Photographing in Artificial Light

I have always been a very very firm believer in natural light being the best light to photograph jewellery in, always saying never use artificial light. I have been very frustrated with the nights being dark so early so I have only had time to photograph early in the morning before work (which is sometimes dark too, so not always!) or at weekends - which kind of puts a dampner on listing new things in my shop.

I made these copper stacking rings over the weekend and time escaped me and I didn't photograph them. After asking on Twitter (I think it is called crowdsourcing, no?) a lot of people actually took photos using artificial light and making it work by using the white balance. So I popped up my light tent and placed it quite close to one of the wall lights in the living room, standard yellow bulbs. Adjusted the white balance and actually it worked really well!

The light was clean and white like daylight, only a hint of yellow which would be removed in photo editing.
I think you need a light tent here as it diffuses the light so it isn't so sharp, so you don't get harsh shadows or too much yellow.

I'm really pleased with how these came out, I think I will use daylight wherever possible but this technique will definitely see me well in the winter months.

The rings will be available in my shops very soon!

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work in progress - copper stacking rings

I've been impatiently wanting to add stacking rings to my shop for such a long time, this process is a bit of a learning curve for me as I've not worked with thick wire before.

I've already made a silver ring but I thought I'd experiment with copper which is softer to work and also a bit cheaper!

These three rings are made from 1.6mm copper, two smooth, one hammered finish. I'm not all there with the solder joins yet, they aren't as smooth as I like. But I like the finish and the thickness of the wire.

I'm wearing these with the silver ring I bought, they stack well as a four, or a three, or a two!

Am continuing to work on these, watch this space! Hopefully I'll be back working with the silver soon too.

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