-Managing the challenge of narrow depth of field in hugely reflective surface environment
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 as a result of its relatively little size captured mainly in close-up atmosphere with shallow depth of field, surface complexity (specular), and limited methods of lighting as a result of space restriction between the lens and the object. Jewelry photography demands understanding and expertise to overcome the compounded difficulty of controlling reflections and limited depth-of-field (perceived sharpness) in close-up jewelry photography.
In addition towards the difficulties mentioned above, the success of reproducing and acquiring a high top quality digital image of jewelry will rely around the equipment employed inside the reproduction procedure. You can find basically three types of camera systems one can employ:
a. Digital SLRs like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma with great 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 remedy (11-39 MP)
The goal of this short article is always to discuss some of the principal challenges posed by the complexities of reflective surface reproduction, especially in digital close-up photography. Beneath I will present some solution to these challenges from the lessons discovered and skilled in my every day practice and from my personal analysis as to what's the best, fastest, and simplest remedy to an otherwise complicated assignment of jewelry photography.
Jewelry surface (HRS)
One of the most challenging activity of all HRS digital captures is jewelry. In essence all jewelry objects are constructed with reflective qualities of numerous degrees and may be when compared with mirrors. Mirrors are objects with excellent specular or diffused reflection; that is, image forming qualities. Imagine pointing your lens towards a mirror at a close distance. What will you see? Precisely, your self holding a camera and your surrounding region. Jewelry objects in essence embody 3 sorts of mirrors: flat, convex and concave determined at random by the jewelrys quite shape. Curved mirrors magnify or shrink images as a result distort the reflected image. Most jewelry objects typify spherical mirrors structured in an exciting connection of concave and convex surfaces.
Options:
Understanding the basic reflective properties of mirrors could be useful in solving some simple problems associated to jewelry photography due to their widespread reflective properties.
a. Jewelry reflection has no physical existence. Conceal the camera or select a shooting angle for the jewelry to reflect a controlled surface like a white board or soft box.
b. The location in the camera/lens matters in terms of how and what will the jewelry reflect. Use longer lenses to extend the working space amongst object and lens.
c. When light strikes the jewelry surface the angle of reflection equals the angle of in incidence. Location your light supply indirectly for the angle of reflectance.
d. The reflection around the jewelry is half the size on the reflected image - the jewelry is usually halfway among the reflected image as well as the reflection. Producing and putting the jewelry inside a large soft tent enables the application of various light sources to reduce and handle undesirable reflections.
e. In the event the jewelry surface is flat and perfectly shiny, specular reflection will outcome. If the surface is rough, diffused or distorted reflection will outcome (bending) Location the jewelry in a light zone of several loosely arranged massive white panels, and by modifying their position relevant to the object will allow the manage of light source there by controlling undesirable reflection.
General Sharpness:
A narrow depth-of-field (DOF) can develop spectacular effects when photographing insects, flowers, and so on., but in jewelry photography in the event the whole image does not seem in full focus, the image becomes an unusable one particular. Unusable inside the sense that some parts of a ring or bracelet needed to supply valuable information for the goal of presentation will be unacceptably significantly less sharp than other parts. For example, the front part of a bracelet (focal plane on the lens) is in sharp concentrate; but as we move towards the back region the loss of sharpness becomes unacceptable (blurred). DOF and image sharpness adjustments with sensor size. Smaller sized digital sensors obtain maximum sharpness at wider apertures (f:8-f:11) while larger ones at (f:11-f:22). Capturing modest objects like jewelry by means of close-up photography presents an issue considering that only an incredibly narrow portion from the object relative towards the focal plane will likely be acceptably in concentrate. A single way to extend depth of field would be to take photos making use of a narrow lens aperture. This remedy features a critical disadvantage. Little apertures bring far more light diffraction, degrading the image resolution. This really is one cause why a lot of consumer digital cameras (with extremely tiny sensors) will not allow you to stop down previous f:8, even though studio remedy sensors are typically stopped down to f:32 and beyond.
Answer:
The application of double exposure resolution or photo stitching in jewelry photography partially solves the limitations of shallow depth-of-field. The strategy referred to as "focus stacking" is an additional. Making use of double exposure when limited depth-of-field is accessible is really a strong approach to help photograph and present jewelry.
Depth-of-field determines what component from the jewelry has the sharpest focus and its amount. Regrettably, at bigger apertures depth of field limits attention to a particular focal points i.e. the best of a ring, whilst minimizing specifics at the shank. A higher depth-of-field would presents all the components of a ring sharp at once, relatively equally. Depth-of-field is determined by the following: lens aperture (-stop), lens focal length as well as your distance in the focal point. In jewelry photography, of those three the aperture has the most influence as well as the least modifiable. For that reason to improve depth-of-field and obtain total sharpness more than the entire image, move farther away from the jewelry by using a longer lens.
1. Capture two images, initial concentrate slightly beneath the ring top, then a second focused reduce in the center.
2. Bring both pictures into two separate layers in Photoshop to combine the two into a single sharp image.
There are obviously other options like the Helicon Focus. This program is designed to handle the shallow depth-of-field problem in close-up imaging. In addition, it aligns the pictures that modify their size and position from shot to shot. This function is specifically essential with closeup jewelry photography.
Even so, the most pragmatic answer to the depth-of-field challenge will be the huge format studio camera. These cameras like Arca Swiss, Linhof, Sinar, Fuji, Calumet or Toyo have expandable bellows, tilt and swing capabilities, and are permitting the capture of high-quality photos with extended depth-of-field beyond the optical limitations of the lens.
