I'm interested in locating and how to use a photo stand for taking digital photos of small items like jewelery and coins etc. and the type of lighting. thx, Jim

-- Jim Metternich (jgmett@valleyint.com), January 23, 1999

Answers

We use an ancient copy stand originally bought from Spiratone (remember them) back in the early 70's for our macro test shots. We're just using standard copy-stand lighting (lights on either side, at about 45 degrees relative to the plane of the subject). Good jewelery photography is tricky though: You'll want to use soft-boxes, or a "light tent" to get nice reflections on the shiny surfaces. Visit a pro camera store with a good books section, or a book superstore with a well-stocked photo shelf. There are a lot of tricks to getting the subjects to look good, and here a picture or two is worth a LOT more than a thousand words! (The general trick is you want a lot of area around the subject to be pretty bright, so the shiny surfaces will all be reflecting light objects. Otherwise, your metal will look dark and gloomy...)

Good luck!

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), January 23, 1999.