The Night's Sky

Wow...tonight's sunset was like having my own personal light show in the sky -- love the colors!

Tonight's Moon

I just love the moon.....

Then in Now.....Photographing Jewelry

This was inspired by a question from a fellow Etsy seller beadinbythesea who asked if I take my photos using a light box or natural light. Though I've discussed this with her personally I thought I'd share it with the rest of you too.

When I first started selling jewelry I had no idea how to photograph jewelry or anything about the camera I was using. Macro?...what's that? A pasta? Laugh all you want but that's exactly what I said!

Below are the photos that show the progression that I made not only with the lighting but with backgrounds too. I originally started photographing on black velvet, but couldn't find any of those photos...must have destroyed them, the lint was so embarrassing! I obviously learned what Macro was after that!

At first I just used the flash of my camera...eek, blinding!

Then I read a tip to use a piece of paper towel or toilet paper to diffuse the flash...okay...got that...much better I can take off my sunglasses now.

Then I got a wonderful light box....oh what did I ever do without it!?! But on occasion I still had problems with the photo's not representing the colors of the stones correctly, but that's what my photo program is for right?

Oooo....but then I discovered natural light...and I haven't looked at my light box since!
There's also a trick to using natural light, at least in my experience...don't take photos in direct sunlight....you might as well have your flash on because when the sun hits the metal...it's blinding! I now take all of my pictures in my home at the sliding glass doors (which faces northwest). I generally wait until about 3 pm...it's when the sun hits the backside of my house perfectly. I honestly don't think I will ever go back to using my light box....sad because it wasn't cheap, but you just can't beat natural lighting!

The camera I use is Samsung S630, it's just a hand held point and shoot, small, and very easy to use. It has a nice Macro setting and ASR (stabilizer), works great for what I need it to do. The reviews weren't so good on this camera because of how fast it goes through batteries, but I just bought rechargeable one's (I get about 2 months of use before having to recharge) and I've never had the problems stated in the reviews.

Many sites say that you need a DSLR to take a decent photo, if you have the money by all means purchase one....but a point and shoot will work just fine if you're on a limited budget.

If you have any questions or suggestions post a comment!

New Addition

I've made a new addition to the Soledad Collection. Named after my beautiful Filipina mother, whose name means solitude. The Soledad collection features a single gemstone necklace where the stone speaks for itself, big or small they all have beautiful attributes, as do each of us.

This necklace features an A Grade faceted Ametrine gemstone on an 18" sterling silver chain. The featured gemstone measures 10mm.
A friend of mine let me know that one of the Trinity necklaces made it into the Just Jewels Gift Guide on Etsy. I was surprised, I just listed it yesterday...and I was wondering why it was getting so many views. I'm honored that it's been included! (Second row from the top, second one in from the left)


I made another necklace to add to the Soledad Collection, the featured stone is a Rainbow Obsidian. I literally get lost in the depth of these stones! The only thing is, I'm having a heck of a time photographing the necklace to show the chatoyancy....aarrrggghhh! I'll go ahead and share one of the pics with you, but I won't list it until I can capture the beauty of the stone.