jewellers, and my boss has been out and spent a small fortune on camera and lighting equip to take pics of our jewellery range for brochures/catalogue. he's bought filters macro lenses etc,but can't get the images clear enough.Can anyone give any tips or advice?
tips on close up photography
- Thread starter jonph
- Start date
It might be useful knowing what he bought.
If he got a true 1:1 macro lens then the he needs to make sure the aperture is set to at least F11 or higher, otherwise depth of field will be very small (millimeters).
With a high Aperture number selected he also needs to make sure shutter speed is at least the same as the focal length.
Manual focus is also essential !!
If he got a true 1:1 macro lens then the he needs to make sure the aperture is set to at least F11 or higher, otherwise depth of field will be very small (millimeters).
With a high Aperture number selected he also needs to make sure shutter speed is at least the same as the focal length.
Manual focus is also essential !!
Jewellery and other small items as Macro shots
The best way to take shots of such items is with 'flat lighting ' and no background.
How do you do this?
You make a 'Tent'
Construct a frame from wire [dry cleaners coat hangers or garden canes,]drape this in a white cloth or tissue paper . Inside place a plinth [upturned saucer or similar] place the object on the plinth and make a hole for the camera lens to poke through.
Ideally of course this should be an SLR ,but you can get away with it with a regular camera, using the view screen or view finder making due adjustment for parallax error.
Make sure the flash of 'Off' and illuminate from outside the tent with normal tungstan and/or daylight.
Finally have lots of fun finding out.
The best way to take shots of such items is with 'flat lighting ' and no background.
How do you do this?
You make a 'Tent'
Construct a frame from wire [dry cleaners coat hangers or garden canes,]drape this in a white cloth or tissue paper . Inside place a plinth [upturned saucer or similar] place the object on the plinth and make a hole for the camera lens to poke through.
Ideally of course this should be an SLR ,but you can get away with it with a regular camera, using the view screen or view finder making due adjustment for parallax error.
Make sure the flash of 'Off' and illuminate from outside the tent with normal tungstan and/or daylight.
Finally have lots of fun finding out.
Last edited:
sorry guys, been offline a few days. not sure what equip hes got exactly but he was moaning about how much he'd spent and how he still wasn't getting very sharp images. I;ll try and find out what he's got and report back, but he's off on his hols at the mo. Thanks for the advice so far.Someone told him to try photographing through water but his explanation of this was a bit vague and I'm no expert at photography (just a point and shoot and hope for the best man lol) I'll report back as soon as poss.
We really need to know what he has bought to give advice. If he has a dedicated macro lens it could just be a case of needing more DOF thus a smaller aperture. However if say he was using the kit lens with a 500d filter it would be harder to get decent results.