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Managing the challenge of narrow depth of field in very reflective surface atmosphere

By Avi Roth

Inside the field of commercial photography, be it in motion or static, every single category presents a challenge of its personal. With jewelry photography, an object of extremely reflective surface (HRS), the challenge is amplified because of its relatively small size captured largely in close-up atmosphere with shallow depth of field, surface complexity (specular), and restricted techniques of lighting as a result of space restriction amongst the lens along with the object. Jewelry photography demands understanding and experience to overcome the compounded difficulty of controlling reflections and limited depth-of-field (perceived sharpness) in close-up jewelry photography.

Furthermore for the problems pointed out above, the success of reproducing and acquiring a high high quality digital image of jewelry will rely around the gear employed in the reproduction procedure. You'll find essentially three types of camera systems 1 can employ:

a. Digital SLRs like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma with very good sensor resolution (6-14 MP)

b. Medium format cameras like Hassleblad, Rollei or Mamiya with a bigger sensor digital back (11-39 MP)

c. Huge format view cameras like Sinar or Toyo with reside video studio answer (11-39 MP)

The objective of this short article would be to talk about some of the principal challenges posed by the complexities of reflective surface reproduction, specifically in digital close-up photography. Below I'll present some resolution to these challenges from the lessons learned and skilled in my day-to-day practice and from my own investigation as to what's the most effective, fastest, and simplest solution to an otherwise complicated assignment of jewelry photography.

Jewelry surface (HRS)
Essentially the most tough activity of all HRS digital captures is jewelry. In essence all jewelry objects are constructed with reflective qualities of various degrees and may be in comparison to mirrors. Mirrors are objects with excellent specular or diffused reflection; that is certainly, image forming qualities. Imagine pointing your lens towards a mirror at a close distance. What will you see? Precisely, oneself holding a camera as well as your surrounding region. Jewelry objects in essence embody three types of mirrors: flat, convex and concave determined at random by the jewelrys really shape. Curved mirrors magnify or shrink pictures consequently distort the reflected image. Most jewelry objects typify spherical mirrors structured in an exciting connection of concave and convex surfaces.

Options:
Understanding the fundamental reflective properties of mirrors could be valuable in solving some simple troubles related to jewelry photography as a result of their common reflective properties.

a. Jewelry reflection has no physical existence. Conceal the camera or pick a shooting angle for the jewelry to reflect a controlled surface including a white board or soft box.

b. The place from the camera/lens matters with regards to how and what will the jewelry reflect. Use longer lenses to extend the working space in between object and lens.

c. When light strikes the jewelry surface the angle of reflection equals the angle of in incidence. Spot your light supply indirectly for the angle of reflectance.

d. The reflection on the jewelry is half the size in the reflected image - the jewelry is constantly halfway in between the reflected image and also the reflection. Creating and putting the jewelry inside a large soft tent enables the application of numerous light sources to minimize and manage unwanted reflections.

e. In the event the jewelry surface is flat and completely shiny, specular reflection will outcome. When the surface is rough, diffused or distorted reflection will result (bending) Location the jewelry within a light zone of numerous loosely arranged large white panels, and by modifying their position relevant towards the object will enable the control of light source there by controlling unwanted reflection.

General Sharpness:
A narrow depth-of-field (DOF) can produce spectacular effects when photographing insects, flowers, etc., but in jewelry photography in the event the entire image doesn't appear in complete focus, the image becomes an unusable a single. Unusable within the sense that some parts of a ring or bracelet needed to supply valuable data for the purpose of presentation will likely be unacceptably much less sharp than other parts. As an example, the front portion of a bracelet (focal plane in the lens) is in sharp concentrate; but as we move towards the back area the loss of sharpness becomes unacceptable (blurred). DOF and image sharpness changes with sensor size. Smaller digital sensors receive maximum sharpness at wider apertures (f:8-f:11) whilst bigger ones at (f:11-f:22). Capturing small objects like jewelry through close-up photography presents a problem because only a very narrow portion in the object relative to the focal plane is going to be acceptably in concentrate. A single strategy to extend depth of field will be to take images making use of a narrow lens aperture. This remedy has a critical disadvantage. Small apertures bring a lot more light diffraction, degrading the image resolution. This can be 1 explanation why many consumer digital cameras (with extremely little sensors) won't let you cease down previous f:8, although studio remedy sensors are often stopped down to f:32 and beyond.

Answer:
The application of double exposure remedy or photo stitching in jewelry photography partially solves the limitations of shallow depth-of-field. The technique called "focus stacking" is an additional. Making use of double exposure when limited depth-of-field is obtainable is a powerful approach to help photograph and present jewelry.

Depth-of-field determines what component from the jewelry has the sharpest concentrate and its amount. However, at larger apertures depth of field limits interest to a particular focal points i.e. the leading of a ring, while minimizing specifics in the shank. A higher depth-of-field would presents each of the elements of a ring sharp at when, fairly equally. Depth-of-field is determined by the following: lens aperture (-stop), lens focal length and your distance in the focal point. In jewelry photography, of these three the aperture has the most influence as well as the least modifiable. Therefore to enhance depth-of-field and obtain total sharpness over the complete image, move farther away from the jewelry by using a longer lens.

1. Capture two photos, 1st concentrate slightly below the ring leading, then a second focused reduced at the center.

two. Bring each photos into two separate layers in Photoshop to combine the two into one sharp image.

There are of course other options including the Helicon Focus. This plan is developed to handle the shallow depth-of-field difficulty in close-up imaging. It also aligns the photos that adjust their size and position from shot to shot. This function is especially critical with closeup jewelry photography.

However, essentially the most pragmatic answer to the depth-of-field challenge will be the massive format studio camera. These cameras such as Arca Swiss, Linhof, Sinar, Fuji, Calumet or Toyo have expandable bellows, tilt and swing capabilities, and are allowing the capture of high-quality images with extended depth-of-field beyond the optical limitations in the lens.

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