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Photography for Jewelry and Small Sculpture

Having great photos or your work is necessary for marketing your business, having a compelling website, applying to shows, grants and more. But every jeweler and metalsmith knows how difficult it is to photograph these tiny, shiny and sometimes sparkly objects properly. Come spend a day learning how to photograph your work and edit your images with a professional product photographer!   The first part of the day will focus on photographing your work, and all that goes with it: lighting and diffusion, backdrops, cameras and their settings. In the afternoon, participants will get an overview of photo editing techniques in Photoshop. Leave with beautiful photos of your own work, and the knowledge to be able to replicate those results on your own.   No prior photography or Photoshop experience is needed, but students should bring their own cameras, tripods and laptops equipped with Photoshop to best learn how to use those particular pieces of equipment. See students supply list for more details.    

Meet the instructor

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Charley Freiberg has been a commercial photographer since 1980. He regularly photograph for almost 300 artists and craftspeople around the US including our very own instructor, Paulette Werger.  His other clients include: McGraw-Hill , IBM, Brookstone catalog, NCR (National Cash Register), NEC (Nippon Electric Corp.), Walker Power Inc, and over 200 other small, medium and large businesses. 

 

 

He has traveled around the US, Europe, and the Caribbean for clients, including: Stahlman Engineering,  Hinckley yachts,  Boating, Yachting, US Travel, Travel South, Fine Woodworking, Home and Garden, and other magazines.  He has photographed somewhere around 60 magazine covers for publications such as: Rod and Reel, Byte Magazine, Popular Computing, Yankee, New Hampshire Profiles,  Fine Homebuilding.  ​

 

 

 

 

In addition, Charley has been photographing for historic documentation consultants for nearly 20 years. You can see some of the work on the Library of Congress site or gracing the back rooms of most New England state archives. Some of the work he has done can be viewed on hiswebsite: www.charleyfreibergphotography.com (Currently under maintenance).

 

 

Materials & Tools

There is no materials fee for this course.

Students should bring
  • A notebook and writing utensil
  • A digital camera with at least 6 megapixels. Ideally your camera will allow you to do the following:
    • Turn off the built-in flash
    • Allow for user control of shutter speed and f-stop or aperture (so you can make long exposures in dark situations). This will allow you to put everything into sharp focus.
    • It would be quite helpful if you can turn off a lot of the built-in controls that digital cameras come with - like, SATURATION, SHARPNESS, CONTRAST. 
  • A tripod - don’t trust your body. It shakes. You breathe. Borrow one, if needed. Not a body - a tripod.
  • A laptop equipped with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Please note that whatever version of Photoshop you have installed, and will therefor be using once you are on your own, is fine. PLEASE NOTE: All students should bring a external mouse for their laptop rather than relying on the built-in keyboard mouse. 

Students are asked to study their cameras manual and try to make these adjustments prior to the workshop if possible. You will find these controls somewhere under Picture Control or Image Control or some such language. Either turn these things off or, at least, turn them down. It isn’t difficult, but like most technical things in our culture, the language can be daunting or just downright incomprehensible.

 

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