I am in the process of learning how to photograph my jewelry. I would like to know how to set up necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings (with posts) against a white or gray background (I want to keep the images clean and simple…as if the jewelry is floating and not flat on a surface). Are there any books and/or websites that give helpful suggestions on how to take professional images of jewelry? Thank you
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Hello!
here is a recent link discussing photography
have a go searching this forum for other informative posts
try these keywords:
photography
jewelry photography
macro photography for jewelry
macro lenses
lighting for jewelry photography
polarized lenses
photography lightboxes
cameras for jewelry photography
how to shoot jewelry
photographing gemstones
photographing shiny objects
search youtube as well:
Photigy
Vadin chiline
check out Photigy.com
julie
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Thank you
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Hi,
oh, vadim chiline’s youtube is called epicmindstudio i think
photigy.com have individual online courses in different jewelry photography
alex is very a good instructor and has valuable insight on lighting, which is critical.
you can sample his style on his older youtube videos (photigy) …older but timeless
and…keep in mind that super high quality jewelry photography is often arrived at thru photo stacking (multiple photos stacked to get depth of field from front to back) and post production software…
julie
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Thank you, Julie
Julie is absolutely correct. This is a big topic! And is one that has been often discussed in the forum for many years.
I would describe myself as an adequate, not an excellent jewelry photographer. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to find photography mentors to guide me throughout my career, while I muddle through figuring things out on my own. Sadly, I don’t have suggestions of a book or website to recommend.
The trends of common jewelry photography backgrounds have shifted dramatically over the years. Back when film was the only option, in the 1970’s, jewelry shot on brightly colored paper backgrounds, shot outdoors on a foggy/cloudy day were common.
Then things evolved to graduated light to dark gray being the most common background. While professional photographers accomplished that with adjusting lights and camera settings. Amateur photographers like me used graduated light to dark gray photo paper, again shot outdoors on a cloudy/foggy day.
Now that objects floating in white space shot on digital cameras are common backgrounds for portfolio shots, shooting the photos is only the beginning of process. Much, if not most of creating the final image happens in photo editing process. It’s important to remember that.
I’m a big fan of Photoshop Elements as an affordable photo editing software (currently $99 on Amazon) to get started with. There’s other options, but I like that one. It’s a scaled down version of Photoshop, but has all of the features that you need for jewelry photography. (plus it’s a one time purchase vs an annual/monthly subscription.
One thing other thing to remember, because this doesn’t get talked about as much. What your end goal is should determine what your jewelry photos look like.
Portfolio/juried show photography isn’t necessarily the same as product/advertising photography. Most juries prefer a neutral background (jewelry objects floating in white space that you’re describing). When a juror has to look at hundreds or thousands of images they just want to just see the jewelry object, not jewelry on a wet rock or damp green moss, etc.
Advertising/product photography kind of tells a story that helps to sell the product. Jewelry on old wood, a desert rock or whatever fits your goal, is the right choice for this kind of photography.
As far as equipment that I use. In the Fall I bought an iPhone 15 Pro mainly to quickly shoot photos and video. I also have a Canon 70D with a macro lens and a telephoto lens. These days I use a lightbox that I bought from Gesswein. It took a little bit to figure it out, but now that I have I like it a lot.
Here’s a recent thread from a week or so ago to explore. The thread is about a specific kind of lightbox, but talks a lot about jewelry photography in general.
Hope all this helps a little!
Jeff
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Thank you, Jeff - this is very helpful
Ellen
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I was curious about the Gesswein Large Photo Lightbox and looked at the product description, which indicated that it has built in lights in the front, base and back panels (CFLs) and a super bright LED in the top front as well as two light wands that do white and three different colors. So a lot of flexibility when you consider that all the lights can be adjusted for brightness. A very neat item for someone who needs an instant macrophoto studio for jewelry photos on demand. If I were a commercial establishment where time was money, I would consider this item strongly!
