Photographing Dichroic Glass Jewelry with AAE Glass
The business of making and selling dichroic glass jewelry has many steps. None more important than photographing the jewelry so it sells fast and for a good price. Many times the difference between making a sale and not making a sale is the quality of the photo. I wanted to share some of my experiences with you, what works, what doesn't.
I have tried everything I can think of to improve my pictures. I have taken thousands of pictures over the years. I have spent hundreds of dollars on photo domes, photo cubes, cloud domes etc, and I wasn't happy with any of the pictures. After talking to a family friend, during Thanksgiving dinner, he gave me the best picture taking advice I have ever received. I started doing this 2 years ago and it has never failed...You can reach in the couch cushions or under your car seat to come up with the $2.99 it will cost you to purchase this top notch photo apparatus. Don't laugh. Are you ready? I purchased a gallon of milk, ate a few bowls of cereal and followed these five easy steps:
1.) Soak the labels off your empty milk gallon.
2.) Cut the milk gallon in half all the way around.
3.) Place your jewelry piece on your desired background.
4.) Place the milk carton over the jewelry piece and your background, place the lens of your digital camera in the top of the milk carton and click away.
5.) Take your photos outside. The best time of day is 2-5p.m. when it is slightly overcast or even a little shady. Direct sunlight is not good, it will only over-expose your photos.
So if you have a taste for Lucky Charms and need an apparatus to take great pictures, head out to your local grocer and pick up a gallon of milk. You won't be sorry :)
Tanya Veit
Super tip, thank you!
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
-Eva Maria
Thanks Eva. I enjoy your work as well.
ReplyDeleteHah! Leave it to Tanya to figure out the most efficient and practical way of doing something so many people have been struggling with for years! As always, Tanya, you're amazing. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love you Tanya! Just what I needed today... What I didn't sell this past weekend (The Brookings SD Summer Arts Festival was very good to me :) I can now confidently photograph my remaining inventory... all by myself. You are amazing... kudos to you and your family friend.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Did you cut the milk gallon equally in half?
ReplyDeleteExactly...Right in half.
DeleteI have used the milk gallon photography method ever since Tanya showed me a couple of years ago and it is the VERY BEST way to take pictures of art glass! I bought a really pretty cutting board to use as my background and I love the quality of my pix!! Thanks, Tanya!!!
ReplyDeletePhyllis :-)
O my gosh! Your kidding! I'm trying this right away! What an awesome invention!
ReplyDelete