As a beginner or a professional photographer, either you are kicking off with a smartphone or you are starting with a standard hotshot camera, the main focus of every jewelry photographer is to capture a perfect photo of the jewelry piece.
In every photography profession, there are two major categories of photographers, the category of photographers who believe pictures should be left raw and the category of photographers who believe pictures should be edited—slightly or heavily. However, in editing jewelry pictures it is important to leave a few raw photos as you do not know which will attract the attention of customers.
One of the things to consider when capturing a jewelry piece is the process of focusing the details of the jewelry piece on a camera lens. This will ensure that a good number of photos are captured with several details of the jewelry piece focused on in a clean, bright, and sharp manner.
If you are looking forward to capturing your first jewelry photograph, follow the tips below.
1. Use a Standard Camera
To capture a perfect jewelry picture, it does not matter what type of camera used, either it’s a camera from a smartphone or a hotshot camera such as the DSLR—regardless of what type of camera it is, as long as it can capture pictures perfectly you are good to go. However, it is of advantage if you are conversant with the type of camera intended to be used.
When capturing the image of a jewelry piece, capturing a perfect shot is not usually dependent on a camera itself. Rather, the success of if the image will come out perfectly is greatly dependent on the lens, lighting, and how focused the camera is on the jewelry piece.
If you are considering buying your first camera to start a jewelry photography business, buying a camera lens with a dominant high focus point is mostly approved for jewelry photographers. Also, acquiring a tripod to help provide support when capturing the image of a jewelry piece is essential, this will help to keep the focus of the camera lens on the details of the jewelry.
2. Use a Perfect Lighting
To take a perfect picture of a jewelry piece, it is not dependent on the camera. The key to achieving success in jewelry photography is perfectly using lighting—not too high and not too low. The type of camera used in capturing jewelry images might not matter at times if the picture lighting is not perfect, this automatically results in the picture itself not coming out perfectly.
Although, exposing jewelry to excess light when capturing the jewelry image in the name of lighting will only result in the jewelry pictures coming out hostile and too bright for a perfect jewelry photograph.
Perfect lighting is important to unveil all the important details of a jewelry piece in a photograph. If you are using a phone to snap a jewelry image, it is advisable not to use a phone flashlight as a lighting tool—instead, getting a ring light is much preferable in capturing a jewelry piece with a smartphone.
Also, if you are using a flash tool, remember to not focus the flash directly on the jewelry piece. It is best to keep the flash tool focused on a wall or keep it facing a roof to reflect and get light on a dim level, this will help to make the result of the picture look more professional.
3. Use a Simple Background
Simplicity is the key to shooting the image of a jewelry piece, especially for an online market. Although it is not a bad idea to want to spice things up a little bit, if you are adding colors or characters to the background of your jewelry pictures remember not to do too much. Using too many colors and characters on jewelry backgrounds can divert the attention of the audience or buyers from getting attracted to the details of the jewelry piece.
If you are in doubt about the characters added to a jewelry piece background, it is better to keep it looking plain. Simplicity shows clarity and helps customers to focus more attention on the details of the jewelry piece.
A loud jewelry picture background might get the audience attracted more in a promotional shoot for auctions or runway, but on an online store, it is best to leave a jewelry background simple and plain for customers to be attracted to the details of the picture.
Finally, regular backgrounds are mostly perfect for diamonds, silver, and other precious stones. In capturing silver and diamonds especially, a black or darker background shade is mostly advised. A white background blends too much with a sliver or diamond jewelry, as a result, the quality of jewelry color and shine will not pop.
4. Use a Supporting Stand
When a picture is not properly focused, it means it is lacking in clarity and detailed information. Sometimes, this is as a result of jiggling and shaking of a camera from a stand or the hand of a photographer—this results in blurriness or low picture quality.
A jiggling camera is not friendly to any photographer. It is one of the photographers’ greatest enemies in jewelry photography. Due to the size of a jewelry piece, a small jiggle when capturing pictures of jewelry can blur the picture image because it is not focused enough.
To prevent blurriness of picture and also to keep pictures more focused on the details of a jewelry piece, it is important to get a supporting stand such as a Sturdy Tripod. The benefit of using a sturdy tripod in capturing pictures of jewelry is to secure a perfect spot that is focused on the desired direction and capturing the details of the jewelry piece in a clarifying manner.
Conclusion
If as a beginner, you have experienced difficulties in capturing a perfect picture of a jewelry piece in a photoshoot. The following basic instructions in this article will assist you to have the fundamental understanding of jewelry photography and also assist on how to take beautiful perfect pictures of a jewelry piece.
However, it is important to know that as an amateur in the jewelry photography business, the more time you devote to exploring and playing with your camera by taking shots of jewelry pieces the more you become a master in the jewelry photography profession.
The fun thing about the technological era of digital photography is the benefits or advantages people enjoy thanks to watching YouTube videos and taking other online classes to develop knowledge in jewelry photography. These have assisted beginner jewelry photographers in their journey towards becoming professionals in the field.