I'm trying to take pictures of the jewelry that we sell, and other things like coins. While the pictures come out with incredible sharpness, something is dimming the exposure so that there are no highlights, no sparkles off the gems or coins, and the pictures just look dim and cold. This is shooting items in a bright white lightbox, with LED lighting directly on the subject. The white background comes out dim bluish or beige..
Which lens are you shooting in? Also are you going to edit the pictures with photoshop or something, if so, I would shoot in RAW and then edit them in post.
Macro shooting decreases the depth of field in most every digital camera (and film before that). Have you tried the "Food" setting? It might be a "different macro", with different processing style and emphasis. If that doesn't help, count this as another vote for using the right tool for the job.
