Photoshoot

It is difficult to explain all that goes into photographing jewelry, but here is a short explanation. Today, I set up for a group shot for a magazine ad. I wanted some reflections, which is more complicated. To get the one shot I may take forty. The camera is behind the paper in the bottom right corner and is a Nikon 5300 with a 85 mm macro lense. All lights are daylight and I am using a combination of fluorescent and LED.

This is what the camera sees. This is the raw image as taken. Notice the horizon line and the color of the turquoise which is off. Digital cameras have trouble with certain colors because all color is reduced to RGB. Blues with a subtle bit of green are one of them.

This is the image after it has been edited in photoshop. Several things have happened. Because this is for a magazine ad, the background must be much lighter. Magazine paper is actually sort of grey and the ad will look muddy otherwise. The color of the turquoise and gold have to be corrected for magazine print which is CMYK,( cyan, magenta,yellow and black). This process adds black to the color mix and can especially change the turquoise color. Your monitor is RGB (red, green and blue). Wax which holds the rings upright is edited out as well as the horizon line. The aim is to get the color as close to life as possible, which this is. This type of product photo is called a glamour shot.