A few weeks back I had mentioned that one way to save money with your hosting provider was to use a host that supports hosting multiple domains on one account.
At the time I had decided to move a site that was once intended to showcase my wife’s hand-made bead jewelry – Bead Insanity – but has since been used as a basic template site that was created as an experiment for a site on beads.
In the comments of that post, Reena – also known as Furniture Stores – had asked if I had any pictures of my wife’s hand-made jewelry.
With the intent on delivering a few pictures of said jewelry, I gathered up a few of the bracelets and one necklace that I could find and proceeded to snap a few pictures – which is where the broken camera comes into play.
First the pictures…
Then the broken camera…
The camera of choice for these pictures was my new Nikon D40x DSLR and unfortunately I experienced a problem with the camera. After snapping a few pictures the built-in flash stopped working.
At first I thought that I had possibly turned the flash off or adjusted some setting that had disabled the flash. However, the built-in flash pops open when attempting to take a picture but the flash never fires.
After a quick Google search that provided a few suggestions that unfortunately did not work, it looks like the built-in flash on my brand new D40x is toast. I’ll have to head over to the camera store where my wife purchased the camera to see if they can take a look at it and make sure it is not just a user error but I am expecting that it will need to be repaired.
Right now I am pretty bummed that my new camera has already experienced a problem but hopefully Reena – and anyone else that is interested – enjoys the photos of my wife’s hand-made bead jewelry.
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
The jewelry is beautiful. Does your wife sell them or make them for herself? I would love to wear this kind of stuff.
Oh and sorry to hear about your camera. I just got so carried away with the jewelry. Btw, if your wife does sell them, I’d love to cover it on my blog.
the first necklace is pretty trippy, at least from this angle.
Nice jewelry! Sorry to hear about your camera woes. Actually, I have great success taking pictures for my blog(as do many other jewelry artisans) using natural light and a relatively inexpensive camera equiped with a macro. Check your white balance setting too. I recently wrote a post on the “13 things I learnt about jewelry photography” to share my tips.(Jan 22/08) I hope it can help.
@Nicole :: Thanks, for awhile my wife was making and selling jewelry but then she started teaching preschool and hasn’t done much with the jewelry. I’ve been trying to convince her to just go back to the jewelry as she isn’t too happy with the teaching right now. So…she does make and sell the jewelry but hasn’t actively been doing it.
@goyin :: It is pretty trippy in person as well.
@beadinggem :: Thanks! I’ll have to check out your post on jewelry photography as I was pretty clueless about it.
That sucks about your camera. To be honest, I’ve never used the on camera flash on any of my DSLR cameras. I always use an external flash unit when I need one. Beadinggem is right that the best results come from using natural light and working the other settings. The $400 true macro lens helps too.
I did a post on using a point and shoot to take better pictures without using the onboard flash with just a few tweaks. A DSLR can do even better because you have even more adjustment and if you need it, the higher ISO’s are quite good on most DSLR’s thanks to the larger sensor size.
Those pieces of jewelry are amazing! Your wife is very talented. Where did she pick up this skill and how long has she been doing it?
jewellery looks very trendy i would like to buy some for my wife. i really appreciate your wifes tallent.
@Stephen :: I’ve got to read through your post in detail and then learn how to really use my camera. I don’t have a separate flash at this time so until I get it fixed I will have to rely on natural light.
@LRP :: Thanks, my wife is a very crafty person and she basically just taught herself how to do it through experimentation. She has been making jewelry for a few years.
@Creative :: Thanks. I don’t know if you have kids but my wife makes really nice “name” bracelets with the kid’s names in the bracelet – they make great gifts. If you’re interested in anything, feel free to contact me.
Thanks for the pix Derek! I really liked your wife’s work. And good luck for the dodgy camera!
Very nice jewelery. It looks very designer. I would love to have some of those. I think you must convince your wife to start with designing jewelery again.
The jewelry is just awesome. I agree with Male Pattern Baldness, you must convince your wife to start designing again. Even I am ready to showcase her designs on my blog.
Absolutely fantastic jewelry and great photographs. While I am sorry that you had a problem with the camera, my experience with Nikon’s after sales service is very good. I am sure that by now, the problem would have been sorted out to your entire satisfaction.
Stephen is right about using the higher ISOs – and you might want to experiment with a fast prime to boot – and often not needing a flash.
Does your camera work other than the onboard flash? The last year or two I owned my D60 the built-in flash didn’t work, and it wasn’t a problem even once. It’s still awful to get such a wonderful machine and have something so obvious go wrong … but of all the things that could have broken, this is the least bad.
Please do let us know whenever she decides to start selling again.
Very good and innovative designs. What really fascinates me about buying designer stuff is that you do not find a replica of the same in the market, or else when you buy from the market, they have the same piece in a lot of variations which dilutes it’s value.
I really like the third necklace!
Agree, really nice designs. I particularly like the one with pumpkins. Let us know if your wife starts designing again. Trust the camera issue is resolved by now. Personally, I’ve had great experiences with my Fuji Film and Canon’s as well.
Take care!
Thanks, she has started to design and make a few things again. As a matter of fact she has created three new designs that I will be giving away shortly over on my Dad Balance blog.
The camera just came back from repair the other day so I will hopefully get some pics of these new bracelets and post the contest soon.
is not a dificult work..making a jewlery by hand…
looking nice ..i think they will comfort too to wear
Is the third one for Halloween? Anyway, all necklace are very nice.
well all of them are really looking great. Even i would love to have such talents.
You make very nice jewelry!
The third necklace is kinda freaky.
i love the pumpkin necklace, great for halloween!
Since it’s new, it should be under warranty and having it fixed is not a problem. 🙂
Your camera had gone bad but at least it helped a lot to bring your wife’s work before us. Designs are a good mix up of vintage and modern look, and by your support she can do even better and make a place in jewelry market.
As a matter of fact, I just began working on an Etsy shop to feature some of her jewelry. However, she doesn’t have anything ready for me to post yet and is waiting until after Halloween to create some new pieces.
Your wife is certainly talented! Are these for sale?
I don’t believe that she has these particular pieces anymore but she does have items for sale – and she can make anything that you would like. Is there something in particular that you were looking to find?
Hoping you might be able to convince your wife to starting design again.
Nice pieces you have here. I really like the charm bracelet with little pumpkins, they are so cute and fun to wear. The necklace below is also cute and it can make a perfect gift for my little sister. Oh, im so sorry also about your broken camera.
Love the pumpkin necklace. Is you wife selling these jewelries online? eBay or something?
She is not currently selling her work online, but if there is anything that you would like she would be happy to work with you!
Very nice Derek, she is very talented. I’m doing something similar, not quite jewelry, but im thinking about doing that too in the future. Maybe ill come back here to ask her for some tips 🙂
Thank you for the feedback; I will pass along your comments to my wife as well. Please do come back and ask any questions!
Tnx, i sure will Derek 🙂
I like a lot the last necklace and the third one is pretty interesting!
Loving those rockin’ pumpkins! I’d never thought they would look good as jewelery designs.
Hey Dereck, those are nice designs. I especially like the Halloween special pumpkin design. Your wife could seriously start selling some of her designs. Do give it a serious thought.
Hello Derek, every necklace is showing the skills and creativity of your wife. It was appreciated by my wife too. She is very inspired from your wife’s work and wants to learn about creation of necklace through beads. Is it possible for your wife to teach her about this activity? Thanks
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