Photographing Jewelry - Light it Up! - By: Carol Scheer

You have a beautiful object to sell. You believe it’s going to command a good price. You spend a lot of time taking pictures of it from various angles. You’re excited. However when you look at the pictures you took something doesn’t quite look right. The colors are off. What you saw with your eyes isn’t what you’re seeing in your pictures.

What happened?

This is a common problem in photography and it’s known as White Balance.

Look at the following pictures:

It’s the exact same object. One was photographed in natural outdoor light. One was shot under fluorescent light and one was taken in incandescent light. The difference in colors is readily visible.

Simply put different kinds of lighting, such daylight, fluorescent lighting and regular light bulbs (known as incandescent ) have different color temperatures measured in a nice techy term known as Kelvins.

A lower color temperature results in a red/pink cast. A higher color temperature results in a blue cast. In the old days of photography a person would determine what light they were shooting with and put different filters over the cameras lens to alter the colors the camera would capture.

Photographing items outside is the best.

Your pictures will have the truest colors when photographed outside. The best outdoor set up is not done in direct sunlight but rather in an area where the light is bright (such as a northern facing area). If you can’t photograph outside but have a northern facing window taking your pictures there during the brightest light of the day will be ideal.

Photographing items inside takes a little adjustment of your camera’s White Balance setting.

Digital cameras have made photographing in different lighting a whole lot easier. Understanding how to properly set your camera accordingly can make a world of difference in your photographs. Here are some of the most common White Balance settings on digital cameras.

Auto Adjust or WB Auto: A light setting that automatically adjusts for colors. This setting is where you camera makes a “good guess” about the lighting and tries to capture true colors. Most people leave their cameras on this setting. The results are often good.

Daylight or Sunny: A light setting to use when shooting pictures outside.

Cloudy: A light setting to use when shooting pictures outside in cloudy conditions. Cloudy days tend to cast a bluish light so when you shoot outside in cloudy light putting your camera on this setting will warm the picture up a bit.

Fluorescent: A light setting to use when shooting pictures in fluorescent light. Fluorescent light also casts a bluish light. If you’re shooting pictures under fluorescent lights put your camera on this setting to warm the picture up a bit and reduce the bluish cast.

Incandescent: A light setting to use when shooting pictures in Incandescent light (standard light bulbs). Regular light bulbs tend to cast a pinkish tone to pictures. If you’re shooting pictures under regular lights put your camera on this setting to cool the picture down a bit and reduce the pinkish cast.

Manual White Balance Adjustment: Not all digital cameras have this setting but if yours does learn how to use it. You’ll love it! If you have a table or floor space that you regularly use to take your shoots learning how to take a manual white balance reading will improve the quality of your pictures immensely – and it’s super easy to do.

You have a beautiful object to sell. You believe it’s going to command a good price. You spend a lot of time taking pictures of it from various angles. You’re excited. However when you look at the pictures you took something doesn’t quite look right. The colors are off. What you saw with your eyes isn’t what you’re seeing in your pictures.

Carol Scheer - A Return To Splendor

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/areturntosplendor