***DSLR/Photography MegaThread***

I got the contract! BAM!!!

I'll be starting with 70 pieces of silver and coral jewelry around the 8th of November for the initial contract. They have over 500 pieces of other jewelry to shoot after the holidays, so if they like what they get from me, I will continue to image their collection for the remainder of their website.

At a rate of $35/piece imaged, this is a BIG deal for me!!

Anyone have any lighting tips? HAAHAHAH!!!! I've gotta order a CFL soft-box on stand, a 5" CFL reflector spot on a stand, a translucent screen and holder, and a couple sheets of black and white plexiglass. Going to be shooting right here in my living room, I think.

Congrats!

My wife did jewelry for a website once. Once. It was the biggest pain in the *** job she's ever had.

I'll see if she'll make you a deal on all the jewelry stands she bought! LOL!!
 
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I got the contract! BAM!!!

I'll be starting with 70 pieces of silver and coral jewelry around the 8th of November for the initial contract. They have over 500 pieces of other jewelry to shoot after the holidays, so if they like what they get from me, I will continue to image their collection for the remainder of their website.

At a rate of $35/piece imaged, this is a BIG deal for me!!

Anyone have any lighting tips? HAAHAHAH!!!! I've gotta order a CFL soft-box on stand, a 5" CFL reflector spot on a stand, a translucent screen and holder, and a couple sheets of black and white plexiglass. Going to be shooting right here in my living room, I think.
Awesome, congratulations!
 
URGH…

Was hoping to start shooting tomorrow morning, first thing.

Tore open the boxes the lighting kit came in, only to find that the soft box light is defective from the manufacturer. There aren't any threads in the lamp head. At all.

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Looks like I'll be making a trip out to Pasadena tomorrow morning.
 
I got the contract! BAM!!!

I'll be starting with 70 pieces of silver and coral jewelry around the 8th of November for the initial contract. They have over 500 pieces of other jewelry to shoot after the holidays, so if they like what they get from me, I will continue to image their collection for the remainder of their website.

At a rate of $35/piece imaged, this is a BIG deal for me!!

Anyone have any lighting tips? HAAHAHAH!!!! I've gotta order a CFL soft-box on stand, a 5" CFL reflector spot on a stand, a translucent screen and holder, and a couple sheets of black and white plexiglass. Going to be shooting right here in my living room, I think.

Congrats!

I've seen a lot of guys use museum putty to keep certain parts of the jewelery in the right places and to keep bracelets and whatnot looking round, then just shop it out after. My biggest recommendation is to shoot tethered if you aren't already, helps you see where to adjust lights and make other moves before you've already shot a ton of stuff(and end up having to reshoot it)
 
Oh yeah, I'm all tethered up, for sure.

I got things up and running today. Here's my lighting rig:

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And here's the first un-processed test image.

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They're starting to upload my images onto their e-commerce site into their Elegance in Silver collection: jinjajewelry.net

My stuff is the black background stuff.

I know this is nothing ground-breaking, as technique goes. But they're happy enough with my work that they want me to shoot every piece they have for their entire site over the next few months, as well as when they have new design arrivals. Also, they work with a marketing company in NY who told them they were very impressed with the way it's turning out. It looks as if my work for them will not only be on their website, but in trade pamphlets and show materials.

This is a GIANT learning process. I'm picking many, many tricks just by trying to streamline the process. It's a ****-ton of work, but I'm having a great time.
 
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Thankfully, I think this is the last of the gemstone stuff I have to do for a bit. Most of the rest of it is coral, mother-of-pearl, abalone, or silver.
 
Guys,

I've been shooting tethered to my iMac for the past two weeks. Today, when I started working, I couldn't get Lightroom to find the camera. I couldn't get the Mac to find the camera at all. I tried three different USB cables and three different USB ports on the back of the iMac, as well as an attempted attachment to my old PC. Nothing. The iMac and the PC see my old D200 just fine, but not my D3.

I think my USB port on the camera body is FUXXORD.

I am literally dead in the water with deadlines looming.

Any thoughts?

I'm thinking I'll head over the hill to their Wilshire Blvd repair facility tomorrow morning. They open at 0700. Maybe I can get a quick diagnosis...
 
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The Nikon USA repair facility is part museum, part customer service center. The guy behind the counter was very nice and definitely sympathetic to my plight. He ran the camera back to their diagnostic bench and came back with the news about five minutes later. The I/O board that handles the USB, audio, and HDMI connections is shot.

Out of commission 7-10 days and the repair will cost $435. They're "throwing in" a full function check and sensor cleaning as well as free overnight shipping to my house when it's done.
 
Wish I had a Nikon to lend you. Maybe rent one from Sammy's or similar? Just write it off as the cost of doing business.
 
Wish I had a Nikon to lend you. Maybe rent one from Sammy's or similar? Just write it off as the cost of doing business.

Danged near $100 a day. I can't justify that. The cost of this repair is already eating far enough into the money I'm making from this gig. Fortunately, the client is being very understanding.

Besides, of that 7-10 business days, I'll be spending at least six of it at work where I can't shoot images of jewelry, anyhow.
 
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