bevsjewelry.com Blog

Photographing jewelry

Well, I know this is not a good picture of Lexie’s bracelet. However, I’m posting it to make a point. Taking pictures of jewelry is not easy to say the least. The jewelry pieces are apt to be shiny, small and if you want to isolate the pieces on a (really) white background so the piece seems to have no background – forget it! Well, not really forget it but it is very hard. That is especially if you want a true picture of your piece. See you can get a white background, if you don’t really care if the picture looks like what the piece really looks like.

I’ve learned most of my picture taking information from the Internet, my husband and my son-in-law. Somehow, the latter two have given me some help but apparently they don’t know exactly how to get a white background either. They have helped me to understand ISO, depth of field and shutter speed. Good things to know for a person who is usually just a point and shoot picture taker. Well, my Internet exploring has lead me to one conclusion, even professional photographers don’t know or will admit that taking a picture of jewelry with a white background is very hard.

I found a series of videos on the Internet by Michael Seto, a professional photographer in New York City who explains how to take photographs of jewelry. Thanks Michael. Now I just need t make a “set up” as he suggests and take more pictures. I’m still working on finding the equipment I need to work with. (See, it isn’t easy! Especially for a point and shoot photographer)

As I progress, I’ll share more pictures. Assuming I get good ones.

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There’s never enough time

Here is one of my favorite Calvin quotes (Calvin and Hobbes from the funnies)

“There is never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”

Ah, so true. While on vacation, as we just were, there was time to do nothing, but not enough. We spent some of our time reading. Something I rarely do at home, at least for an extended period of time. I brought my new jewelry books. I have 4 new ones. I spent some time reading and contemplating Jean Yates’ book, “Links”. In it Jean explains how each piece came to be, the thought process behind the design and the significance of the beads used. So far, I’ve never given much thought to the ideas she presented but now that I have taken the time to reread her book, I’m giving her ideas some thought before I plunge into a brand new piece. These are new ideas for me in the design process. I’m not really sure what method I currently use. Hmm… I still have lots of things on the “to do” list. So, I must get ideas from somewhere, just never gave much thought to how they get there.

I mentioned our camping air mattress, yesterday. They are fun for two people! One minute you are up the next, bump. It reminded me of the ad for mattresses that shows how you can’t spill a glass full of wine on their mattress by jumping on the other side of it. Well, you can launch a glass of wine on an air mattress just by laying down if you are not careful. We laughed a lot at the other’s response if we did not give warning of such a move. I’ve never slept on a water bed but wonder if the sensation is the same.

We spent part of two days exploring Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich. Great place. They allow you to return free for a second day so we took advantage of the offer. Rhododendrons are one of their attractions, though not in bloom now, but the Day lilies and Hydrangeas were beautiful. We enjoyed the carousel and antique car exhibits. I took some pictures of the animals from the carousel for our grandchildren to see. All in all, we had a great time even though we are still drying out the tent. Today it is not raining.

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We almost made it July 24, 2008

Our reputation of camping for over 20 years is that everytime we go camping, it rains. Even when my daughter borrowed the tent, it rained. When Monday was nice (though very hot and humid even on the Cape), Tuesday was good (it did rain during the night a little – it was dry by morning.) Wednesday was even a bit cool because it was so windy; we thought we had made it! We had gone to a Cape Cod League baseball game. Good game too. Tie 2-2 in the fifth when it got cold enough to go back to our camp site early. It was 82 degrees and with the wind seemed cold! So, we settled in bed (on our new queen size air mattress – more about that later!). I don’t know what time it was but we were awakened by lightning; yes this lightning could wake you up, loud thunder plus, of course, rain. Lots of it Gully washing rain.

We were so close to going home, for once, with a dry tent all put away to stay. Instead, we unloaded the car and started drying out tarps and the top of the tent. (I won’t bother to mention that it rained soon after we got home. My husband is smart enough to set the tarp and tent top up in the garage. So, they did not get wet again. (Remember how long we have had these experiences!)

Ah, yes, the other piece of news. Our septic contractor came yesterday! Yay! Our daughter had to deal with them, even with questions of the lot line location. They took down our neighbor’s beautiful Butterfly bush; it is really on our property. Fortunately, for our daughter, the contractor and our neighbor were able to come to agreement. However, if it was known before the Butterfly bush might have been saved. So, we came home to a large hole in our side yard. Actually, our side yard is a hole.

