Photographing jewellery - any tips?

[Silver Butterfly]

Hi,
I wondered if anyone has any tips on photographing jewellery close up?

I bought a fancy digital camera a couple of years ago specifically for this, and even a 'light tent' thingy from ebay (to help difuse the light over the item -apparently...) but I still just get blurry images, and its driving me nuts!!
:mf:

[SusieQ]

I used to buy a lot on eBay and some of the pics were SO GOOD!! I emailed one man and asked him what he did. He said that the best tips were: 1. Get a tripod. 2. Photograph as much as you can outdoors.
Hope this helps. Good luck! Sue.xx:mf:

[sarahlou]

For close-ups use the macro setting, it looks like a flower symbol on your camera, make sure this is on. And don't get too close up to your subject, remember your camera still needs to be able to focus. I also turn the flash off, and photograph in good daylight.

[Hopej]

For close-ups use the macro setting, it looks like a flower symbol on your camera, make sure this is on. And don't get too close up to your subject, remember your camera still needs to be able to focus. I also turn the flash off, and photograph in good daylight.


This is what I do too.... oh and a lot of patience! :frusty:

[Sprinkles]

The amount of times i have thrown my camera down in a huffy is unbelievable.

I still haven't got the jist of it, but yes, having the macro on and daylight is defiantly crucial.

Although in this weather where is the daylight!

Good Luck!

[Jangle]

it took me ages to work this one out. I have tried a light box, waste of time. Try some white paper 0n a table in front of a window. That worked best for me. Clear sharp photo's

[littlesnuggler]

Have a look at this...

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents/jewelry_photography.htm

[Chris W]

My boyfriend is a professional jewellery photographer and he has put together a set up for me which works very well and was inexpensive. I have two flashheads bought off Ebay with soft boxes attached set at 45 degrees to object. I use white background paper and clear perspex on which I place the jewellery. This is to avoid shadow.
All my pictures are white background and it takes quite a bit of work in Photoshop to clean the background. I could go into more details if anyone is interested.

[mymiyel]

I struggle a lot with my photos. It's mostly hit and miss. Plus I'm really lazy and can't be bothered to go through the whole ordeal of setting up and then tidying up!

I take photos of my jewellery on a white/ivory background (but it doesn't work so well with my white coloured jewellery) and next to a window. I peg the white cloth up so the light reflects off it onto the darker side of the jewellery.

I think as long as you can get it in focus it doesn't matter how big the jewellery looks on the picture if that makes sense - because you can always crop it on your computer later. So even if it looks like the jewellery is far away, just crop the sides off on whatever photo editing programme you have.

And the patience thing is so true. I take sooooo many then slowly go through them and delete ones that I don't like until I have about 8 that I am happy with.

Hope this helps, though I have babbled.

[Sprinkles]

Ive started plonking down my jewellery on the windowsill and taking it there.

I have no idea if it looks any good, but at least the picture is bright and you can see the jewellery!

[Silver Butterfly]

Thanks loads!!
Littlesnuggler- that website is fantastic, wish I'd found it before...

I must admit, I have used white paper, clear perspex underneath, on windowsill for good lighting etc. Some of my pics came out ok. Guess I just need to practice more and work out the settings on my camera!

I'm assuming everyone uses a standard digital camera with macro setting?

[Ian Beckerton]

Well, it rather depends on the quality you want to achieve. As a first step I think that it is important to understand what the piece requires to make it look good. Low contrast objects like high contrast light – flash. High contrast objects you can use any light source you like (there are limitations with this) but generally you want white light. Window light or out door light is very colour temperature variable so it will influence what you are taking the image off. You need enough light so that you can use the camera lens to some advantage, ie, varying the depth of field for example, this allows you to have bits in or out of focus as you so wish though with jewellery it should all be in focus if possible and it must be sharp (in focus).
This is quite a difficult subject to cover in a few words but in my opinion Chris W went in the right direction with the lighting as you can have control everything with flash – I am supposed to be writing a book on this subject which endeavours to cover some of the aspects of photographing jewellery or small objects without spending lots of cash on very expensive equipment which you may not use to it’s full capability. I will keep adding to this as time permits or interest prevails.

I..

[Chris W]

You seem to be very knowledgable Ian do you photograph jewellery professionaly?

[Ian Beckerton]

Hi Chris,

Yes, I do shoot professionally but it’s probably a bit indiscreet to go to far down that road over the forum. However, I feel that I can be helpful to others who with possibly limited funds or knowledge would like to improve their images. Is this helpful to you?

I..

[Chris W]

Take a look at my site and tell me what you think.

[Ian Beckerton]

Hi Chris,
Mmm, impressive. It’s a nice site to look over, the images are very good, sharp, bright and clear. I can see that you have a problem with Rose Quartz though, not the easiest material to shoot at the best of times.

I..

