Photography: Shooting Particular Objects in Macro Mode

Metal
1. Use a light-blue background to display silver to its best advantage.
2. Use a piece of poster board to reflect light back on the piece, but mask the image of your hands or camera that may have reflect in the surface.
3. Add small colorful accessories to pictures of silver, such as a flower, to add interesting reflections and a punch of color.


Jewellery
1. Use black velvet backgrounds to display jewelry at its best, particularly diamonds. White is also effective.
2. Position pieces so the most interesting part of the piece is visible. Prop up rings, for example, using a small piece of museum wax or silly putty, or cut a small slit in a piece of foam core board with a razor blade and push the band of the ring down into the slit, making the ring stand up.
3. Make certain photos are well lighted, and the details are clear. Good jewelry is an investment and nobody is going to offer top dollar for something that appears fuzzy or dirty.
4. Sharp, close-up photos of jewelry may require the use of a macro lens and a special lighting set up.


Porcelain
1. Place the porcelain piece against colored background that plays up one of the colors in the pattern.
2. Include a close-up of the most interesting part of the pattern.
3. Experiment with lighting until you get a picture with accurate color and white balance.


Furniture
1. Dust and polish items before photographing
2. Place furniture against a neutral, uncluttered background.
3. Light picture so that the color is warm and accurate.
4. Include a close-up of any carving, inlay, or other details that add to the beauty or value of the piece.
5. Include an accessorizing object to indicate scale, a book or bowl for example.

Paintings
1. It is crucial that the camera be absolutely parallel to the artwork, or you get the “keystone” effect (distortion).
2. Use a tripod and watch out for reflections if the art is under glass. Remove glass if possible before shooting pictures.

Generally, make the image fill in the picture. Too much background detracts from the interest of the image. Use a small tripod for steady images.

Take several pictures with different exposure values to ensure at least one of your shots is well-exposed (use exposure compensation +/- 2 stops).

Use a lens attachment if your camera allows one to reduce depth of field and reduce impossible glare from reflective subjects.

If the image appears to be too warm or bluish, use the manual white balance. Finally, you can adjust your photo in an image-editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, if necessary.