Photo by Jim Lawson. A good idea is to use a piece of cardboard folded in half and stretch the string from one panel to the other, like in the image below. To bring out some more colour in the blue gemstone, I then added a picolite with a projection attachment shining directly on to the gemstone. A standard macro photography lighting setup should consist of at least two flash heads or continuous lights, one for the left of the subject and the other for the right. With that in mind, lets discuss how to avoid the ten most common pitfalls that jewelry product photographers often fall into, when photographing their products. Jewelry photography is harder than other genres of product photography. Photographing accessories is a still-life endeavour. The depth of field choice gives you stylistic opportunities when it comes to taking jewelry images. You can use natural light for these, and itll be understandable if the colours may not run completely true. You dont want a reflection of your gear or lights as a distraction! Looking for more? While these lenses are great for photographing lifes moments, they arent suitable for smaller objects like rings or earrings. What you should look for in a tripod is a removable tripod ball head, an Arca Swiss compatible ball head and a spirit level either on the legs or tripod head. Its also a good idea to view the photograph on a variety of different screens. I could have achieved a similar result with a very precise snoot. I knew I wanted to incorporate juxtaposing textures. Both of these have different requirements and techniques. If you can take high resolution photos and capture the details of the item, you will be able to enable zoom on your online store. Once I was satisfied with my lighting, the next problem I had to solve was depth of field. Standard lenses have an angle of view of around 50 to 55 degrees diagonally. Award-winning training. This focal length assists in obtaining half life size magnification (0.5x), whereas more expensive macro lenses provide life-size magnification (described as 1:1). If my lighting setup for ring photography looks more complicated than for the necklaces, that's why. At this fixed zoom, you can set your camera up a small distance from the subject, and the magnification will appear half life size (or 0.5x), which is ideal for photographing jewelry. You can set the white balance manually, but we recommend simply setting your camera to automatic white balance mode; this will allow your camera to recognize the type of light source (natural sunlight, light bulb, flash, etc.) Many online channels require certain web standards, so follow our post about Marketplace image guidelines to help make your jewelry look its best. Most of the props (minus the camera, lens and tripod) you can find lying around the house, so stop making excuses and go take some awesome product images! Before we begin, it is good to keep in mind that there are two different kinds of jewelry product photography. CMYK is used for printing and SRGB is for online use. The image above is the final photograph of the diamond necklace. Its very important that you crop and size all of your jewelry product images in the same way. As artists, it is tempting to make images a bit more complicated than needed. The reflective property of most jewelry means that it will absorb all other colours, so you should shoot on a white backdrop to avoid altering the colour of the piece. Creativity and Collaboration: With e-commerce photography (such as eBay, Amazon, etc.) But the lens will either make or break your jewelry product photography. modern minimalist glass earrings. Make sure that your Photoshop work is on-point, with no colour mistakes or lack of cloning! Camera shake is a photographers worst enemy. Otherwise, youll be sitting in the editing room, removing all those pesky reflections. So I chose smooth acrylic tiles as well as a more textured piece of slate. It is important to show the shopper the details so they arent left wondering what the side or back of the product looks like or what type of clasp it has. I used a three light setup to create the final image of this gemstone necklace. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. For starters, their smooth, shiny surfaces cause chaotic reflections. stitched together body makeup beauty This will prevent camera shake and ensure that your lighting remains correct. I recommend a deeper DOF for the best focus. Whether you're shooting diamond rings or gemstone necklaces, jewellery photography is notoriously tricky. It is especially important to provide a photo in-context when it comes to jewelry as it is challenging to know how big (or small) the product really is. July 28th - Register Now. Much like the lens, the lighting setup will also impact your jewelry photos. When dealing with small subjects, such as jewelry, any minor moment caused by hand-holding the camera will appear as a blur in the final photograph. Use props to present your jewelry in the best way possible. It makes it easier to adjust focus points and depth-of-field (aperture); You can drop to much lower shutter speed and ISO to avoid or reduce noise. Read our DIY 2 post about how you can take advantage of your camera settings shooting in manual mode. As with the necklaces, I used a bare bulb point light source as my key light. Lets face itjewelry is shiny, and while sparkle is great, camera lens reflections and white highlight spots visible on your jewelry is not. If anything, overcomplicating will be to your detriment. That said, there is some creative leeway in editorial photography. Using the auto align' feature in Photoshop post-production. For the gemstone necklace, I ended up using three lights. Colour accuracy isnt always due to your camera or lighting setup. I then added another one to add sparkle on the face of the diamond, one to light the metal work of the bands, and one to add light on the diamonds on the band. Keep your light consistent, and you wont have to keep changing your white balance! With Instagram and Pinterest being so popular with consumers, they rely on shopping via photos. An easy way to fix this is to have a light above the jewelry product that eliminates the shadows. For product photos, youll generally want a deeper depth of field. Many flash lighting setups found on online stores arrive in kits and contain all the necessary accessories like a flash trigger (that attaches to your camera), umbrellas, diffuses and stands. I