Influencing the Art of Jewelry Photography

The visual impact of perspective & sharpness controland to ensure that enough line pairs reach the digital
By Avi Rothsensor to achieve good sharpness, it is best to avoid
Jewelry, as a photographic object is comparativelyvery small apertures! This is why when desiring great
small in terms of three-dimensional extension. Theimage quality, it's imperative to achieve sharpness by
range of movements offered by the view cameraadjusted depth of field vs. stopping down the lens
present great control over quality and visualopening!
presentation. This article about using a view camera inAnother good example of the view camera
the studio-managed environment, discusses ways ofadvantage can be seen when photographing a square
deliberately influencing and modifying perspective andjewelry gift box. How do you photograph a square
sharpness to attainvisual splendor and image qualityitem from a dramatic angle without converging lines?
Unlike SLR or medium format cameras ("rigid body"With a medium-format camera it's not possible to
cameras), the view camera has capabilities for a fullcompensate for converging lines at a small aperture
range of movements: rise and fall as well as tilt andlike f/11 in order to get the entire subject sharp.
shift of both front and rear standards. This is verySince lenses made for digital photography perform
important in digital jewelry photography since simplybest in this aperture range a view camera like the
stopping down a modern digital lens all the way toSinar p3, Arca, Linhof or Cambo would easily realize
f45 or f64 is a poor approach in obtaining sharpnessoverall sharpness without loss of image quality while
and can have a damaging effect on image quality.retaining the desired viewing angle.
Modern digital lenses perform optimally toward theThe above examples demonstrate how the
middle of their aperture range: f/11 for short focalcapabilities of a precision view camera with a full
lengths, f/16 for moderate focal lengths, and f/22 forrange of movements can achieve great overall
longer lenses. Sharpness has other implications onsharpness at small apertures. But at the same time,
image quality as well: surface quality, data density,the view camera also allows to create purposeful
and separation of planes and edges.un-sharpness for artistic and creative interpretations.
In practical terms, when photographing a round pearlUtilizing the view camera's range of movements to
necklace or a pendant on a 180º object surfacemanipulate perspective and sharpness will create
with a tilted camera plane of 30º- 45º, thespectacular special images of even ordinary jewelry
view camera can quickly and easily be set to achieveobjects - especially in close-up range.
sharpness throughout the entire object plane at theIn jewelry photography close-up sharpness over the
optimum aperture without stopping down, whileentire subject, at the optimum aperture for best
retaining natural proportions. An SLR or mediumimage quality, is inconceivable without camera
format camera on the other hand, must always bemovements. If you are searching for a system that
stopped down to a maximum lens opening of f32will help you capture the ultimate digital image quality,
and beyond to achieve a greater depth of field, withI would highly recommend thinking about a view
all the associated disadvantages of image quality.camera studio-solution. There are at least two other
A limited amount of sharpness can be re-gained incomponents beyond the camera platform you must
post-production by image manipulation, but only withconsider: the digital back, and digital lenses. It's not
considerable losses in terms of image quality, andinexpensive - but the results will justify the
with unpleasing pixel distortions. For known reasons,investment.
diffraction has a large effect at high line frequencies,