I have been researching a few sellers that sell Thai silver beads and
such. One seller stands out as far as sales and profits and is the
clear leader although the items for sale are for the most part the
same. I'm guessing this seller is making more because he/she/they have
a nicer over-all presentation. My question here is about the process
used to get the photos to end up like they do.

First is a link to the seller in question and the 2nd and 3rd links
are eBay stores of competitors to give a comparison.

http://stores.ebay.com/shiana-com
http://stores.ebay.com/Twinklehut
http://stores.ebay.com/HIZE-Silver

All 3 sellers take nice pictures but Shiana has consistent beauty,
uses the effects of field of focus (is that the right term?), the
brighter, shiny parts are toned down while the photo is very bright.
The texture of the silver comes though to give it a rich, tribal,
handmade look. And the background is white and clean instead of grey
or bluish like some of the others. While I myself would rather buy
from someone who had basic pictures so I knew what I was really
getting, people must like the more "dreamy" type of photos Shiana
uses.

My question is basically how it's done. How much is the photographer,
equipment, photo editor, etc.? I am assuming it starts from a nice,
well lit photo and the rest of the work is in the editing. If so, what
techniques is Shiana using? Is the background just cut out and a fake
shadow put in? How can you tone down the shininess while keeping the
darker areas lit enough to still look fresh?

I have a Sony digital camcorder with 1mb photos that takes nice
close-ups and Photoshop 7 but am not too savvy at the editing yet.

I know I haven't worded this question very well and maybe I should
have waited until I did but I just had to ask. Thanks for any help.

ladida68

It looks to me like the seller (or whoever takes the photo) is using a
hot light or other photography lamp. An at-home set up would be:

Place a large piece of white paper on a table, so that it covers the
top of the table and goes up a wall (in an "L" shape). Make sure you
have good overall lighting; if you don't have a lot of equipment, set
up outside on an overcast day, or in some morning open shade (shade
from a large tree or a house, for example.) Add one hot lamp (you can
buy one new for under $100 at a photography supply store), and place
it in front of the item, and over to one side. Viola! Pretty shadows.

Kriswrite

I am not an expert on photography, but I am willing to share my views
to try to answer your questions.

On the first site:  

Much of it probably IS the photographer and/or the graphics editor. 
The position of the lighting seems to come from the rear of the items,
so you don't get the glare of the item and the shadows are in the
forground.  Also, they are probably shot on a colored background, and
then that color (and texture) is deleted from within a graphics
program.  This gives a clean white background unlike shooting with a
white background because of a background texture.  Also, and very
important, is that the photographer probably set the "white balance"
either before shooting, or within the graphics program after the shot.

From my quick glances, I didn't notice anything special about field of
focus as there is no background in the photographs.  The pictures are
in focus, which helps make them look clear.  Usually, field of focus
would involve some areas in focus, and some areas out of focus.  This
would make the areas in-focus stand out more.  The same can be done by
using brightness and contrast - though it may be easier to do this
after the picture has be taken using a graphics editting package.

Keep in mind that my answer is not a FACTUAL answer, as I have never
spoken with the person/people who took the photgraphs.  My answer is
my OPINION of how the shots were completed.  I may be wrong, or I may
be right - maybe some expert photographer can either support my
theory, or show me where I went wrong.

Have a good day!

Thank you both for your time and advice. 

First question. Would one lamp be enough? The last batch of photos I
took was outside on a partly sunny day in the shade of a tree but
there just wasn't enough light. I started looking around at hot lights
and can just imagine and there are some nice setups to be had for the
money. I have to think about how much is enough.

How about bottom lighting to get rid of the shadows? I ran into
problems with my shadows when I tried to get rid of the background as
it blurred into the product so I have a little grudge against them at
the moment. If I used a color background would they be easier to
eliminate?

Good observation about the light coming from the back. I would have
never even thought about that.

Some of the photos do not have any effects with the field of focus but
many do. Some are very subtle ones and others are drastic to the point
of being too much. And some are blurry when they are the same distance
from the lens so I'm assuming a lot of it is in the editing. I saw a
bead book recently that used it really well to bring your attention to
a certain part of the photo.

As for the white balance, I've never had any luck changing the
settings. I just leave it on auto settings and sometime turn up the
exposure when it's dark.

One more question. I'll be doing all the photos in Thailand and the
voltage is 220 I believe. Are there any lighting solutions that I can
use here and there? My cameras and laptops don't have a problem so I
am wondering if I can get away without using voltage converters as
I've had problems with them in the past.

Bringing this up has brought so many questions that I have about
Photoshop. I think I'm may become addicted to Google Answers.

Thanks again,

ladida68

Be sure to use open shade. The open shade of a building is more
reliable, since the light won't be speckled from leaves. In addition,
the time of day plays a factor. Early morning is best for natural
light. Under these circumstances, one hot lamp is enough. I've
photographed many small objects with this setup, which were later used
in magazines and books. (If you add more lamps, you'll probably have
more trouble getting shadows. One lamp would have to be beneath or
above the object.)

If you eliminate shadows, the object will look flat. It's better just
to use a plain colored background (in the form of paper, as described
above).

Field of focus is not an editing effect; it's something you create
with the camera itself. If you have a modern camera, you can achieve
this effect automatically with the portrait setting. You can also
achieve this manually. Here's a site with a tutorial, "Blurring a
Background in a Portrait," dpchallenge:
http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=16

Hope this helps,
Kriswrite

Once again kriswrite, thanks for your tips. I'm on my way to Thailand
and will play around with the light there. After asking this question
I've found a lot of good info on the Net and hope to make good use of
it. Oh, I did try the portrait setting on my camera before but it made
peoples' skin look rubbery or painted. I read that stretching
pantyhose over the lens will do nicely but have yet to try it.

ladida68