OK,

Rich suggested a how-to on what I have learned recently, so here it is. I have a good buddy who is a professional photographer and I asked him to shoot a white gold engagement ring for me before I shipped it off the the customer. He helped me out in exchange for beer and pizza, and in the process taught me a few things. By the way, his name is Geoff Smith. He's an amazing photographer, and you can view his work at lookatlao.com.

OK. Back to the photos. Here's my #1 take away: The color temperature of the light bulbs you buy is everything. You want "daylight" which is about 5500 -6500k on the color temperature scale. You do not want "warm white" - which is too yellow. That's nice and cozy in your home - much closer in the spectrum to candle light, but it's no good for shooting pictures.

I use a Canon 20D, which is a somewhat older model of a sort of "fancy pants" digital camera, but to be honest, it's nowhere near top-of-the-line these days. I got mine used for $200 last year.

I shoot in RAW, which affords me the ability to make exposure adjustment and corrections after-the-fact, but I don't use that often. With this lighting setup, you don't really need to. And that's what I have to show you: The lighting setup.

I made a lightbox, many years ago, as an art student, for tracing and making stencils. I still have the box, but I have modified it. I am no longer using the two fluorescent tube fixtures. Instead I have added two cheap, clamp-on style light fixtures from the hardware store. You could also rob a couple old lamps. You just need a couple light sockets in there.

I just strapped them in, securely but kinda sloppily:

It's important to note that there is a white acrylic sheet in place over top of this when in use. I took the top off so you can see inside. However normally this looks like a typical tracing light box, with the white cover. You can get white acrylic sheet at Home Depot in the lighting department. The white sheet is important, especially with highly polished work as it creates a solid, white diffused light source in stead of the pinpoint of the bulb. This gives you great reflections on your work (see the nice white reflection on This one.) Not sure if I said this, but I'm only using the two CLF bulbs. The old florescent tube fixtures were in there from before. I wired them into my new system just in case, but for now I'm only using the two CFL bulbs. I got the 20Watt, I think. That's the brightest ones I could find at the grocery store.

The aluminum foil is just for added reflectivity within the box. This is no attempt at fireproofing and I should add that incandescent bulbs would be way too hot in here. Besides the poor lighting, they would be a fire hazard, so for many reasons ONLY DO THIS WITH CFL BULBS!

Here are you high-tech, top-secret photography bulbs. I got the set at the grocery store for $9. You don't need to go down to a camera store and buy the $400 they would sell you. Forget it! But these aren't just ANY CFL bulbs. These are 6500K DAYLIGHT bulbs. That's the color temp and it's key. Go for "daylight."

So here's my basic setup: Light box on the right (with white cover now in place), reflector on the left, subject in the middle. Camera on a tripod, low POV. I like to look at the work at "eye level" instead of top down. I feel like it is just slightly less expected and it makes you feel like you're a miniature little ant looking up at a giant sculpture, instead of a bum looking down on a lost penny. That's just my opinion though. What's important here is the reflector on the left. That's just a sheet of white paper. I move it around and watch the results. It's amazing how much a little twisting and turning can change the lighting on your piece.

Here is the lightbox with the white acrylic cover in place:

Put your eye up to the camera and watch what happens "real time" as you move the reflector around. Pull it toward yourself, twist it to and fro... you'll witness the light playing off your work and you'll fine tune it on the fly. Be sure to use paper that is truly white, you don't want to impart a yellowish glow to your image.

Here's an example. In this image I removed the reflector. Looks OK at first glance. Not a terrible shot.

But look at the improvement when you use the reflector! That's just a piece of paper and it's night and day. Note the highlights on the trees and the nice fill light on the inside of the ring. Check out the log in the foreground. Nicely lit. I'd add that it's nice to have your light stronger on one side and softer on the other, and so a single light source and reflector is better than two identical light sources - and cheaper too.

For these two shots (above and below) the ONLY difference is the reflector. Same camera, same settings same everything. I didn't even make any photoshop adjustments to the second one. I don't have to! I do have Photoshop and I know how to use it - In some cases I will remove some dust specs, or make an overall contrast (curves) adjustment, but with proper lighting you don't have to mess with it at all.

I don't even have a marco lens. My camera has a smallish zoom, so I just stand back at the closes possible focal distance and zoom in on it. You might get nicer results with a proper macro lens. I certainly like that fuzzy-foreground/background that you get with a shallow depth of field. I'll get a nice lens one of these days, but with my new torch, rolling mill and other jewelry making stuff, that's going to have to wait!

Enjoy, now let's please see some photos of your work. Inspire me!