February 23, 2006
Photographing jewelry isn’t all that difficult if you have the right equipment. I’ve mentioned before that I love using my scanner to photograph flattish items, but I’ve been challenged with things like rounded pendants, dangly earrings, and watches.
Today I broke down and purchased a nice, mid-priced Nikon digital camera (Coolpix 7600) that is really doing the trick with those hard to photograph pieces. I learned a few things while shopping for my camera that are important if you are trying to get detailed photos, like those of jewelry and beads.
* Get the highest number of mega-pixels you can afford. This will sharpen your detail incredibly, and give you nice clean, photos.
* Macro is a need, not a nice-to-have! I experimented with some photos before reading the instructions (I’m terrrible that way!) and couldn’t get the nice sharp edges the way the guy in the electronics store did. Frustrated, I finally took out the manual and started reading…yes, I needed to use the MACRO setting, and when I did, those details were incredible! Sharp, clear, concise and colorful.
* Don’t use the flash on sparkly stuff. I was thinking that part of my issue with my other camera was that it had no flash, but no, no, no. Get a camera that has a flash, but one that has the ability to turn it off when you don’t want to use it. A flash on a sparkly stone or crystal is just going to glare and look awful.
* Self-timer is essential. Believe it or not, you WILL shake or jerk just a tiny bit when you depress that shutter button. A self-timer enables you to depress the shutter, then the camera will sit for a few seconds before taking the photo. If you have it sitting on a hard surface (I used books to prop mine up) or on a tripod, no blurring due to the shakes.
Other features that aren’t essential to jewelry photographing but might be considered are the size (I like something small and lightweight), memory (mine has only about 7 photos in the memory…about worthless, but that’s why you buy a card to insert in it), and warranty.
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