Working with digital images

[tj_925]

 Hi, I don't do a lot of photography so please forgive my ignorance.  

I am taking pictures of jewelry for my website. I am using a Canon Powershot S2. I find that I cannot zoom in and take photos as they just become blurry so I have to take them at a further distance with no zoom. Needless to say this doesn't show any detail.  I can then zoom in on the picture I took but, and here is my question, can I somehow capture the zoomed in image?  Does this make sense. I know on my old camera I could take a picture, zoom in on the image and basically take a picture of the zoomed image.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!!!

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi tj_925,

Welcome to the Q&A board!

Using the zoom lens is really not the best way to get detailed shots of jewelry, especially if you're using the long end of the telephoto lens and standing too close. If you back up, you'll probably get better focused shots, then simply crop when you edit to get the close up look.

However, I really don't recommend you use the zoom. You will get much more detailed photos if you use Macro or Super Macro mode using a tripod. You don't have to spend a lot but just make sure the tripod is sturdy enough so it won't topple over when placing the S2 on it. For close-up shots, get a tripod that will allow you to position the camera horizontally and vertically.

Bright but soft, diffused lighting is the key to getting good shots of jewelry. Here are some tips on taking close ups of small items:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/auction-photography/index.htm

I took photos of jewelry using the suggestions outlined in the above article. I did spruce them up a bit when editing:

http://bykari.com/gallery/index.htm

Please let us know if you have further questions.

Related reading - Tripods
http://www.digicamhelp.com/tripods/