Photographing your glass art- functional, jewelry, art

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Cat on December 19, 2010 at 10:49am

I use a light box (available on ebay for $40-100) with a Nikon D3000 ($500 new).  I mount a 77-200mm macro lense with a circular polarizing filter (really the most important part).  I nudge my white balance up a bit to make the colors brighter and I usually try to use daylight but I also purchased on the side a very bright natural 'noon' light if I am shooting at night. Good luck!

 

Love and Light,

Jonathan

Permalink Reply by Mark A Cappabianco on December 19, 2010 at 8:10pm

1. you and I are thinking along the same lines.  I just had some photos taken by a professional for jury purposes, but it would be very costly to have him do all my pcs for a website.  As Jonathan says I to have used a light box and side lights, but it takes alot of time and patience.  If you care to look at my website you will see the pics on it were taken by me, good or bad they seem to work, but like I said it takes up more time than I care to spend on pics or a website..that being said I really don't have many cost effective options, so I just keep on keeping on.

Permalink Reply by Larry Berman on January 15, 2011 at 10:35pm

Late to this thread but...

I photograph work for artists and have done a few with glass. Click on the link to jury slide photography on my web site to see examples. If your work fits, I recommend the EZCube over other types of light tents or light boxes because besides being able to shoot through a zipper opening on the front panel, the top unzips and you can suspend items that look better hanging. Besides the top opening, there are rows of grommets on each side so you can put a plexiglass rod across to hang things off it. If you are going to use the daylight florescent bulbs in reflectors, for more accurate color, you need to shoot in a dark room so you don't mix light sources. It's better to use a diffused light source instead of the reflectors and bulbs. I use studio strobes bounced into oversize white umbrellas for extra diffusion besides the white tent fabric,

I'm always willing to help artists take better photographs of their work if you call first and then send me the images for review.

Larry Berman
Art Show Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Permalink Reply by Steph Mader on January 11, 2011 at 2:19am

Deborah, I know this is an older thread, but I've been reading Steve Metzger's book, Photographing Art, Crafts & Collectibles, and it's been a big help. I'm a glass artist & have some things that are really tricky to shoot. The biggest tip from him is to shoot "hard", or shiny, stuff with soft (diffused) light, and soft things with hard light. I've been shooting my pieces in a light tent, and his book has really helped me with lighting and exposure. It's worth the money, I think.

Permalink Reply by Deborah Schran on January 11, 2011 at 9:53am

Thanks everyone. I just purchased a light box. I had old stand lights and the connector part to the tripod has broken.

Everything is made out of plastic now and I think most materials (artistic and not) often have a planned 'retirement' phase to do shoddy construction. Everything is made in China these days. I realize I have to be very careful when handling the 'props'.  I just purchased Canon and will go through the learning CD.

Is anyone selling their art on Etsy? Many folks told me to give it a try. Therefore, I need to get up to speed on the indoor photos to get the Etsy shop going. Once again, there are thousands of glass art pieces for sale on Etsy. Oh well- ya gotta try something and anything these days.

Permalink Reply by Steph Mader on January 11, 2011 at 2:32pm

I have a shop on Etsy - ToltRiverStudios.Etsy.com. I have sold a few things there. The support from the admin and other sellers is really wonderful. I think to stimulate sales you have to post new things very often and do a lot of outside promotion to drive traffic to your shop. But I get some after-show sales there, and it's a good place to have customers look if they want something custom. Like you say, it's gotten huge, and you don't get much exposure anymore from random shoppers I don't think. Seems like you can make some sales to other sellers, though. It's a cheap way to try some things out. The Etsy photo style is more "magazine-y" and less jury shot. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Deborah Schran on January 16, 2011 at 9:57am

Thanks for all the comments. The polaring filter was a new one for me. I really need to read the info on the new camera. I guess I will have to finally review the camera CD with all of the info.