Ron Hashiro

Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 14:20:38 +0200
From: Steven  Zell <stevez@alum.mit.edu>
Subject: Photographing Silverware

Dear Axel,

I've just finished shooting a job of antique silverware. While I'm sure it is possible to do this with flash, I found a way to obtain excellent results is as follows:

1) Obtain a sufficiently large piece of rich black velvet. Other materials and colors are not substitutes!

2) On a day with a bright, sunny sky, place the velvet on a table, and the silver on the velvet, by a large window or glass door. You want plenty of light, but don't want the sun to shine directly on the silver.

3) Depending on the light, you might want to position a white reflector on the opposite side of the silver from the window, to soften any shadows.

4) Place the camera on a tripod with a cable release (or use the timer).  Meter a grey card and close down first one stop and then 2 stops, and then three stops.  Every piece will be different, thus the bracketing.

5) Use 400 ASA film to give yourself plenty of depth of field. If you are shooting print film, the lab, if they know what they are doing, will be able to compensate for any remaining overexposure.

6) The lab should be instructed that the black velvet should print BLACK, not grey or mud.  If so, the silver will glow against the background.

Good luck and let me know how it turned out,

Steve Zell

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