Photographing ceramic artwork for jury into fairs what lens do i use on nikon d5000?

Need clear steady detailed photos

Something like a 50mm would do - the lighting will probably be more crucial than the lens though.

Create a light tent, and use a medium zoom, around 85mm stand back and zoom in… Put the camera on a tripod, and set F22, or as high as you can.adjust the sidelighting and put your camera on A… And press the button.

oh and use 100asa.nothing is moving, and you need everything in focus, in great detail…

there's other ways to do this, but, this is the easiest… Sidelamps can be almost any light source, just set the white balance…

You can use the standard portrait lens - 50 - 60 mm is about right. But far more important than a (clean and lint-free) lens is composition. The setting your piece of artwork is seen in is as important as the artwork itself. Try not to have a lot of other objects in the picture and avoid a cluttered background.

I would use a 50mm f/1.8.It's an inexpensive lens but has very good optical quality. Also use a tripod. Nothing beats a tripod for steady, perfectly-focused images. Use manual focus as well.