I have become a jewelry photographer here of late. From previous posts, you’d probably think I don’t photograph too much product work, however, this work is just as enjoyable, and honestly, when you have this much control over your subject, you tend to be fairly creative compared to some shoots with people…some.

I recently photographed senior rings for the Texas Tech Alumni Association. They told me I had a good bit of rein on how they look, just that they needed something fresh. Of course, you have to show how cool the rings are as well, and these are beautiful rings! What to do, what to do? Find a bit of black felt that you buy for a previous shoot, and create some big edgy light (big for the rings that is). It’s not every day you get to turn product photography into macro photography, letting the lack of depth of field you get when you throw on a macro lens or extension tubes play as much a great aesthetic component of the shot as it is in photographing flowers.

The idea behind the shots was to really highlight the individual parts that make up the attractiveness of the rings, and shooting with extension tubes allows you to jump right on top of the raised ridges and stones. Extension tubes are very handy pieces of equipment to throw in your camera bag, allowing you to switch a medium to telephoto lens to a macro-ready lens in no time. Plus, they are relatively inexpensive compared to a nice macro lens, and yet, as far as glass goes, you don’t sacrifice any quality because there is no glass inside the tubes. Extension tubes are not, however, to be confused with teleconverters, which allow you to multiply the focal length of a lens. Extension tubes allow you to focus closer, much closer, but not multiply focal length. Search B&H Photo or Adorama for extension tubes that might fit your rig.

The lighting for the shots was fairly simple. I didn’t need much space, so I just set everything up in the office on an antique card table (never seen a card table quite like it). You can see from the rugged setup shot that the light was pretty diffused from the two Westcott diffusers. The umbrella camera right serves as a bounce for the diffused light to throw some fill on the shadow side of the ring. This aspect was later assisted with adding a regular white piece of paper folded vertically in half, acting as a very small bookend, placed on the shadow/back side of the rings, just of a little more fill. This is the best part of shooting product like this. You have more control to get the light just right! You don’t always have this much time to experiment, but it is a nice opportunity to also learn from your lighting technique for future shoots when you don’t have as much time.

I have another post coming about photographing jewelry soon, one that combines creativity and systematic approach! More to come…