Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi, I came across a posting online for a job to photograph jewelry. A new company needs 500 pieces photographed for their website and they want 2-3 shots of each piece. Macro, full shot and possibly both sides.

After back and forthing via emails, they wanted to know what I would charge. Due to the amount of work involved I thought $15 per image would be reasonable (there would be approx. 1,500 images in the end).

They respond they only have $5,000 for all 500 pieces.

This job would give me a tremendous amount of experience in this area, which I have zippo. However, not sure if I should tackle this. They plan on coming over to my apt. on Saturday for me to do some test shots which I'm very nervous about. I don't have all the proper lighting setup to dazzle them. What I was planning was if I did get this job was to purchase a lighting kit and a new macro lens. I currently have a 105mm Nikkor Macro but it's a manual lens. Would consider getting the Nikkor 60mm Macro.

Anyway, I would appreciate any feedback about either the pricing of this job or is jewelry photography as difficult as they say it is.

Thanks in advance
Leesa

i dont have any product shooting experience to share but wanted to say, that sounds like a great contract and best of luck!

What you need are 2 or 3 continuous lights (Don't need strobes 'cause jewelery doesn't move), a lightbox, a tripod, and a macro lens.

You will definitely be using manual. Not auto here 'cause your camera is dumb and won't know exactly what to focus on.

An issue you might have is that with shooting macro, your DOF is thin. If your client wants everything in focus, the only way is the increase the aperture number. I'm saying like F/22 high. But your images will suffer a little in image quality. It's that or get a tilt-shift lens.

This is just my experience from shooting for a toy company. They needed photos for some little car toys but wanted everything in focus.

EDIT: Something just popped into my mind. To avoid the DOF problem, shoot the jewelery straight on so the product is at the same focal range. The only way I can think of is to shoot the jewelery from directly above.

$5000 for 500 pieces? I'll take that any day!

There's tons of stock jewerly photos out there you can look at for ideas.

If you're really good with PS you can also defeat the DOF issue by shooting a few different shots and creating a composite image, but that isn't something I'd suggest for a beginner. And it's probably overkill for this project anyways.

As long as you're comfortable with your lightbox and macro lens I don't think you'll have much to worry about. As for the rate, you should be able to squeeze some extra funds out of them as your prices aren't too far apart, there's always room to negotiate. DON'T tell them you need money to buy/rent stuff for their shoot.

Edit: NVM about the pricing thing. You're asking for $22.5k and they want to pay $5k. THAT'S a problem.

For lighting, one of these:
http://www.henrys.com/60647-DYNAPHOS-DP ... TCUBE.aspx

That one is cheapest. I've tried a Cameron and it's much nicer, but also more $$$. Some kits come with lights and stuff.

Personally, I would practice setup and lighting the cube before I need another lens. I have a 105 macro but my shorter prime lenses (50 f/1.8, 28 f/2.8, 24 f/2.8 (AIS)) will focus close enough for working inside the cube. I would also use a tripod and manual focus -- a focusing rail will help. For necklace size, I think this should do.

HTH, and good luck!

In addition to a tripod, get a shutter cable or remote if you don't already have one. Or even better, shoot tethered to your computer.

I've done 2 commercial jewellery shoots one with a model and one without. The trick to making a profit is to a streamlined work flow and the use of batch processing tools to turn out a good product without using too much of your time.

They really liked some that I created using a double polarized lighting set up like this fruit shot.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrix_feet/151686515/" title="Orange Light by Metrix X, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/50/151686515_6872ebf620_m.jpg" width="240" height="192" alt="Orange Light"></a>

Hi Leesa,

I did some similar jobs in the past and I can give you an advise regarding your rates. Do not charge them per item ... you must go with hourly rate. I can tell you it's impossible to determine the exact time you'll need to shoot each item. It might take 10 minutes or half an hour ... you could end up working very long time for $5000. The client knows this and if they're paying per item they can change a lot of stuff, ask fir additional shots, angles etc. YOU HAVE TO INCLUDE POST PROCESSING TIME! Trust me when I say, the jewelry shots are never ever used straight out of camera ... all are heavily photoshoped and it will take a lot of time to process 500 items (1000 - 1500 photos). Be careful, this can be a really tricky gig ...

Brian

best of luck! Continuous lighting is definately the way to go - I use diffused lowel lights when I am shooting artwork at my office.

Thank you for your input everyone.

I do have an EZ Cube, focussing rail, tripod etc. What I think I'm finding difficulty with is the lighting. All I have right now is 4 Cameron 5200K 28W bulbs and do not find them powerful enough.