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 as a result of its relatively little size captured mainly in close-up atmosphere with shallow depth of field, surface complexity (specular), and limited methods of lighting as a result of space restriction between the lens and the object. Jewelry photography demands understanding and expertise to overcome the compounded difficulty of controlling reflections and limited depth-of-field (perceived sharpness) in close-up jewelry photography.
In addition towards the difficulties mentioned above, the success of reproducing and acquiring a high top quality digital image of jewelry will rely around the equipment employed inside the reproduction procedure. You can find basically three types of camera systems one can employ:
a. Digital SLRs like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sigma with great 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 remedy (11-39 MP)
The goal of this short article is always to discuss some of the principal challenges posed by the complexities of reflective surface reproduction, especially in digital close-up photography. Beneath I will present some solution to these challenges from the lessons discovered and skilled in my every day practice and from my personal analysis as to what's the best, fastest, and simplest remedy to an otherwise complicated assignment of jewelry photography.
Jewelry surface (HRS)
One of the most challenging activity of all HRS digital captures is jewelry. In essence all jewelry objects are constructed with reflective qualities of numerous degrees and may be when compared with mirrors. Mirrors are objects with excellent specular or diffused reflection; that is, image forming qualities. Imagine pointing your lens towards a mirror at a close distance. What will you see? Precisely, your self holding a camera and your surrounding region. Jewelry objects in essence embody 3 sorts of mirrors: flat, convex and concave determined at random by the jewelrys quite shape. Curved mirrors magnify or shrink images as a result distort the reflected image. Most jewelry objects typify spherical mirrors structured in an exciting connection of concave and convex surfaces.
Options:
Understanding the basic reflective properties of mirrors could be useful in solving some simple problems associated to jewelry photography due to their widespread reflective properties.
a. Jewelry reflection has no physical existence. Conceal the camera or select a shooting angle for the jewelry to reflect a controlled surface like a white board or soft box.
b. The location in the camera/lens matters in terms of how and what will the jewelry reflect. Use longer lenses to extend the working space amongst object and lens.
c. When light strikes the jewelry surface the angle of reflection equals the angle of in incidence. Location your light supply indirectly for the angle of reflectance.
d. The reflection around the jewelry is half the size on the reflected image - the jewelry is usually halfway among the reflected image as well as the reflection. Producing and putting the jewelry inside a large soft tent enables the application of various light sources to reduce and handle undesirable reflections.
e. In the event the jewelry surface is flat and perfectly shiny, specular reflection will outcome. If the surface is rough, diffused or distorted reflection will outcome (bending) Location the jewelry in a light zone of several loosely arranged massive white panels, and by modifying their position relevant to the object will allow the manage of light source there by controlling undesirable reflection.
General Sharpness:
A narrow depth-of-field (DOF) can develop spectacular effects when photographing insects, flowers, and so on., but in jewelry photography in the event the whole image does not seem in full focus, the image becomes an unusable one particular. Unusable inside the sense that some parts of a ring or bracelet needed to supply valuable information for the goal of presentation will be unacceptably significantly less sharp than other parts. For example, the front part of a bracelet (focal plane on the lens) is in sharp concentrate; but as we move towards the back region the loss of sharpness becomes unacceptable (blurred). DOF and image sharpness adjustments with sensor size. Smaller sized digital sensors obtain maximum sharpness at wider apertures (f:8-f:11) while larger ones at (f:11-f:22). Capturing modest objects like jewelry by means of close-up photography presents an issue considering that only an incredibly narrow portion from the object relative towards the focal plane will likely be acceptably in concentrate. A single way to extend depth of field would be to take photos making use of a narrow lens aperture. This remedy features a critical disadvantage. Little apertures bring far more light diffraction, degrading the image resolution. This really is one cause why a lot of consumer digital cameras (with extremely tiny sensors) will not allow you to stop down previous f:8, even though studio remedy sensors are typically stopped down to f:32 and beyond.
Answer:
The application of double exposure resolution or photo stitching in jewelry photography partially solves the limitations of shallow depth-of-field. The strategy referred to as "focus stacking" is an additional. Making use of double exposure when limited depth-of-field is accessible is really a strong approach to help photograph and present jewelry.
Depth-of-field determines what component from the jewelry has the sharpest focus and its amount. Regrettably, at bigger apertures depth of field limits attention to a particular focal points i.e. the best of a ring, whilst minimizing specifics at the shank. A higher depth-of-field would presents all the components of a ring sharp at once, relatively equally. Depth-of-field is determined by the following: lens aperture (-stop), lens focal length as well as your distance in the focal point. In jewelry photography, of those three the aperture has the most influence as well as the least modifiable. For that reason to improve depth-of-field and obtain total sharpness more than the entire image, move farther away from the jewelry by using a longer lens.
1. Capture two images, initial concentrate slightly beneath the ring top, then a second focused reduce in the center.
2. Bring both pictures into two separate layers in Photoshop to combine the two into a single sharp image.
There are obviously other options like the Helicon Focus. This program is designed to handle the shallow depth-of-field problem in close-up imaging. In addition, it aligns the pictures that modify their size and position from shot to shot. This function is specifically essential with closeup jewelry photography.
Even so, the most pragmatic answer to the depth-of-field challenge will be the huge format studio camera. These cameras like Arca Swiss, Linhof, Sinar, Fuji, Calumet or Toyo have expandable bellows, tilt and swing capabilities, and are permitting the capture of high-quality photos with extended depth-of-field beyond the optical limitations of the lens.
0 comments:
Post a Comment