Amateur jewelry photographers often find it difficult to take a picture of the jewelry to make it pleasant to see. Due to its bijou size and exquisite details, capturing them in a photo comes with several impending challenges: from bringing out the shimmering glaze of a gold necklace up to precisely catching the polish effect of a diamond.
Luckily you have come across this article! Our jewelry photography tips below will help you tackle those challenges.
Use the Right Camera
You don’t need to use a specific camera to create a wonderful jewelry photo. You can use any camera, including smartphone cameras. What do professional photographers do and you don’t do when taking a picture of jewelry?
Professional photographers manually adjust the aperture, and shutter speed, and shoot in RAW. They don’t rely on the automatic setting of the camera. It will be better for you to use an f/1.8-f/4 lens to get results just like a pro photographer.
Prepare the Surface
The surface to place the jewelry is also a crucial consideration. A different photo surface you take creates a different atmosphere in the result. You can use a variety of materials for the jewelry photo surface, including a wooden table, plain white paper, a jewelry box, a mannequin, or a model. Prepare also the accessories you may include on the surface, such as artificial flowers, books, and many more. It will be better if you don’t use too many accessories to keep the jewelry stand out.
Pick the Right Photoshoot Location
In case you don’t have proper lighting and a photo studio, choose the right photoshoot location. The right location means that it has to be bright. The photo result looks great if using natural lighting from sunlight. That’s why putting the property near a window is a good idea. Take a picture during the day where you get the brightest sunlight. That’s it! Your mini or medium photography studio is ready to use.
Choose the Best Photo Background
Choosing the best photo background is one of the jewelry photography tips you should know. The background also builds the style or atmosphere of the photo. However, please be careful to not overdo or over complicate your background as it will generate stuffy-looking photos and drift away the focus from the jewelry. The jewelry will seem to disappear due to its background being stronger than the main object. Therefore, keep the background simple, including its color and elements. Check the combination and ensure that the jewelry stands out in the photo.
How to Take A Picture of the Jewelry
Keep the Camera Stable
Set all the props and the jewelry on the surface you have prepared. It is time for you to take a picture of it. The best option is using a camera with a macro lens. This lens produces a 1:1 or original size of the object.
As a result, the jewelry photo looks more realistic and pleasant to see. Ensure that the camera doesn’t shake when shooting the jewelry. Instead of using your hand to hold the camera, it will be better if using a sturdy tripod.
Shaky camera produces blurred photos. It happens when you capture small objects, including jewelry. Choose a tripod with a removable tripod ball head to help you move the camera to get a desirable angle before capturing the object.
Check the Lighting Position
Turn on the lighting and set it in the right position. Check the camera screen to ensure that the lighting is perfect. It is the same case if you are using sunlight. Cover the part of the window with a piece of white paper to reduce the light if it is too bright.
Balance the light so it doesn’t create a strong shadow that covers the jewelry. Professional jewelry often puts lighting on the left and the right of the object. Prevent capturing the jewelry using a flashlight if it is not necessary. Check the aperture and shutter speed of the camera to get sharp and bright photo results.
Focus on the Highlight of the Jewelry
A piece of jewelry often has the most interesting element. You can highlight the element to strengthen the atmosphere of the photo. For example, jewelry may consist of a diamond, charms, and many more. Focus on this element while finding the angle of the camera. If it is necessary close up the element to highlight and show the specialty of the jewelry.
Take a Few Photos
You can’t get the best jewelry photo in one shot. Even professional photo editing services take a lot of photos before sharing the best one. The idea of taking a few jewelry photos from different angles is to get more references. Choose the photos that look great. Send them to a specific folder. Consider many things before finally editing one jewelry photo.
Retouch the Photo
Say that you have jewelry photos in your camera. The next thing to do is retouch or edit the photo. There are several things you should check in the jewelry photo editing process, which are blemishes, light contrasts, and shadows.
You should remove the blemishes and unwanted shadows. Next thing to do is to adjust the lighting contrasts. The last is to straighten and align the images. This process is only basic jewelry photo editing.
Some jewelry business owners often use professional jewelry photo and editing services, such as Dropicts for a maximum editing process. The editing process will make your jewelry phone look perfect and represent the theme you want to share with potential customers.
Indeed, there are so many things you have to learn to be a professional jewelry photographer. It seems hard to get a great jewelry photo result if it is your first try. Say you are a jewelry business owner and you can’t produce high-quality jewelry photos to support your sales. It is not a big problem right now.
Dropicts is one of the photography and photo editing services that will help you to prepare your online catalog. The team is ready to take a picture of any product, including jewelry. One thing for sure, we also apply the jewelry photography tips above, along with our advanced skills to produce captivating jewelry photos. It is the fastest and simplest way to get jewelry photos for your online store catalog.