I have halogen bulbs that seem to do the trick but they're not exactly meant for photography. Although when I change my WB setting it seems to get rid of the yellow cast.

My EZ Cube might be too large though. But I'll try it with the halogens.

All these shots need to be high-key, no shadows so working out the lighting will be crucial to not having to spend a lot of time in post.

Are there light boxes out there that have built in lights?

Thanks again
Leesa

Thanks Brian. I can guess at how many hours this might take me but never having done jewelry before I know I would come in way under. As for client asking for more than we agreed upon, then I'll deal with it when the time comes. I can always say "Would you give away that diamond necklace for free?" I already feel I will be giving away a lot of my time on this job but I need to learn, go through the process to be better equipped should another come by in the future.

easiest thing to make - light tent.
1. Get a big cardboard box,
2. cut out big holes in sides, front, top etc.
3. get your white bed sheet and cut it to the size of the holes to cover them up
4. either glue it or somehow attach the sheet pieces to the box
5. get 2-3 desk lamps with swiveling arm (around $29-40 a piece)
6. IMPORTANT! Buy same colour temperature bulbs for the lamps
I used 6500K Daylight rated bulbs from Home Depot
7. Buy a large sheet of firm white reflective material that can bend without breaking (Home Depot again)
8. Position it into the box creating a seamless curve, make sure you have enough space to put jewelry on
9. Invite your friends with $5000 to watch you make magic

Too funny!

Thanks for the instructions. I'll pick up some heavier wattage bulbs.

i always thought certain types of light makes jewelry sparkle more. I've noticed that strong tiny halogens can do it. Just go to any jewelry store and look at the special lights they have in their cases to make jewels sparkle. Then buy the same type of lights!

Hmmm, you are right there. Interesting to note! I think I have some small halogens. Will have to rummage!!!

Thanks Chopper!

A lot of useful information on this site:

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents ... graphy.htm

just watch out for white balance limitations in your raw processor, some types of bulbs are tough to balance. Oh and a grey card would be a nice thing to have too

IMO this is going to be a challenging job. Think about shooting a silver sphere, first you need to ensure the light doesn't show up as reflections in the final image, then you need to ensure the sphere looks like a sphere. Another one is shooting a series of items with different colors from ranging from light to dark. You need to figure out a way to establish exposure/color consistency between shots. Anyway something to think about.

Actually that sounds like a great idea!

+1

I've used flashlights for this sort of thing (whatever happened to the old B+D snakelights?)

I didn't use fresh batteries, nor cared about light temperature. Still, they're quick and maneuverable.

I have had to shoot close to 400 eyeglasses (1-2 photos each) for an assignment and I agree that the post work takes up A LOT of time. You get really exhausted from the work too. If you want a seamless background look, try to do it in camera as opposed to post. Try to eliminate reflections as much as possible (close the box as much as you can or angle the jewelery so it doesn't reflect the outside of the box)

Jewellery photography is very difficult to do, especially watches. I was at a jewellery workshop, and the photographer took and combined 20 images to get a perfect image of a Rolex like a person would see it, and that's just by moving the lights for every shot, and not including focus stacking.

As someone who photographs miniatures professionally, it's not for the inexperienced photographer...you should really practice before accepting the job.

The potential client is coming over today to drop off a pair of cuff links and a ring for me to do sample shots.

I've purchased the small softbox lighting kit and have tried a test shot of a ring I have at home. Although it's an old ring, I needed something to test out the lighting with.

Here is my result, with some fiddling afterwards in photoshop as well as my set up.

Critiques would be appreciated.

Once I've done the potential's test shots, I will post them here too.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/leesamclellan/6155307705/" title="DSC_9059 by bestlitestudio stock photos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6084/6155307705_098af3a17e.jpg" width="500" height="394" alt="DSC_9059"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/leesamclellan/6155307919/" title="setup by bestlitestudio stock photos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6085/6155307919_3c07117588.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="setup"></a>

read this and the other linked articles, understand specular lighting.
http://thejewelryloupe.com/how-to-photo ... -the-pros/

Thank You!

you need to work on your retouching

Remember to always think safety when meeting for the first time with people you don't know. My preference would be to meet in a neutral, public location first. If possible, have a friend with you at your place. I'm sure you have heard about all the craigslist type incidents. Better safe then sorry.

Thanks but can you be more specific?

Yes, actually I was thinking that too. But I let my father know and said I would call him once this person left.

He did come and I was quite surprised at how young he was. Early 20's. Anyway he's come and gone and now I need to do the test shots.

Will post when I'm done.