What's the best way to photograph a ring to put on ebay. I just cannot get a good clear one?

Question

I was told to use a hallogen lamp,I've tried
that but it just makes an all white photo.

Answer 1

Disable your flash and use the macro function in a well lit room.

Answer 2

Use your macro setting and experiment. Let's say you have a point and shoot camera with macro and a flash on the camera. You might have to go to a manual mode to do this, but...

Put your ring on a nice background surface. I like to just put it in a ring box. Zoom out at least half-way so that you will be working about a foot away from the ring. Be sure that you get focus confirmation. Shoot a picture USING flash. Check the LCD for the result. If you have overexposed the ring, use the EV adjustment to reduce the exposure. For small items, I often find that I need to reduce the exposure by about 1.0 EV. (That's -1.0 EV.) It is better to have the ring properly exposed and the background underexposed, so just worry about the ring for now. Using a deliberate underexposure will cure the "too shiny" appearance of the stones.

If you know how, you can use either full manual exposure or just Aperture Priority and choose a smaller aperture (larger number) to make the ring show up in better focus.

If you have a DSLR, post your question again stating the kind of camera that you have and the lens that you are using and we will give more details.

If you are doing any image processing at all, such with Photoshop or it's cousins, you can crop the image to 800 pixels by 800 pixels and use Supersize images on eBay. I always use the Picture Pack when I am selling anything of any value.

Check out http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/hear... which I did a while ago using a Nikon Coolpix 5400 exactly as described above. I do NOT think this is acceptable, but we decided not to sell the ring anyhow, so I didn't bother to do a better job. It's still better than some I've seen. I don't keep old photos of sold items around, so I don't have much to show you, but at least you know that it's possible to get an acceptable result even without spending huge dollars on your equipment.

The key things to remember are:
-Macro setting
-Zoom out to get about a foot away from your subject
-Use flash
-Try different EV settings and expect that you will end up with a negative EV setting, such as -1.0 EV.

Answer 3

YOu need a camera with optical zoom and a "flower" setting

Set it to the flower.

Put the ring on black or blue backing.

Try with both the flash disable and flash enabled.

You need a good light source, such as a desk lamp on the ring.

Set the zoom at just SLIGHTLY telephoto (maybe 1/4 the way across).

Move in close and lightly press the shutter release and see how the focus looks

Move back a bit and try that again.

Do this until the it is sharp.

Then take the shot.

Any Kodak, Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Samsung priced over $150 should be able to render a good picture.

Answer 4

Black or Grey cloth as a back ground.
Cut a slot in a potato dry the slit with paper and push the ring and the cloth into the slit.
Drape the cloth around the potato.
I assume digital --
Normal focus length but zoom in until you get the frame filled.
No tripod with your elbows on the table, gently press the shutter release.

Answer 5

Hi Jean I would put your ring in a ring box in a room with good lighting + against a dark background but make sure the lights not shining directly on it ! Then shoot + zoom for clarity ! oh just hope this helps a little Jean x

Answer 6

You could do a couple of things:

1. Macro without flash
a. Get it in a holder - ring box like one of the suggestions
b. place it in a place where there is a lot of natural diffused light and no direct light
c. set your camera for macro
d. disable flash
e. take the picture


2. Apperture priority
If your camera has this setting, you can use this.
a. Get it in a holder - ring box like one of the suggestions
b. place it in a place where there is a lot of natural diffused light and no direct light
c. set your camera for apperture priority (Av)
d. disable flash
e. set your apperture (f-stop) to 22 or higher. The higher the better.
f. take the picture

Answer 7

use a digital with 3.1 magepixel, put the ring in a light background, like on a white paper, tilted the ring on a angle, like a small stand and then picture away....

Answer 8

Best to get someone to take the picture as you bend over. You could try laying a torch inside your trouser-leg too, and pointing the beam directly into your ring as you have already found that a Halogen lamp causes all sorts of skin damage.

Basically, do your best, spread them wide, and hope for the best.

Answer 9

Hi, perhaps you can also try google picasa.

picasa is a Google's photo software. It's what should've come with your camera.

It can Edit , organise and Share you picture and small video flips.

It's very easy to use and is free, just like Google

Download it free and just have a try:

http://www.bernanke.cn/google-picasa/

Good Luck!

Answer 10

really needs to be in an open ring box to get a clear photo