decided to create a sort of light tent, which I did by adding reflector cards. A matt diamond necklace is not going to sell itself. Inconsistency is never a good thing, even when it comes to jewelry images. Editorial photography often features a model or jewelry in a lifestyle environment. ISO + Shutter Speed: Generally, you want to ensure there is as little noise as possible. Keep the Rule of Thirds and Golden Ratio in mind when photographing jewelry. Editing the shadows out in post-processing can be a massive pain! If you can get the color to look accurate you are less likely to have a lot of returns. If your lighting isnt great or consistent, your items will look very different in color across your online store. They mess with your lighting set up, and cause reflections. You also need to consider what your clients needs are. Expert Photography 2011-2022. The advantage of a tripod ball head is in the fluid movement to obtain a desirable angle. After repairing damages, its time to give the product a thorough cleaning and dusting. This essential part of the preparation process is easy to overlook, but it will save you a lot of time when it comes to post-production. Light background colors like white and grey will give your jewelry a timeless feel, and avoid possible distractions that might be brought on by a patterned backdrop. To overcome this issue, I used a technique called focus stacking. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Unfortunately, this doesnt work for product photography. By ensuring my lighting and composition was as close to perfect as I could get it, I was able to minimise the post-production each image required. Marilyn Mack's silver and gold pendant features faceted, cabbed, and natural-surface gems, with single and multiple colors: serpentine, drusy rainbow pyrite, amethyst, peridot, citrine, sterling, and 14K. Remember, youre selling jewelry! Or using it at inappropriate times. So, how do you photograph jewelry without reflection? A true white light will not cause any sort of colour casts, such as the blue or green of fluorescent light. Any styling adjustment, no matter how small, will have significant repercussions for your lighting. Nothing looks worse than a gorgeous emerald ring with a camera lens reflection right in the centre. When looking to purchase your first macro lens, we recommend choosing a lens with a focal length of 60mm. That said, to focus stack a series of images in Photoshop is fairly straightforward, because the software does most of the hard work for you. These are a more affordable alternative and help you achieve the magnification you need. It is important to get the colors of your products to look as accurate as possible. Why? Reflectors can help you even out the shadows by acting a fill light on the opposite side. Advice & insight from top photography professionals. You wont need to worry about locating props or mannequins or live models for your jewelry photography, because props tend only to distract from the product and spoil the clean and professional look you should be going for in your product photos. Accurate colours are crucial in any type of product photography. When it comes to rings, Blu-Tack, glue dots and double-sided tape can be really useful. You can really help yourself by choosing the right props, surface and background. I made a series of matte black tubes, which I arranged in a close formation for the necklace to rest on. Most jewelry photos feature just a ring or necklace on a white background. gangster namekian By using a reflector, you will have an even lighting without mixing light sources. The image on the right keeps all of the product in relatively sharp focus, even the areas that are farthest away from the camera. We recommend shooting at least a straight-on image from the front, an angled image from the front, a close-up detail shot and a top view, as shown above. No content on this page may be used or shared by third parties. Product and e-commerce photography are the images you will see online or in a product catalog. Choose one and go with it. All Rights Reserved. So many brands dont provide enough images. solutions to common challenges associated with jewellery photography, including controlling reflections on shiny surfaces and working at close magnification. For the rings shoot, I went for a cleaner, simpler look, shooting the two rings together on a, For all three jewellery images, I used my Hasselblad H6 with a 100mm lens (equivalent to about 67mm in 35mm full frame). And you certainly don't have to be a jewellery photographer to get professional results! Direct, contrasty light is notorious for exposing imperfections in products, adding unbecoming shadows, creating unavoidable reflections, and other nuisances that may or may not be able to be fixed in post. For both shots, I directed a bare bulb through a sheet of white acrylic placed behind the product. You dont want disappointed clients if the product(s) they receive dont match up. It is hard as a shopper to visualise an item if you only provide one photo. If there are hard shadows, they will not accept the final image. Showing the effect of the addition of the picolite on the diamonds. How? So it is important to keep your image size consistent so everything is aligned and easy to browse on your online store. It will be easier to see if any mistakes pop up. For editorial photography, the settings will range depending on what you are shooting. By implementing a guideline for your team on how the images should be taken will also keep to keep images consistent. To overcome this issue, I used a technique called, Advice & Insight from Top Photography Professionals, Boudoir Photography: Tips, Tricks and Techniques, Choose the Best Lighting Modifier for Your Photography, Architectural Photography: Tips from a Pro, 20 Best Female Poses for Portrait Photography, A professional guide to shooting environmental portraits. When your images change too often in relation to your other product photos, the lack of consistency confuses and distracts customers, and lowers the professional appearance of your website and business. For both shots, the first light alone yielded a great result! These two images have neither clean backgrounds nor appropriate white balance. It will also keep everything in alignment should you need to focus-stack your images later. As with all photography, a good understanding of lighting and technique (along with careful planning and