Home Depot has flexible, 1/8"–thick white plastic 4x8’ sheets that are just about perfect for making smoothly curved backgrounds. I had meaning to put up drywall, curving from the wall to ceiling, for years, but the project, which would involve making multiple cuts at 1" intervals on the back of 1/4" drywall, daunted me. But then we found this stuff. It's made my life a lot easier.
First, I tried shooting on white:
36" light tent, zipper on ‘floor’, top panel completely removed/open to new ‘ceiling’. Customer didn't like it, felt the colors were too washed out. This was shot with the lumix, as was the thumbnail link (not shown—sorry, I have no idea how I accomplished that...) Directory: 20170321KP
Note that studio props (boxes, styrofoam) are flat, and black plastic is tilted behind them. Foam blocks to give add'l height; also plastic is resting on 1qt yogurt container (filled with clay) for height. This sharp angle not only gives more ‘background real estate’ it looks better too.
- hero (i.e. pendant) 3" from front edge of table
- camera up to 15" from front edge of table (i.e. 18" from hero)
- flash 18" from front edge & (left) side edge of table (i.e. 45deg <)
- flash angled up at 30 degrees; half power; used f5.6–f8
- black plastic propped with 1 qt yogurt container (roughly 40? deg) immediately behind props;
- NOT SHOWN: 9x24 (approx) white diffusing panel to block specular highlights from halogen light, stray light from leading edge of flash
- ALSO, nota bene: white styrofoam or ‘foam fabric’[1] positioned from front edge of display to just under lens to bounce light onto front metal edges of pendants. White foamcore to the right side is also to help balance light.
side view clearly shows under-lens bounce for front of metal.
And here's the photo taken with the setup shown. E620, zuiko macro lens
another flash setup howto for myself, now with bigger backgrounds. 29sep2017
I shoot two artist's work regularly: my own, and Kristin Perkins'. While both of us use opaque accents in our beads, we tend to emphasize transparency. Kristin adds another layer of complication (from the photographer's point of view) with the highly polished silver in which she sets her beads: ...
How to shoot Kristin Perkins' jewelry, Aug 2015 edition. 01aug2015
Shooting earrings with flash. 24nov2014
In which both Kristin & Sylvus make incremental improvements. Originally posted 10aug07. 10aug2007
This pendant features autumn colors for fall 2006. 15nov2006
A rainbow of bangles. . file created 25jun06. 26jun2006
Being helpful without realizing it ; created 19jun; group photo added 25jun06. 25jun2006
Very cool hair adornments ; file created 16jun06; spelling error in artist's name corrected 25jun06 17jun2006
Ice blue theme resurrected ; file originally created 29aug05; reworked and renamed 25jun06 25jun2006
Aqua flowers ; file created and originally posted 18jun06 18jun2006
Kristin's work is featured in a local publication. Created & posted 14aug05 16jun2006
a bit of image editing rescuses this garden/bouquet style silk flower gift wrap, made in Jul2014 13dec2018
Not sorry to leave those bad old days of film behind. 03dec2018
updating an old image of a garnet, black onyx & antique curliQ necklace...
Darktable is not my friend... 01oct2018
A hairy, multi-floret purple bell. With raindrop. 21sep2018
I get lucky with the light while shooting a birdhouse. 20sep2018
Vermeer style photography. 19sep2018
Mixed loopback frame & spoke technique 17sep2018
2 pictures of a friend's cats 06mar2018
notes on some 2012 Creation is Messy samples. 13dec2017
another flash setup howto for myself, now with bigger backgrounds. 29sep2017
red rose giftwrap. 03jun2016
Dogwood necklace in lampwork & leather cord. 30may2016
Making do with less, photography version. 18dec2017
flash fill can be handy. 21oct2015
5 shots of so-so beads taken on a battered table. It's all about the technique. 18sep2015
Ever so slowly I am becoming more comfortable shooting with flash. Oh, and Cindi B's beads feature some very nice scrolling. 11mar2016
How to shoot Kristin Perkins' jewelry, Aug 2015 edition. 01aug2015
In which I go on a xmas light bike tour 18dec2014
links to documentaries—2nd wave feminism, Mona Lisa recreated photographically, fabulous mushroom photos 28nov2014
Shooting earrings with flash. 24nov2014
Red begonias, with lensbaby. 23aug2012
a piece of black and white bead embroidery photographed over several years with 4 different cameras... 27aug2015
comparison of two yellow abstracts made with Creation is Messy Hades black and Effetre Dense 066 black. Originally posted 20oct07 20oct2007
Granted, this picture is for a single bead, but it shows the camera mounted on the tripod, with the black plexi, the light (make certain the base is ceramic). Use tungsten fujichrome type II 64T film, and matching 500w photofloods (I can never remember whether that's 3200 or 3400 kelvins, but the ...
Just the one bead , but includes a shot of the setup used to photograph it, too. (posted 17dec03) 22may2004
[1]the latter shown
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