[RenataHarris]

If the flash makes everything look white, hold it from afar and zoom in or crop afterwards.
you can take close ups....search through the settings and select 'close up'. The beads further away tend to blur, but overall the picture is clear, ive only just discovered it, but it doesnt use the flash!! Im not a professional, but that's how i do it

[silvercatdesign]

Hi all,

I'm redesigning my site and looking to buy some more professional equipment to take great photographs of my jewellery..

i'm looking at the EZcube or similar with 5000k lighting x 2, but the cost is quite high...is there anything I could make which would give a similar quality?

Ta

[Ian Beckerton]

In answer to some general things here I would say that you should stay away from light cubes and boxes. They will not help you unless you know how to control the camera appropriately and they will limit the artistic layout because of the limited space.

Any long item as in a long necklace for example has to be thought about, you can’t just put it onto a table and take the image, and it just doesn’t work. It is important to remember that one of the “arts” of photography is using the space that the item is occupying to the best advantage to that item! Put another way it’s using the empty space to enhance the item.

If you are shooting a long necklace it’s not that important that you have the entire necklace visible particularly if you want to have a close up of the stones, you can’t have it both ways. What is important is to either surround the centre space using the rule of thirds or use the centre of the space and balance out the image using the rule of thirds. Like all art subjects it’s all about proportion and shape, understand this and you will be able to take a good image.

Renata,

I hade a look at your images and they are very underexposed. You are letting the camera exposure system do all the work. The camera can’t, will not and never will expose correctly when it can see lots of white surrounding the object you are photographing. It doesn’t matter if you pay £100 or £10,000 for a camera it still won’t expose correctly with so much white. What you should be doing is use an incidental light meter as this will then give you a more accurate exposure reading which you can modify if you want to in the manual setting for the camera. That’s how you get professional images.

Kindest Regards,

I..

[silvermaid]

One thing to remember with the macro setting is to push the shutter button halfway and let the camera focus for a few seconds before taking the picture. I bought a tiny tripod about 10cm tall in my local poundland.

Melanie

[diamond yacht]

This is an expensive method but the results are quite good.

I use a light box called the 'Image Dome'. It looks like a miniature Millenium dome with a camera fitted. The results aren't perfect - I still have to remove the rather grey background most of the time, but it is nice and quick to use and get the image onto the website. It has a Nikon Coolpix camera fitted, but I am considering upgrading to a Canon soon, which I believe gives much better results.

[LaVidalerie]

I read a tip on Ebay where a guy said he scanned his items. I've tried it and generally I've been getting better results and much quicker. I also sell findings and semi precious stones and it's fantastic for the stones - much better pictures than I've been able to get with my camera. Some shiny images benefit from using a black cloth (beadmat) over the item. O

Obviously it doesn't suit all jewellery but if you have access to one it might be worth a try. I've got an Epson 3490 Photo and it's a while since I bought it but I don't think it was expensive.

karen
website lavidalerie.com
ps if you look at the photos on my site it's a mixture of camera and scanner - I'd be interested to hear which photos work best ?

[Raffles Bizarre]

i always set up in a very light area, and often use the macro setting. i also try setting it on light or white backgrounds.
if you are using macro and are photographing it on anything other than a lank background it could focus on the background object rather than the jewellery and you'll just have to experiment with angles and ya zoom etc...
hope that helps :S
xx

[Armande]

I prefer taking pictures outdoors. That means I often have to wait for the right moment (and hope it's not raining) but natural light gives the best effect.

I have a little get-up waiting for me outdoors, and it's very easy. It's a glass plate (mottled) on 2 stones. I was going to show you a picture but I am not allowed yet.
Because the plate is see-through I have no harsh shadows. I never take pictures in the sun though, indirect light is best.
It shows off the jewelry best.

[SNOWF1975]

I take mine during the day in a bright room but not in full sun. Also, if you upload your pictures onto photobox.co.uk, you can then edit them through their software and save the picture. Theres an "autofix" feature that works really well!

[gypsypunk]

i use a scanner...

[Takouhi]

The keys to good jewelry photography are sharpness, lighting, exposure, and in the case of gemstone photography, trying to create some sparkle.

[Chris W]

The keys to good jewelry photography are sharpness, lighting, exposure, and in the case of gemstone photography, trying to create some sparkle.

Great photography on your website Takouhi, I agree with your comments but would like to add that I feel gemstones also have unique variations of colour and texture and I try to convey this through enhancing use of lighting and angles.

[LaVidalerie]

Hi, I've finally reach my 25 posts and post pictures :) This earring was scanned rather than photographed (I'm rubbish with a camera so I'm scanning more and more now)
http://www.lavidalerie.com/Witches/Beaded%20Hoop%20Earring.jpg

[SNOWF1975]

scanned??? what like, just stuck in a scanner? thats worked really well!!!

[LaVidalerie]

Hi Snow, yep I just pop it in the scanner - I've got an Epson Perfection 3490 Photo scanner, I can't remember how much it was but it wouldn't have been much. All of the semi-precious beads on my site are scanned
http://www.lavidalerie.com/Earring%20Pairs/Earring%20Pairs.htm
It's super quick but won't suit everything and I like my chap to do the arty photos for my jewellery but when he's too busy it at least means I can get something on the site straight away.