All the above said, I guess many here know I often look for simple work-arounds and creative self-made solutions. This is a necessity with my fixed income and unlimited appetite for travel and jewelry projects. That sent me looking for alternatives…ebay has numerous light boxes of similar dimensions to the Gesswein with an LED ringlight in the top for about $35, shipped. I bought a $5 ringlight on a tripod at the Dollar Tree last week for video calls, so I knew there were lots of options for mounting inexpensive lights in a light box with white velcro. I didn’t work the whole thing out, but that’s the start of a roadmap if you want to make your own. Ringlights can be made directional by covering part of the ring. There are LED strips, too, I am sure. I’m guessing you could do a whole setup for under $100.
-royjohn
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Hi,
another interestung concept to consider is the law of reflection
one doesn’t need a whole white box…but does need light sources and diffusers positioned to create good reflections
(not thati am any good in figuring that out😂)
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Hi,
understanding histogram’s on the camera can be helpful…
julie
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Thank you…
Thank you…I’m learning about diffusion and reflection
royjohn, you are 100% correct, there are lots of low tech ways to get good jewelry photos. A light box fills a specific need in specific situations. Yes, LED light boxes or mini jewelry photo studios are not that complicated to DIY.
One of my jewelry photography mentors lives in an old farm house with a sunroom. She shoots all of her jewelry object photos floating in white space inside the sunroom with white printer paper as her background and as her light diffuser. Very low tech! Then she color corrects and edits the images in Adobe Lightroom.
She tried to teach me Adobe Lightroom, but I’ve been using Photoshop for so long, that I just didn’t get it. Eventually, she gave me tips to improve my use of Photoshop with jewelry photography and I’ve stuck with that since.
Again, if the photographic goal is to make a jewelry object float in shadow-free white space, a lot of that will happen on the photo editing side. I’ve found that in some ways shooting the images is the easy part.
I’ve grown to think of the process like with film photos being altered in the darkroom. Digital photography and photo editing software go together.
I just saw that Adobe Photoshop Elements is on sale for $69 on the Adobe website. I think for most folks trying to teach themselves, this is a great deal!
Jeff
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Hi Jeff,
I’m going to file those references to editing software away and hope I can find the time to learn them…what I deal with right now is facet rough sold by brokers and miners in third world countries and the photos they send me. My African friends send terrible photos and I have to coach them on how to get in focus, so editing is light years from there. The Pakistani dealers send me some pretty good photos, esp. if you push them and they think you are going to buy. Photo editing would leave you open to suspicion of altering the color or “airbrushing” out inclusions. As it is, different monitors do distort some colors…so far in my experience it’s blues and greens that sometimes come out wonky. Videos have the advantage of a cinema verite look and authenticity. Phote editing? Takes too much time for the instant “look and press the buy button” of Facebook and even more instant TikTok and Instagram. Just what it looks like to me, and I’ve talked with friends who sell more than I have sold myself. Just another view. If you need money, you can’t screw around with fine art stuff for most pieces and stones…just another view of where the rubber meets the road. If you are looking for fine arts cred, the rules are obviously different and that is one way to develop a reputation. -royjohn
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I got curious if big craft fairs like the ACC shows have current photography guidelines for their application process. I went to the ACC website and for photography guidelines they sent folks to a Shopify blog on ecommerce photography. I thought it was interesting with a lot of specific advice.
Cheers!
Jeff
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Good to know…thank you
Go to CraftCast and take Pam East’s online workshop “Phone Photography Secrets Revealed”. My husband has been my in-studio photographer for 46 years and he just took this workshop. Her information has been invaluable for him. It’s available as a video now. Very reasonably priced. Don’t feel like you have to go all over the internet to find information. Pam is articulate and knowledgeable.
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Thank you
I struggled for years until I bought a recommended light box
PULUZ Light Box Photography,… Amazon.com
And downloaded the Photoroom App
I took a short course on Craftcast with Pam East
And took a photo of one of my pieces.
All affordable.
Finally with photo room (paid version) AI will give you any background, any shadow, and reflection. I entered a contest and won with my photo of my jewelry. So I know it works. These days as a designer, photographing my work is not the chore it used to be.
I hope this helps
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It helps - thank you!
Ellen