How to take pictures of jade bracelets to look good?

The reflection of jade surface is similar to that of glass, but it has a more regular reflection surface than glass. In actual shooting, we should break this rule. When choosing reflective surfaces, we should know which regular reflective surfaces should be kept and which should be discarded. We should break this rule with some accessories to make the jade surface show a smooth but not gorgeous reflective effect.

Equipment and equipment:

Camera: Canon 50D (M-mode DC can be used instead)

Light source: a quadruple lamp cap (4 x 105W photographic bulb) and a 200W flash lamp.

Lens: 60 mm telephoto lens (omitted if DC is used)

Reflector: Silver reflector.

Others: one 30cm x 40cm soft box, one sulfuric acid paper and two homemade black cardboard.

The shooting process is as follows:

(1) Add main light source

Usually when shooting some small ornaments, let them stand on their sides, that is, use some foil below to make some ornaments semi-suspended, such as necklaces and bracelets. This is to better reflect the three-dimensional sense and make lighting more convenient. In this example, we put the bracelet on a wallet, which not only enriches the composition, but also makes the bracelet perform better in the later stage.

Because the colors of wallets and bracelets tend to be cool, we use a red acrylic board as the background board, which not only enriches the colors, but also produces a reflection.

Add a flash to the top of the scene. In order to avoid too strong light, use a piece of sulfuric acid paper to block between the flash and the scene. In this step, four lamp holders can also be used instead.

(2) Illuminate the front

Next, we add another lamp on the camera side to illuminate the front of the bracelet. We used a four-fold lamp cap, which is roughly at an angle of 45 with the camera, and the lamp cap is slightly inclined downward, so that the light irradiation has a clear direction.

At this point, the effect of the scene under the relative illumination of two lamps. We can see that the luster on the bracelet is reflected, but it is not obvious, which is mainly due to the bright edge of the bracelet, which makes the whole lack of change.

(3) Edge strokes

Next, we cover the periphery of the bracelet with black cardboard. On the one hand, it can reduce the illumination of the bottom light, on the other hand, it can outline a circle of dark outline for the edge of the bracelet, thus forming a side with great contrast between light and dark on it, thus making the bright spot of the bracelet more obvious.

The effect of this step. You can clearly see the dark outline, and the highlights of the bracelet are emphasized.

(4) improve the brightness of the dark part

The brightness of the bracelet basically meets the requirements, but observing the top of the bag, because the part of the jade bead is still a little dark, so I made a small reflector (the height is not more than black cardboard) and placed it on the opposite side of the bag.

Then shoot the scene. At this time, observe the jade bead part above the purse again, and the brightness basically meets the requirements.