Soo Kee Diamond Bracelet

[JohnnyW]

Please give me your C&C on this picture. This bracelet is my mum and she did not maintain it well, so if you really look at it, it got dirt on the diamond's surface. Need comments on the composition, the approach etc.

[calebk]

Is there a reason why the bracelet is abruptly cut off at the left of frame?

[JohnnyW]

Hi calebk,

I was using my 100mm macro. By itself, I can take the whole bracelet but with less detail of the diamonds. So I went ahead to use extension tubes of 12mm, 20mm, 36mm all together to give a 1.47x magnification. In this way I can take the diamonds to close up with alot of details. However the downside is I cannot squeeze the whole bracelet into the frame. So I decided to cut somewhere and I approached the subject with the perspective as seen above.

[IsenGrim]

hmm i think it would be nice if can be taken fomr a lower angle, like almost level with the front of the first diamond. almost like its "looking" back at you..

and use a glossly reflective surface... and .. erm use directed light to put a "sparkle" into the left most gem...to make it "smile" at you...

my 2 cents =D

[JohnnyW]

Originally Posted by IsenGrim hmm i think it would be nice if can be taken fomr a lower angle, like almost level with the front of the first diamond. almost like its "looking" back at you.. and use a glossly reflective surface... and .. erm use directed light to put a "sparkle" into the left most gem...to make it "smile" at you... my 2 cents =D

Hi IsenGrim,

Flash for this kind of super small things are a challenge. The options are two. Get the ring or macro flash or use the tent. I tried alot of way to make the diamond sparkle. One main reason is it is not maintain well (mum's fault =P), another is my lack of experience in photographing such small items with high reflective surfaces. If flash was used (which I tried), the diamonds reacted differently and got funny effects when I try to create the sparkles. Maybe u can share with me how to make them sparkle in a more controlled manner?

Hmm for lower angle, what you say has a point, but I will compensate the part of the bracelet that has no diamonds. I did consider going low but the picture turns out to be not that nice compared to the one I posted here. Thats the challenge I faced.

[JohnnyW]

On the other hand, I really hope I can take all the diamonds nicely and sharp. But I cant afford the TS-E

[lennyl]

Originally Posted by JohnnyW On the other hand, I really hope I can take all the diamonds nicely and sharp. But I cant afford the TS-E

Maybe if you sell the diamonds? Oh wait, then you won't have diamonds to shoot

How about if you have the diamonds parallel to the film plane, then tilt them with Photoshop? Or use a smaller aperture for more DOF then apply Gaussian blur to the rest of the bracelet? Or a combination of the two? Other than it being "cheating" and not being a particularly elegant solution (I like to get it right out of the camera too) can someone tell me why it can't work? I obviously haven't tried it myself.

[JohnnyW]

Originally Posted by lennyl Maybe if you sell the diamonds? Oh wait, then you won't have diamonds to shoot How about if you have the diamonds parallel to the film plane, then tilt them with Photoshop? Or use a smaller aperture for more DOF then apply Gaussian blur to the rest of the bracelet? Or a combination of the two? Other than it being "cheating" and not being a particularly elegant solution (I like to get it right out of the camera too) can someone tell me why it can't work? I obviously haven't tried it myself.

Hi lennyl,

Thats my mum precious, if I sell them, she will sell my camera with my L lens. LOL! Anyway your method is good when the subject is in the same direction. In my case, I dun think you can PP until as good as TS-E as the subject is placed in a curve manner.

Back to topic, any comments or advise to improve this picture?

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by JohnnyW Back to topic, any comments or advise to improve this picture?

retake it. its reflecting something blue nearby.

you may want to bump up the contrast and darken the background to make the "sparkle" stand out.

[calebk]

I feel you should have gone for emphasis on the diamonds, over magnification. I would rather see a less abrupt composition with lower magnification. Even with high magnification, there should be a better way to ensure the fall off from your detailed portion is not so abrupt.

That said, I don't know how much magnification you'll get without the extension tubes, and I'm not sure if you'll get enough diamond detail.

[lennyl]

Originally Posted by JohnnyW Anyway your method is good when the subject is in the same direction. In my case, I dun think you can PP until as good as TS-E as the subject is placed in a curve manner. Back to topic, any comments or advise to improve this picture?

I thought having the diamonds in sharper focus will improve the photo. I take back my "smaller aperture" remark - I notice that you're already shooting at f/16. How about focus bracketing and then blending in Photoshop?

Other than that I agree with the others who think it should look better with the whole bracelet.

What's the blue, anyway? I thought it was part of the bracelet until psycho pointed out it could be a reflection.

[calebk]

Originally Posted by lennyl I thought having the diamonds in sharper focus will improve the photo. I take back my "smaller aperture" remark - I notice that you're already shooting at f/16. How about focus bracketing and then blending in Photoshop? Other than that I agree with the others who think it should look better with the whole bracelet. What's the blue, anyway? I thought it was part of the bracelet until psycho pointed out it could be a reflection.

Yes I've heard of this focus bracketing, seen it somewhere on Deviantart (ah yes. I've found it.), and I think it might be a good idea too. Maybe you can try it out, TS.

Could be a blue light somewhere...