Well, more tomorrow. A Calvin quote, and of course, the air mattress story. Until then,

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Tony Snow

I’m writing two posts today as I will be away for several days. We are going camping. So, if it rains on Cape Cod you know who to either thank or blame!

I have the RSS feed for Snopes.com on my Google reader. Usually, the item is about those emails people send that are not true.
Today, however, it was about an article Tony Snow wrote. It was True. I read it through and will share the web address with you as it is worth sharing.

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/tonysnow.asp

You can read the whole essay at Christianity Today. They give you the link on Snopes.com

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Lexie’s Bracelet, New picture

Now it probably doesn’t seem like much, just a picture but it took a long time to get what I wanted. I did some google searching to find out how to make a picture of my jewelry with a white background. I found out that 1) It isn’t easy and 2) Everyone else wants to know how to make similar pictures.

Here is my try. I am asking for your opinion. Is it nicer than the one I showed a few days ago? Please make a comment below and let me know.

My friend, Melanie and I are making a brochure to further spread the word about Lexie’s Bracelets and our trying to raise money for Cancer Research. This picture will be the highlight of the brochure. Pictures for the web and pictures for a brochure are very different. Oh, to just make jewelry! But, I’m learning lots of new things!

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About Lexie

When Lexie was 3 ½ months old, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor called astrocytoma.
Now at 10 years old she has had countless surgeries, years of chemotherapy, endless eye exams and more testing than anyone could imagine.
When asked if she had one wish for the world, what would that be, she answered, “To find a cure for brain tumors so my friends would stop getting sicker and dying.”
The colors of the Swarovski pearls and significance of the colors were chosen by Lexie. To purchase any of Lexie’s Jewelry go to www.bevsjewelry.com (choose Lexie’s Jewelry on the left)

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Lexie’s Bracelet

Since most of my orignial blog posts have disappeared, I thought I’d introduce Lexie’s bracelet again. My friend, Melanie, asked me to help her raise money for her run in the Boston Marathon last April. Well, long story short, with Lexie’s help and some planning we raised over $2,600 for cancer research. The bracelet was joined by, earrings, a pendant and a choker – all made from Swarovski pearls in light blue, light gray, mauve, white and roseline. Lexie gave meaning to each of the colors. (I’ll be adding more in the near future about Lexie) The whole Lexie jewelry line is on my web site at http://www.bevsjewelry.com/ under Lexie’s bracelets.
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Blue Kumihimo Necklace

Well, after all my screw ups yesterday with my blog(s) I’m persevering with posts. I keep copies so, at some point, if I need, I could recreate them. I’m not sure that would be worthwhile.

Anyhow, I did finish a new necklace. While it may not appear different looking, it is a major improvement in my technical technique. NO GLUE. No glue, you say? Yep, no glue. Glue is a major mess! One of the hardest things to do in jewelry designing is coming up with a good finish. One that will last and look good. I think this looks good.

I did some experimenting with my new camera taking different views of the same piece. Here is a different one

Oh, yes, just a house note, today is Wednesday and no backhoe operators have shown up.

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Blog update

For awhile, I’ve been trying to find a place for my blog that had all the features I wanted. The first one was set up with my website host, Yahoo. Everything is fine. But I had to start playing around. That went OK for awhile and then today, I DID IT.

If you are reading this you came here at the suggestion of the ONLY post I now have left on my first blog. Well, I’m still working on it all and hope to have it figured out soon.
Check back.
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Things that go Bump in the night

Most nights I sleep right through; some not so much. Last night I was awake around 4 AM. It was very quiet. Now, on our street, that is unusual as we have quite a bit of traffic even early in the morning but maybe not at 4 AM. Even the birds were not up yet. (They started at 4:30 AM) When things are that quiet you can hear things that you usually miss. So, when I first heard a strange, though not loud, sound, I tried to figure out what it was. Rather than make this a really long story, I’ll tell you. It was the backhoe just out side of our bedroom window (see July 11). Now, no one was there, it was just moving ever so slightly. Wind? Settling? Ghosts? Rather eerie sound at 4 AM. Bill confirmed for me the next day that the backhoe does move and make the noises I heard. (Hopefully, real people will come soon and really move it!)

Next, the birds started in earnest. Then the Boston Globe. We laugh when we hear the Globe’s ad “Wake up to the Globe every morning” The car that delivers the paper and the loud thunk on the front porch can do that for you. (Fortunately, the driver has had the car fixed and it doesn’t roar off now)
Soon, the cars started and…

I woke up at 7 AM with plans in my mind for the day and off I was.

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