Macro lens for diamond jewellery photography

Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 9

Hi everyone

I own a Nikon D200 with a Nikon 105 Macro lens that I use to shoot diamond jewellery.

When I shoot small items like rings I can get everything in focus and all the diamonds get great depth that show their brilliancy. The problem I have is when I need to take photos of bigger items like necklaces or long earring, that's when I need to move the camera further back from the item in order to focus on it, but the problem is that the diamonds aren't sharp anymore and I can't get the depth I want.

My question is, do you think I need a different lens or is my shooting technique wrong?

Any help guys?

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:16 am

would you be able to post some samples of the two scenarios?

I think that would help us to help you.

Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 9

Hi

I am posting a few samples of unprocessed and unretouched photos so that you could see the raw quality of the diffrend types

The first one is a ring sample, you can see the depth and brilliancy of the centre stone as well as the side stones very clearly (after retouching it looks great!)

The second is a sample of an earring. A little bigger therefore taken from a bit farther. you can see less depth and brilliancy

The next two are necklace samples you can see that the the bigger the item and forces me to focus from much farther therefore results in a less detailed with less depth photo.

My question is, is there a lens that I can focus from a closer range and still get everything in focus and get the depth or is it something else

Help appreciated!

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:27 am

Generally speaking there should be a greater depth of field at greater distances.

A problem I see here is your lighting is very "flat". Try to get some light coming onto the jewelry from an angle. you will get more brilliance and contrast that will enhance the appearance of the diamonds.

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:10 pm

Ok, a couple things to talk about here.

First off, I don't think this is an issue of not having the right equipment.

You have to learn to understand and control depth of field. I don't know your level of experience, so I don't know if I need to go into detail about what this is, and how it works, but basically, the range of distances from the camera that are in focus is what is generally referred to as depth of field, or depth of focus. A bigger depth of field means that there is more stuff in focus. To get a bigger DOF, increase the f-number.. IE, f/3.5 will be a small or "shallow" DOF compared to f/16 (holding all else equal).
To further understand DOF, and calculate exact measurements for your setup, use the calculator found here.
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
The farther the camera is from the subject (holding all else equal), the bigger the DOF.

The second issue I see is lighting. The reason you see what you see in the closeup of the ring is not because it is a closeup, but rather because of the way the light is striking the diamond. For diamond jewelry, you will want to get a very bright key light with a color temperature as high as possible. This will emulate natural "white" light most closely, and the more concentrated the light is, the more the diamond will sparkle. A concentrated bright light will also help the gold and silver to really shine.
The problem is that when you introduce a key light, you also introduce shadows. Shadows are not inherently a bad thing, but the trick is to either eliminate them, or learn to make them work FOR you. To eliminate or minimize the shadows, you will want to wrap your entire setup in bright, but diffuse light of approximately the same color temperature as your key light.

Finally, there's the framing of the shot. In many cases, you do not need to show the entire necklace to express what it is all about. You could get in tight on the important aspects and allow the necklace to exit the frame. This works especially well if you have a piece with a repeating pattern. The viewer will automatically assume that the rest of the necklace is the same pattern, and they already know that a necklace is round and goes around the neck. So their mind will create the rest of the necklace once you show it how.

I hope this helps!

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:12 am

The reason the necklaces are not sharp is quite obvious: The focus is off. I guess you used autofocus. The AF system will focus not on the comparatively small necklace but on the background which occupies 90 % of the image. You do need to focus manually - and everything should be o.k. With the close-up shot of the ring, it is different, as the point of sharpest focus is right in the center of the image and quite big, so the AF system can easily lock on it.

Also to bring everything into focus, you need a large depth of field, which means setting the aperture of the lens to a high number (11 or 16).

And then you need to do something about the poor (very poor, indeed) lighting. The images are underexposed and the lighting is flat, without creating the desired highlights, which add sparkle to the gem stones.

regards
René

Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 9

Thanks for the replies guys

I am using the maximum DOP in my camera
I usally use f32 an A15 to compensate for the poor lighting as you have mentioned (but I am planning on buying some lighting equpment - a white neon lighting box)
I am also using Manual focus and a tripod (of course)

The problem is that the farther I get from the piece the more difficult it is to get the focus right.
The small stones are so tiny that it makes it really hard to get the depth of the stone from a far range.

Isn't there any lens that can macro on a large item from a close range that will let me get a better depth and focus like on the ring photo?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:57 am

guyzk1 wrote:

Thanks for the replies guys

I am using the maximum DOP in my camera
I usally use f32 an A15 to compensate for the poor lighting as you have mentioned

I think, as I do not quite understand what "A15" means, that you have got some basic misunderstanding. As your images show, you do NOT compensate for the poor lighting. If you insist to use F32 (which is too small an aperture and will introduce unsharpness due to refraction), you need to increase your shutter speed more.

guyzk1 wrote:

(but I am planning on buying some lighting equpment - a white neon lighting box)
I am also using Manual focus and a tripod (of course)

The problem is that the farther I get from the piece the more difficult it is to get the focus right.
The small stones are so tiny that it makes it really hard to get the depth of the stone from a far range.

Use a desklamp to illuminate the stones. This should add some highlights (sparkle, which can serve as a focusing aid. Of course, after focusing, you have to switch off the desk lamp, to avoid mixed light (light of different colour temperatures).

guyzk1 wrote:

Isn't there any lens that can macro on a large item from a close range that will let me get a better depth and focus like on the ring photo?

For the shots with the full necklace, you probably don't need a macro lens at all. Use a standard lens (something like 1.8/50 mm), which provides good image quality and you can go nearer. I just don't know, why you would do that, as the depth of field of a 100 mm lens from a farther distance is the same as that of that 50 mm from nearer to the subject. Also, focusing should be the same, as the illumination does not change with the lens and shooting distance (provided you use a fixed light).

Some remarks:
1. the farther you go away from your subject, the more (!), not less depth of field you have - so a lens of 100 mm hjas exactly the same DOF as a 50 mm lens from half the distance (at the same F-stop)

2. Using F32 is too small an aperture. You already introduce a noticeable loss of sharpness wit such a small aperture, due to refraction. There is no solution, but open up the aperture to F16.

3. Good light is MUCH more important, than another lens - save the lens, buy light.

4. The focus and depth of field problems have nothing to do with the lens or the light. The images are simply not focused onto the necklace, but onto the skin of the wearer. You could add a magnifying eyepiece to the viewfinder of your camera, to assist correct focusing.

5. The light is not only flat. The images are underexposed and contrast is too low. Contrast could be increased to a certain degree without changes to the light, as can the exposure (in-camera, if you take JPGs or in the RAW-converter). You need at least 1/2 stop more exposure.

6. What I expect, when I (say, as a potential buyer) look at jewelery is sparkle. You need more accentuated light, which causes some highlights in the stones, to achieve professional results.

7. Your basic, flat light, is a good foundation to built upon, because you need an even illumination of your subject. You have got that quite right. Just add a spot light or whatever and increase exposure - then you are there (provided, you improve focusing).

regards
René

Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 9

WOW!

This is truely the best place to ask questions!

Thanks again for your advice. I will try everything you said and post my results soon.