# How to shoot jewellery and NOT get reflections of the camera



## omar (May 10, 2013)

I'm taking shots of jewellery and getting the camera as a reflections on the rings

What can I do about this?

I've tried putting a white paper with a hole around the camera
This is better - but still getting a black dot!

Any advice would be great

Thanks


Omar


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## neuroanatomist (May 10, 2013)

Find a different angle or clone the reflection out in post (Photoshop, etc.).


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## risc32 (May 10, 2013)

how about black paper instead of white?


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## victorwol (May 10, 2013)

The color of the paper will depend on the kind of reflection you want on the jewerly, usually one look for reflections, but I have never encountered yet a situation where the reflection of the camera is that visible, specially because usually the light is controlled in a way that not a lot of light is spilled out of the area of the piece to photograph.

You can find great advise in this website : http://www.photigy.com/


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## AndrehT (May 10, 2013)

Maybe a polarizing filter will help you.


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## LewisShermer (May 10, 2013)

What are you shooting with regarding camera / lens / lighting?

Watches and Jewellery account for 90% of my work... maybe it's subliminal but I've never been able to catch a camera in the reflections!


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## Don Haines (May 10, 2013)

polarizing filter and move the lights around.....


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## ksagomonyants (May 10, 2013)

Don Haines said:


> polarizing filter and move the lights around.....



Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that polarizing filter does not help with the reflection from metal surfaces.


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## Atonegro (May 10, 2013)

Use a longer focal length to move away from your subject, the reflections of the lens will be much smaller.


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## privatebydesign (May 10, 2013)

ksagomonyants said:


> Don Haines said:
> 
> 
> > polarizing filter and move the lights around.....
> ...



You are not wrong. Polarising filters do not change reflections from metal surfaces.


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## victorwol (May 10, 2013)

ksagomonyants said:


> Don Haines said:
> 
> 
> > polarizing filter and move the lights around.....
> ...



I could kill some highlights, but is not going to hide the camera, and you want highlights in jewelry. My guess too much light is getting spilled onto the camera body. I have shot pieces at a distance of 3 inches probably, and I don't see my camera unless shooting a mirror in the right angle to see the camera.


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## omar (May 10, 2013)

thanks for some great replies

@victorwol: photigy.com is just awesome!
i'm going to learn a lot from there

@LewisShermer: i've got a canon 60d and a canon 100mm IS F2.8 macro lens
is there anywhere i can see ur pics? would love to see

ok... let me show u the problems
see the 2 pics below. the first one isn't that bad i suppose - the black bit is the camera
the second one though, the black line going all around the ring is the damn camera


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## LewisShermer (May 10, 2013)

100mm macro is the best lens I've ever used for this type of work. all items will be big and you'll be far enough away from them to not be reflected. always have your lights infront or level with the camera. put white card behind and in-front to reflect nice bits. you shouldn't have a problem. if you're using one of those shitty tents or a light box you'll have no end of issues. if you're not using soft boxes and just bare flash you'll never get good results. i recommend bowens...

people often ask me what I'd suggest for getting their own good shots: about an £8000 budget to start with, good knowledge of lighting and a splash of creativity.

when they say "oh, we need it for cheap..." accept that you'll have "rubbish" shots... unless you have a ridiculous amount of lighting knowledge and an infinite amount of creativity with it...

good job I'm spot on in both scenarios


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## bbasiaga (May 10, 2013)

Off the wall thought....what if you set up your jewlery the way you want it with lighting, etc....then place a mirror in the right place and take a picture of the ring in the mirror? You would then be taking a picture of the opposite side of the ring, and shouldn't get the reflection from the camera.

Also, you could place the camera at an oblique angle, so its refelction was at least mostly bouncing away from the lens. 

I see you posted as I was typing....you've got some pretty sharp highlights from your light source there. They also look underexposed. Try absolutely blasting your flash at that thing, and fire it through a diffuser like a soft box that is much larger than your subject, or bounce it off a piece of foam board. The idea is to make the powerful light come at the subject from every angle. You may then be able to overpower the reflection of your camera. 



-Brian


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## LewisShermer (May 10, 2013)

@omar

www.lewismaxwell.co.uk in the product section at the bottom. most of that is watches but it's all the same when shooting shiny metals and mirrors


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## victorwol (May 10, 2013)

That is too big to be the camera. If you don't want to have any black anywhere. You need to have either enough white cards to reflect, or shoot inside a shooting cone. Anyway, some black is also good because it add contrast to something otherwise would be flat. If you believe is the camera, just put a little red piece of cardboard on the side of the lense and look if you see it. My guess it is will be just a red point because of the curvature of the object. I usually use a huge white card with a little hole for the lens. That hole should not be more than a tiny dot on the jewelry.


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## LewisShermer (May 10, 2013)

There's filters on our internet at work so wherever you've linked them photos from I can't see them to ascertain your lighting set up


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## privatebydesign (May 10, 2013)

> "the second one though, the black line going all around the ring is the damn camera"



It can't be, it is a reflection of the camera and the scene around it, the edge of the table and studio etc, the angle of reflection can only equal the angle of incidence, the camera would need to be huge to take up that much "horizon". You can't have used a hole in white paper for that shot, if you had, as you have said, you can only get a dot, which is comparatively easy to remove in post.


