I made a light box that took about 20 minutes to make. I can use either a white background or I use a black piece of velvet cloth that I have taped in there. So I don’t need to use a flash as the light is a lamp on the outside of the box. Doesn’t look too hot, but works great. There are more sites with ways to make them. But I did this as I had all the items on hand.

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This is a snap, Just drape a black velvet cloth or material from Joanns over the side of of your computer and make sure there is enough for your livingroom floor. Put your product on the cloth, turn off your flash because the room should be bright from natural sunlight, adjust your camera to natural light and click away. Remove cloth and upload your pics. Ok, here is the secret. Take your computer scrapbook maker (broderbun) and download the pics into the scrapbook maker. Make sure that the background is set for black. You should have your pic there with the black background. Ok, you have a shadow to the right. Click on make pieces and create a black box that you can resize with your mouse. ok, its cropped. Ok, now add text or leave blank. I knew my scrap creator would be good for something other than making crappy scrapbook pages. LOL

When I have clear glass I use a light blue poster board for my backdrop. If you use black, make sure it’s a velvet black fabric.

Heres a light box being offered by a Bonanzle comrad plus a link to their booth, you’ll have to contact them about their offer.

I have a lightbox I bought online and would like to sell it if anyone is interested. It cost me $38 shipped which would be the cost to you. The lightbox is 20″ × 20″. It has 3 backgrounds (black, red, white), two tabletop lights, a tripod for the camera. And a wonderful carrying case that holds it all. It folds flat to about 4" thick.

The only reason I am not keeping it is my place is too small to set up a 20″ × 20″ cube with lights, etc. I’ve been going to the library to take photos and think I will continue to.

If anyone wants to see it, let me know and I’ll send the ebay link where I bought it so you can see exactly what it is.

It retails for more than $150 so it really is a good deal.

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I’ve always loved how my photos come out when the item is against a pale blue background. I always have trouble with black as I like a crisp, clear picture and that doesn’t always happen with a black background. I do agree to use a velvety-like fabric when using black, it’s almost as though it absorbs some of the flash and doesn’t wash out the item being photographed.

Good luck!

For your Glass items, Brad, I wouldn’t use flash.
I use a BLUE napkin (some cloth), put it on a chair and turn the chair
toward the window into sunlight or at least daylight.
Lean your arms against the chair’s back and click away.
Turn the item!
After all make sure you crop it down to the actual item with minimal space around. You then have real sharp close-ups without any flash in the pic.

You’re going to laugh, but I have started shooting everything on my stove top.

I have a wooden frame that I cover with a drape, have the overhead light for balance and shoot at different angles and experiment with different color drapes. Sometimes I have had to usee an editor on a service like flicker to make them more visible, other times I have used the quick fix option on my computer picture program and it darkens the glass just enough for detail to [URL removed]

I hope these don’t come out too large, the last one was darkened for detail.
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My old camera took blurry photo’s unless I turned the flash on…I’m anxious to see how my new camera does.

I think the key is a combination of backdrop and lighting. No matter what your background is you need just the right light to make the glass really pop!

So my suggestion is that you pick your backdrop, and yes velvet is best, and then experiment with different lighting. Top light, back light, both sides, and even outdoors and you will find what works for you.

This is with black background, felt, and top lit using a brooder lamp with a daylight bulb.

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Thank you everyone for all the help. I do use a velvet black canvas. I will play more with the lighting. Probably purchase the correct lighting for photography, that may work better. I had a feeling it was mainly a lighting issue I have to work with. I will take everyone’s suggestions and play with the camera more. Thanks

Last year, my murano vase images were taken indoors allowing direct sunlight to pierce thru the window capturing every colorful detail even those that consisted of multi-colors on black.

Good luck Brad. Please let us know what was your best solution in the aftermath.

The stove top works for me to ! lol.. I was some surprised and I put my light tent under it.

Black rarely enhances jewelry, I suggest softer colors but white always works best for me. The jewelry is more true to it’s actual colors, eliminating unhappy customers because they thought the color was slightly different.

I take a lot of photos and have run into the problem of blurring with my camera too, when there isn’t enough light. Whenever I take a picture of any art or memorabilia I make sure there is plenty of natural light. If I have a choice I’ll wait for a bright sunny day.
As for backgrounds, I’ve used my dining table top as a backdrop for a lot of the smaller stuff, because it has a nice dark brown colour and seems to make for good contrast. Black velvet is nice, but don’t stick to one backdrop for everything – variety is the spice of life, right?