preparation, of course) will get you a good shot. Jewelryis no exception. CookonStrike. Choose the Right Camera for Jewelry Photos, Product and e-Commerce Jewelry Photography, 3. This will highlight the detail you want to focus on and let the rest melt away into a creamy bokeh. Grab a piece of cardboard, cover it in white paper and pin or tape the ends of your necklace to the back. White also reflects light whereas dark colours absorb it, so your product will be better lit if you shoot on a white backdrop. You dont need to. In fact, in the first shoot, I could almost certainly have achieved the same results withspeedlights! When you photograph a product of any kind, you dont want any perspective warping. This disadvantage has a lot to do with depth of field. It depends on whether your photoshoot is for print or online, outdoors or in a studio. If you use a macro lens to photograph jewelry, dont fool yourself into thinking a wider aperture (f2.8 or f4) is going to make your photos look brighter. Stick with standard lenses! It would be very confusing for the consumer as it wouldnt look on brand. We also expect that you start getting some great customer feedback about how your excellent photos, improved their shopping experiences. As with the previous shot, I created a smooth gradient light by shining a light through the acrylic sheet before placing white panels in front and above. They prove that, if you plan and prep correctly, jewellery photography doesn't need to be daunting. This will be the case, but there is a significant disadvantage. Although my aperture was set to f11, the size of the rings and the proximity at which I was working meant I couldn't quite get everything sharp. These are all excellent, flattering angles! If you want to read more about aperture, check out our, blog post that explains aperture, ISO and shutter speed for product photography. Instead of dealing with harsh lighting, photograph your jewelry in soft, natural sunlight streaming in from a window or in soft, artificial studio lighting. Ive found that most stores stock black busts, as they make jewelry stand out and give it a sense of elegance. My camera was fixed to my Manfrotto Super Salon 280 Camera Stand, but any tripod will work. Just be mindful of how the pieces look under your lighting units. A 50mm such as the Nifty Fifty is a great choice. Need more info? Its that simple! The image looks natural to the viewer. This take a bit more time to set up but will produce a great photo. If your lighting isnt right you will get bad reflections on your items. You can never have enough product images on your product page, so shoot more and from every angle. The larger the number of megapixels, the bigger and higher quality the print will be. Minimising reflections is crucial in ring photography especially when you're using multiple lights. A kit lens generally has a wide angle element and a short zoom; numerically the focal length will typically read from 18 to 55mm. My second light was a small ball of light that I used to create some specularity and sparkle. Keep the frame simple. Beautiful, high quality photos to showcase these details are essential for a professional, consistent ,and reputable site. The second necklace I shot was far less textured rather, it was smooth, polished metal with two diamonds. It seems like it takes more time but if you do this at the beginning it will save you time at the end and a lot less time editing and removing the dust and fingerprints of the jewelry at the end. Can you imagine if every time you had a different photographer, you had a different style on your website. I took a number of shots, which I then aligned in Photoshop to create a scene that was sharp all the way through. I arranged the acrylic tiles in a floating staircase formation above the slate, with the necklace resting on the top tile. Always have a cleaning cloth with you. When you photograph a product, it should be as true to life as possible. Also known as normal lenses, standard lenses produce an image that roughly matches what the human eye sees. Both of these change the colours slightly depending on the purpose of the mode. You can always adjust the length of the chain with where you choose to clip it, so dont worry too much about the size unless you have a huge piece. However, as I mentioned in the point above, photographing your product on white will make it look much better. pearl dress necklace woman clip clipart drawing fotosearch vector drawings posters illustration Not only does it really showcase how your products can be worn but it also can help to build your brand image for your ideal customer. Usually, youll want to go for a standard lens. Add a tripod, and you can afford to use a lower ISO number and shutter speed to reduce noise. These are some of the common mistakes that you dont want to make: Clean your items and polish them before you start shooting. Simplicity is key as you want to show off the product and its details. Karl Taylor Education, Unit 11, Les Caches Business Park, Guernsey, GY4 6PH, UK - Tel +44 (0)1481 233222, All website content Copyright Karl Taylor Photography. Wear gloves when handling jewelry to prevent finger marks. The top mistake made by jewelry photographers is using the wrong lens. Incredible value. What to Sell Online: How to Choose the Right Products to Sell, 7 Easy Steps To Build An Unforgettable Ecommerce Brand, Product Photography Tips: Increase Sales With Great Product Images, When it comes to photographing jewelry, a lot of. Follow every step as Karl experiments with lighting ratios and positions on his way to acheiving the final shot. You can use a metal clamp to secure the backdrop into place. Exposure NY - Photography - Doug Rosa - Jewelry, elajoyas, crisoprasa, black #diamonds, ring. Sounds almost too easy, right? Instead of using a macro lens, I used, To bring out some more colour in the blue gemstone, I then added a, In fact, in the first shoot, I could almost certainly have achieved the same results with. Keep everything in focus by shooting with an aperture of f/11 or greater. Even the smallest speck of dust will be visible to viewers if you execute the photographs with the correct amount of sharpness, and in jewelry product photography, the shinier a product is, the better! Simplicity and consistency of earring images on the, Bowerhaus works with models for each collection to showcase their products, photographing your product on white will make it look much better.