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## omar (May 10, 2013)

@LewisShermer: erm... yes... it's a light box - costs a lot of money as well!
oooh... OMG, those pics are just amazing
+ thanks for the advice - golden nuggets of help there



privatebydesign said:


> You can't have used a hole in white paper for that shot, if you had, as you have said, you can only get a dot, which is comparatively easy to remove in post.


no... i was misleading in what i said
i did use a paper with a hole in for other shots - but not the ones i showed off

@bbasiaga: mirror is an interesting idea - just not sure if it will work!?

@victorwol: great comments... will follow the advice


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## wsheldon (May 10, 2013)

There was some great advice on this topic in the book "Lighting for Digital Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots" by Syl Arena. He says when shooting highly reflective subjects like glass, jewelry, etc. you should "light what the objects sees" rather than the object itself. For example point your light/flash at a reflector next to, above or behind your subject and let the reflected light hit the jewelry. Combined with some fill this has worked great for me shooting metallic stuff. 

Great book for getting started with multi-flash still life and portrait work. Highly recommended. Beats the pants off a $200 class I took at my university.


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## LewisShermer (May 10, 2013)

a 60D and the 100mm is ideal.

for starters, lay a piece of white paper or card down on a table up to the edge then lay out your jewellery and compose your shot.

what flash equipment do you have?


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## victorwol (May 10, 2013)

this is one of the setups I use to photograph my wife jewelry...


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## victorwol (May 10, 2013)

and for bottles..


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## Joellll (May 10, 2013)

Or perhaps with a very dedicated light setup you can eliminate reflecting light that hits the camera (i.e., the camera stays in the dark).


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## kirispupis (May 10, 2013)

Buy the book Photography:Light, Science & Magic. It will answer all of your questions and questions to those questions in exhausting detail.


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## infilm (May 10, 2013)

@Omar. I have been doing table top motion photography for many years, as well as motion picture lighting for cars and other very reflective objects over a period of 25 years. In looking at the 2 photos of the rings, it appears to me, that you are trying to get to a very white world. That will result in a pretty flat image. Unless you add some kind of silver reflective material or some hard light for a few "pings" in the ring. If that is what you are after then you need to build a white cave around the ring and it needs to be lit fairly evenly. This can be done with large cards or with some kind of this white material and lighting that from behind. The camera can be hidden behind a large card, at least 4'x4' and then removing the black spot of the lens in post. It is likely that you may not see the lens reflected as it should be very tiny. Another technique I have used. You need to build a completely black world around the ring. You then light the black which will become white reflective in the ring. The remaining areas of the black that are not lit will become greys and blacks in the ring and should render some very nice reflections. This technique does require more lighting and is more difficult to achieve good results, but the time spent can be very satisfying. Good luck.


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## bycostello (May 15, 2013)

all about your angles... light, science and magic a good book on this


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## omar (May 27, 2013)

guys, thanks for the replies. i didn't get a chance to say thanks for the further replies

@infilm: great advice. thanks
not trying to get white. just want bling - but not make look artificial. the problem is that what i see with the eye is a beautifully lit ring - that when photographed looks darker than it is actually

Photography:Light, Science & Magic - ok... i think i've heard this several times now. the only thing is... i don't fancy putting my head into a book and reading. but if i have to... then i have to!

@victorwol: *why have u got a black card on top of the bottle picture setup*?

@LewisShermer: flash... erm yes... there was no flash. 
i'm posting a question on this in the next few min

all other replies: thanks a million. all replies were read and got great advice


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## Quasimodo (May 27, 2013)

omar said:


> guys, thanks for the replies. i didn't get a chance to say thanks for the further replies
> 
> @infilm: great advice. thanks
> not trying to get white. just want bling - but not make look artificial. the problem is that what i see with the eye is a beautifully lit ring - that when photographed looks darker than it is actually
> ...



This might not be a Gordian knot solution, bit what about shifting your way out of the problem with a TS lens?


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## omar (May 27, 2013)

Quasimodo said:


> This might not be a Gordian knot solution, bit what about shifting your way out of the problem with a TS lens?


don't understand what ur saying
what do u mean by TS lens?
thanks


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## Quasimodo (May 27, 2013)

omar said:


> Quasimodo said:
> 
> 
> > This might not be a Gordian knot solution, bit what about shifting your way out of the problem with a TS lens?
> ...



A Tilt-Shift lens. Gives you the opportunity to shoot distorting the perspective, thus avoiding the reflection.


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## omar (May 27, 2013)

can u give me a part number to look up for the lens u refer to?
thanks


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## rs (May 27, 2013)

omar said:


> can u give me a part number to look up for the lens u refer to?
> thanks


http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-TS-E-90mm-f-2.8-Tilt-Shift-Lens-Review.aspx


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## omar (May 28, 2013)

thanks @rs
i didn't know such lenses existed
very clever
i've invested in a 100mm macro IS lens... so will just gave to get used to using thatt
in future... i'll definitely consider


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## bdunbar79 (May 28, 2013)

Hey omar,

Congratulations on your committment to do jewelry photography. It is going to be very challenging, but one I'm sure you can handle. I'd just like to offer some words of advice, in that this is going to be incredibly difficult to get no reflections. This is NOT going to be an easy task at all and could take a very long time to master. But that's the fun in it right? Good luck and remember to post photos here and there!


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