For The Love of Beads BlogThe adventures of Suzanne, Nibbler, and friends in the world of beads and jewelry making crafts

Part 1 of this series walked you through building your own lightbox (also known as a softbox) to help you take great photos of your jewelry masterpieces .  Now here we are with Part 2 – hopefully things won’t get toooo technical =)

After you’ve built your lightbox, the next important thing to think about is your camera settings. If you have a point and shoot camera, there isn’t too much you can do to customize, but you’ll still get some nice shots if you follow these tips.

1.  Turn off your flash! Flashes can distort colors and cast super-nasty shadows which will make your piece look strange.

2. Use  a tripod! Most blurry photos are caused by insufficient light, which makes the camera hold the shutter open longer – this means that if your hand shakes at all, the camera will record that blur. You can buy a cheap tripod at most camera stores, or if that’s not an option, try placing the camera/lightbox/piece somewhere sturdy, such as on a box with a cloth under the camera to get the angle right (just be careful with your camera!)

3. Use a low ISO setting. ISO, in camera-speak, is the same thing as film speed – so the higher your ISO setting (usually they range from 50-1600), the more light-sensitive your camera becomes – but your photos will also appear more noisy (more film grain).  So having a low ISO setting will give you the clearest, most vibrant colors.

4. Choose your aperture carefully. The aperture is one of the pieces in the camera that controls the amount of light hitting the sensor, as well as something called Depth of Field. Depth of field is range in front of and behind your focus area that is crisp and sharp.

Here is a comparison of different aperature settings

Depending on the piece you’re photographing, you might want to use a low aperture to get a really close-up, artistic feel – but to show an entire piece, you’ll want to use a higher aperture which will keep the whole piece in sharp focus.  I generally do one shot with low aperture, and one with high aperture and choose the one I like better =)

Stay with us for Part 3, The Final Chapter – Arranging and Composition

Happy Photographing!