Jewelry Photography, was Hand Made

The problem might be in your photography. Jewelry is a bummer
to get good photos of and I used to spend a fortune with
professionals who had what is called a micro-lense to get
close-ups.

With Gary Dawson and Charles Lewton-Brain around this might be a
good time to discuss the art of jewelry photography. Really
excellent slides can get you into shows- poor ones, no matter how
great your jewelry, can ruin your chances at being an exibitor.

My studio has a permanent lighting and camera set up just to
shoot film- so that all of the studio partners can photograph
their work easily for their portfolios. Primarily we shoot Kodak
Royal 100 film for prints, but I use Fuji Velvia slide film for
ads that need color separations, or for when slides are required.

While I have my own preferences as to equipment brands and such-
there are only a few requirements for shooting great images of
your jewelry. A crisp image requires solid support- a high
quality tripod or camera stand. The camera must be able to close
focus so that the item fills a large percentage of the image
area. The background should be neutral and not distract from the
subject piece. The piece should be crisply in focus and well lit.
The art is of course, in the details…

Rick Hamilton
Richard D. Hamilton

Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography

http://www.rick-hamilton.com
@rick_hamilton