i've been thinking a lot about photographs lately - especially photographs of jewelry. it is notoriously difficult to get good photos of jewelry. oh, i know, i know, there are lots of great tutorials online about how to take your own wonderful photos of your jewelry. believe me, i have tried all the tips and i did get acceptable photos. here is an example of a photo i took.
not bad, really. it only took a little work in picasa, which, BTW, if you haven't tried is a really great little FREE photo editing program. i set up the little light tent i bought as well as all sorts of crazy furniture configurations to get the camera and the tent to exactly the right height, figured out the camara settings AGAIN....why do i always have to figure it out all over again every time i take photos? anyway, a couple of hours later, a few acceptable photos were born. i was getting really frustrated and it was taking DAYS to get enough good photos for a website or to send pictures to a potential customer. so, i applied for a grant for professional photographs of my work. to my complete surprise, i was awarded the contract! i immediately contacted a wonderful photographer, ralph gabriner, who lives in new york. he agreed to photograph my work for $75.00 per photo. whoa - this seemed like a lot to pay for a photo but i was frustrated, desperate and (thanks to the grant) i have MONEY!! so, off they went - a small handful of my favorite, handmade bracelets. i decided to let ralph choose what to photograph and he did well. here is the same piece above but photographed by ralph this time.
wow! see the difference? i could NEVER in a million years make my jewelry looks this fabulous. well, i guess if i trained & practiced for years to be a jewelry photographer maybe i could but i would much rather be making jewelry. so, the moral of the story is: pay to have a couple of great photos taken of your work, if you are an artist. it will be well worth the price. BTW, i recommend ralph, if you need to have photos of jewelry taken.....
not bad, really. it only took a little work in picasa, which, BTW, if you haven't tried is a really great little FREE photo editing program. i set up the little light tent i bought as well as all sorts of crazy furniture configurations to get the camera and the tent to exactly the right height, figured out the camara settings AGAIN....why do i always have to figure it out all over again every time i take photos? anyway, a couple of hours later, a few acceptable photos were born. i was getting really frustrated and it was taking DAYS to get enough good photos for a website or to send pictures to a potential customer. so, i applied for a grant for professional photographs of my work. to my complete surprise, i was awarded the contract! i immediately contacted a wonderful photographer, ralph gabriner, who lives in new york. he agreed to photograph my work for $75.00 per photo. whoa - this seemed like a lot to pay for a photo but i was frustrated, desperate and (thanks to the grant) i have MONEY!! so, off they went - a small handful of my favorite, handmade bracelets. i decided to let ralph choose what to photograph and he did well. here is the same piece above but photographed by ralph this time.
wow! see the difference? i could NEVER in a million years make my jewelry looks this fabulous. well, i guess if i trained & practiced for years to be a jewelry photographer maybe i could but i would much rather be making jewelry. so, the moral of the story is: pay to have a couple of great photos taken of your work, if you are an artist. it will be well worth the price. BTW, i recommend ralph, if you need to have photos of jewelry taken.....
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment