Photographing earrings for scale

Jewelry Discussion
21 
i do not agree that adding a flower to a picture adds an element
of class. nature maybe. but not class. "sells" the piece but its
the context of the way its shown.

You don’t think so Laura?

Okay I’ll explain a little further. This is about image perception.

If you see a blood red rose, next to a fluted champagne glass, next
to two wedding rings, what do you think of? You think of an impending
wedding, the champagne adds the expectation of a social occasion,
and the red rose implies “class”. Regardless of this example a red
rose implies expense and class, it’s perception.

Making the eye look where you want it to look is a technique that
works well with photography, it has also been used by the art masters
of the past. If you want a person to look at what you want them to
look at, especially if it is a large and detailed piece, such as the
tea cabinet example, it would benefit you to consider photographic
theory.

If you have a picture of an ear ring with a coin in it. Your
customers will see a picture with an ear ring and a coin in it.

When I sell a knife, I will have a neutral background, and sometimes
I have the knife sitting on a piece of wood. The wood doesn’t detract
away from the knife. If I make a sword I usually use a rich silk
that I can drape. None of these denote size, but they don’t have to,
because the target customer knows how large a knife grip and sword
grip is.

Colour theory, and colour perceptions play a large part of
marketing, especially with advertising on the net. Because a large
portion of the commercial net was dedicated to porn in the early
days, a black and red colour scheme is often related to porn sites.

I wouldn’t discount any colour off hand. It depends on what
compliments the piece being photographed. A nice emerald green would
make for a very nice image… fluorescent green maybe not so much :wink:

I’ve been called many things, wizard being one, most recently I was
called a snake oil salesman by a head teacher, because I like to
play with alloys… he also referred as himself as a snake oil
salesman, but it was only in fun :wink:

Wizardish… nah, you’re subject to these techniques on a daily
basis, the trick is that you’re unaware of them :wink: Only frowned upon
when the techniques are poorly executed, and no one likes to be
guided into a purchase :wink:

Get a book called “The Hidden Persuaders”, this goes into hidden
marketing imagery more than anything else, but it’s an eye opening
read.

Regards Charles

22

I am using American coins for all of my photographs that needs a
scale comparason.

Golf balls are a good choice as well.

Millimeter ruler placed next to piece also works well.

Margie
http://www.mmwaxmodels.com

23 
Easy, but not really a good idea for most purposes. Extraneous
objects included in images are frowned on in most publications, or
for jury images, or even ads. Unless your earrings are much larger
or smaller than earrings typically are, it is really unnecessary to
go out of your way to show scale. And if earwires or posts are
visible, those will indicate scale quite clearly.

I agree that extraneous objects detract from the picture, and that
ear wires and posts give good scale when necessary. If the posts are
not visible, then the little thing that slides onto the post (sorry,
I do not know the name of it) would be inconspicuous but a good
indicator.

Also, for publication, in print or web, the photo could be labeled
the way paintings and sculptures are - with the dimensions included.

Or when submitting for jurying, if the size of the object is
completely incomprehensible from the photo - as in the case of the
tiny teapots and chair - you could include the dimensions in type,
discreetly, across the bottom of the photo.

When you look at jewelry on ebay, the dimensions are always
included, and I personally almost always look at the dimensions first
thing after looking at the item.

24

I used to take photos of my earrings beside a ruler… it wasn’t
pretty, but it certainly shows exactly how big the earrings are.

But I still got the occasional customer that was surprised at how
"small" the earrings they receive were. I found that putting an
object beside the earrings (even a ruler) just didn’t give customers
a very accurate impression of size.

I finally purchased a life-sized mannequin head+shoulders (with
pierced ears), and it’s really cut down on the problem of customers
thinking the earrings are larger than they really are. Since
customers see the earrings in their “native habitat”, they have a
much better idea of what the earrings will look like on them.

I find it’s also easier to make the photo look classy… I just keep
the mannequin’s eyes out of the photos, cause those always look a
little creepy!