Brooks Photography Institute Workshops

We recently completed our fourth jewelry photography workshop with Brooks Institute. The workshop is a hands on experience working with relatively inexpensive lighting equipment combined with fantastic Brooks instruction. The last several workshops have sold out, due to the increasing popularity and class size restrictions.

For more information about the next workshop coming up in July please visit Brooks Institute of Photography workshop website for the full calendar and registration information.

Our customer is a finalist in a huge competition

We have just heard the great news that one of our recent EZcube customers has been nominated in a huge online contest being run by Yahoo. The site, Made In Heaven By Missy was selected from a pool of 9,000 small businesses and it's down to just five finalists. Three of the final five will win $25,000 in marketing funds and a $10,000 site makeover. This is really exciting for us since the great pictures on this site were shot by photographer Mark Combs using EZcube light tents and our custom backgrounds.


The winners are decided by the public in an American Idol format. You can get more info and vote here. The contest ends on June 24th so it's important to get your vote in right away!

Folding an EZcube light tent video now on YouTube

We have just uploaded a video demonstrating how easy it is to open and fold an EZcube light tent. The quality of YouTube video isn't the highest, but the video should be clear enough for you to follow.

Do you need both a small EZcube and a large EZcube light tent?

Judy M recently wrote. Most of the pottery items I plan to photograph will be from 8” to 12" in diameter or height. I ordered the 30" EZcube kit because I make a few items in the 16 - 24" height/diameter range. I assume the 30" EZcube would work just as well for the smaller items as for the larger items? (I know a 12" cube comes with the kit, but for things that are less than 12” will I need to use the smaller EZcube? Will the 30’’EZcube work just as well for smaller items as for the larger items?

Our reply:

8-12’’ subjects will work fine in a 30’’ EZcube. For really small items like thimbles, rings, glass animals, beads, etc., I recommend using the 12’’ EZcube though. (That’s one reason why we include both sizes in the kit.) The 12” EZcube is easier to work with, and takes up a lot less space. The smaller EZcube will also give you a bit more control over highlights when shooting small shiny subjects.

So the bottom line is that if you are trying to decide between a larger or a smaller EZcube light tent. You can always put a smaller item in a large tent, but you can’t fit a large item in a light tent that’s too small.

What's best white acrylic or clear acrylic?

Warren recently asked: "Is white acrylic preferable over clear acrylic for use as a jewelry background?"

My response : You can create a beautiful, yet subtle, reflection of a subject in your product photos by laying the subject - be it jewelry, metal parts, perfume bottles or whatever - on a piece of reflective acrylic or Plexiglas. [Plexiglas is a brand of acrylic].

The reflective effect can be acheived by using clear acrylic or glass. However, a clear reflective surface may cause a double reflection since the subject will reflect off both the top and the bottom surfaces. Using white acrylic rather than clear acrylic or glass, avoids the double reflection, because the camera will only pick up the reflection from the top surface.


By the way, we call this the "Tiffany Effect" because it is an effect you will often see on the Tiffany web store and in Tiffany ads. (For examples look here and here.) The effect can also be created in Photoshop, but we find it's easier to do it photographically. And if you are wondering how to suspend ear rings, pendants, or any subjects, like it was done in these shots, then take a look here.

How to pronounce Swarovski

This might seem like a strange post in a product photography blog. However, we hear from quite a few folks interested in bead phtography and have noticed that many of them seem to struggle when pronouncing the name "Swarovski". Swarovski makes a popular brand of "crystal" (cut glass) beads and other beautiful objects. The difficulty in pronouncing the name may come from the fact that in many Eastern European languages the "W" is pronounced like a "V" in English. However in English, a "W" is pronounced as a "W", so the English pronunciation of Swarovski is actually very easy. The best advise we have seen is to simply say, "swore-off-ski".

We can help you with the pronunciation of Swarovski, now you will need to get the spelling correct. Among the many variations of incorrect spellings we have seen are: Swarovksi, Sawrovski, Sarovski, Sswarovsky, Svarovski, Svarovsky, Swarski .

While we are on the subject. Swarovski also makes high quality optical instruments .

White Balance Settings for Fluorescent Lights

Suzanne B. recently purchased one of our light sets with daylight balanced bulbs. She asked if she should set her digital camera's white balance setting to the fluorescent setting.

Although it seems logical that fluorescent bulbs would require a digital camera's white balance to be set to the fluorescent setting, that is not the best setting for daylight balanced fluorescent bulbs. The fluorescent setting on digital cameras is normally meant to be used with the type of fluorescent bulbs found in offices and commercial buildings. Those bulbs typically have a slightly yellowish or greenish color cast. The daylight balanced bulbs which we sell (and which are typically found at photography stores) are daylight balanced bulbs. Daylight bulbs normally don't require color correction.

The standard white balance setting for daylight balanced fluorescent bulbs is Auto White Balance (typically marked as AWB). Should you find that you are getting a color cast with AWB, then you could try the Daylight setting.

If your camera has it, then Custom White Balance, is the best setting to use. The procedure for using Custom White Blanace varies depending on the specific model of camera, but it normally entails shooting a test picture with a gray or white background, then "telling" the camera to use that picture as its basis for color correction. Custom white balance takes a minute or so to set up. But it should deliver the truest colors.

And don't forget that if you set your camera to custome white balance for product phtography, be sure to return the camera to Auto White Balance for other uses, like family snapshots.