When I shoot any still life, I typically work with a product stylist who styles the jewelry on set for me. The first thing I do on set after setting up my lights would be connect my camera to shoot tethered using Capture One. Shooting tethered has huge benefits as you are able to view what you are shooting and to ensure everything is styled properly and more importantly shot in focus!
My essentials on this kind of set would be a tripod to ensure stabilization and sharpness to the image. I would find my angle whether it be overhead, underneath, or straight on and point my camera at the jewelry for our first shot. I would also make sure the SA ring is in the center because I don’t want to create a soft focus for these kind of images; we want sharpness here! Once, we get our first image, I will shoot a few frames until my stylist is satisfied with styling. After this, since I am shooting with a 100mm and there may be some focus fall off, I will ensure that I get all my focus layers for my retoucher to combine our layers to create a sharp image. You can get your focus layers using the live action tool in Capture One or manually move your AF points in camera while it is stable on your tripod.
Some of my favorite images shot with the Canon RF 100mm f2.8L IS Macro lens are below:
