How do you take good photographs of pearls?

[Caitlin]

Several times recently I have wanted to post or send photos of pearls. I use my digital camera to take pictures and the pix usually don’t look much like the subjects.

I don’t want to have a pro photographer every time I want to send a snapshot, but I do want decent snapshots that show a decent picture of the item.

Any links or suggestions from any of you pros out there would be so appreciated!

 

[purepearls]

Lighting and background are very important when taking pictures. Natural lighting or lighting coming in from all angles highlights the different dimensions of the pearls and gives a better portrayal of the pearls' qualities. Also for background, always choose a neutral background such as light gray or white. Pearls are very hard to photograph even for professionals because there are so many factors that need to be captured to give a representative picture. If you want to be able to take the pictures yourself, I recommend doing so in bright natural lighting using no flash and a flat light gray background that has no texture. Also it helps to use the macro option on your camera.
Best of luck!

 

[Caitlin]

OK Here is my attempt at photographing my famous black fw pearls. Hubby and I took about 25 pix with his cam-corder that does singles frames. It was taken outside and with the macro. The resultant shot was 250kb and lacks detail. I think this camera is limited for pearls, especially black ones.

 

[Caitlin]

Here's try #2 We put it on a pink background outside. I am still disappointed.

I am going for a photo that will show how attractive these pearls are, even with their rather rough surfaces. They are the pearl equivalent of rips and bleach spots in blue jeans. They are very FRIENDly pearls, lovable. I wish I could capture that quality. later edit. Now that I see it online, this photo is the best of the four. I think I need to learn something about getting them to look ok online too!

 

[Caitlin]

Disappointed with the photos, I tryied a shot on the scanner. When it is full size inmy computer, it was beter than this! This was a big mistake!

 

[Caitlin]

Photo by Balfour Walker
I begged hubby to take my beads to one of Balf's shoots and ask for some tips. Actually the originals show nuances that are excellent, but they are 2.5 MB. by the time I get one to an online size- what's left?

Seriously getting good photos of pearls is the most challenging photography I've ever attempted and even a top quality pro needs to learn how to do pearls. He was diasppointed that the color did not translate well and did shots in different lights. None showed the colors 100% properly!

Why is this photo blurry when i shrank it? HELP!

 

[jshepherd]

I think pearls are some of the most difficult pieces to shoot. Getting the color, luster etc, to come out right is very difficult.
This is what I suggest:
Use a camera with a macro lense, Sony make a great one.
Use a single 'natural' light source, but not directly. Take the photo in a room with one window, turn off all other lights, and choose a time of day when the light is not coming in directly, but reflecting into the room. The picture will be a little dark, but just pop it into PhotoShop and increase the brightness and play with the contrast a bit. This should produce a nice photo. Also, the slowest speed you are able to work with the better.
Stay away from flourescent light as this will produce yellow overtones...

 

[purepearls]

What type of camera are you using? Are you using zoom? Sometimes, its best to keep your camera further away and use your zoom so that it can focus better. Pearls are very hard to capture. The Sony Cybershot (Smart Zoom DSC-P10) is wonderful!

 

[jshepherd]

That is an interesting method.
I personally like to shoot as wide angle as possible, but as close as possible to get the best resolution.
Black pearls are the easiest to shoot. The white pearls are the ones that give us trouble sometimes. I think this is why there are so many Sites on the Internet with poor pictures. Even if the pearls are beautiful it can be difficult to show them off digitally. PhotoShop can help a lot to bring out the real coloration of the pearls.

 

[Caitlin]

Thanks for your answers. I'm hoping to work on it this week.

 

[cyens]

I'm a total novice taking pictures of pearls. I used beige raw canvas and natural light and I personally think my picture lacks professionalism. But here it is.

Those are freshwater pearls I purchased not to long ago. They got a nice blue and green peacock luster the picture won't give it credit for

I used a Fuji funpix 3800 3.2 mpix with the macro mode on.
Nothing as been modified in photoshop, this is the raw picture re-sized.

 

[jshepherd]

The picture is not bad at all. Try using a diffused light, or a full spectrum light.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Cyens
The method Jeremy ttold me about was to ttake the pictures in diffused ligt. That direct light seems to leave shadows. Here is a pic I took with light from one window coming through a lace curtain

 

[Valeria101]

A bit on the side... about how to post LARGE pictures (or large picture files as it were). You may find useful

www.imageshack.us

 

[DFrey]

Hi Caitlin,
It is amazing to see the difference in the most recent photo you posted and your earlier photos. You have figured out how to take a much better photo. Photographing jewelry presents similar problems to photographing pearls or actually any small objects with shiny reflective surfaces.You need as much light as you can get and then you need to diffuse the light. I always use natural sunlight as I don't have a room where I can set up a permanant photo areawith lights. A piece of white tissue paper like would be used for wrapping can be used effectively to diffuse the direct sunlight.
A macro capability on your camera is good but you don't need a camera worth thousands of $'s to take good photos, I have a Nikon coolpix 4800. Sometimes a tripod is useful.
There are some good "how To" books on photographing small objects using a low tech approach such as a grey box.

Dfrey

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Dfrey and Cyens too.
I think I have the record for asking for online help from this forum, for photos. It has helped too. I took the better one on page 1 of this thread with an average digital camera, Concord brand, which is to say, generic, but it has a macro. I have improved, huh. I remember another thread where taking pictures was not the title, it just got sidetracked onto the subject. There are a whole lot of suggestion in that thread. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[cyens]

Thank you everyone, your tips are realy gonna help me. Today I'm gonna continue trying too take pictures of my pearls.


Caitlin Williams: I realy love your close up picture of you black pearls, you ca realy see the blue and purple luster. That is what im looking for in a picture.

Also... I would like to know how people take a picture with a pure white backgrounds, you know, the ones where its the same white as the web-page background.

The picture is not bad at all. Try using a diffused light, or a full spectrum light.

What is a full spectrum light?
Thanks

 

[cookierookie]

Ok I've read the tips on how to take pictures of pearls...and I've been experimenting a little! How do they look??! I'm thinking of using these on my website There are two photos of comparison between a dyed gold and natural gold colour ssp. I didn't manage to get quite a few shadows out of the photos, it was really tricky...I had my back to the light that was coming in from a window. This is taken with a Canon IXUS digital camera only. Pardon the lint that is on some of the pearls too...it's from the tray they were sitting in.

 

[lisa c]

You found Taking pictures of pearl jewellery? Nicely done!!

 

[cookierookie]

Thanks Lisa!

I still find the white pearls very hard to capture. there were plenty of other white pearls photos taken at the same time that were blur, despite using the macro feature/no flash. any tips on how to refine those photos? i'm thinking sharpening them will distort the texture/colour.