Tips for Photographing Jewelry

Photographing jewelry is an important skill for jewelry artists, because jewelry is a visual product.

Although there are challenges involved in jewelry photography, you can easily get some really professional looking photos using flatbed scanners or digital cameras.

When photographing jewelry, consider ways to
make your jewels pop out - like this coral does
against dramatic black displays

To sell your jewelry online - from your website, eBay or other online auctions, or web stores - you'll need to post good, clear pictures of your work. You'll also need good jewelry photos for your business card and any flyers, brochures, or other marketing pieces you make.

I often use a scanner for photographing jewelry, and I've learned it's really a great and simple tool for quickly getting beautiful, artistic shots. You don't need to be a camera buff to get good images with scanners.

Jewelry that's basically two-dimensional is easy to shoot this way. You can get wonderful photos of earrings, necklaces, and other pieces that can be laid flat on the scanner glass.

My rose quartz and 14k goldfill wire jewelry set,
photographed quickly with a scanner.
The only editing I did on this scan was to resize it.

For tips on successfully photographing jewelry with a scanner, see Using Scanners to Photograph Jewelry.

For most pieces, you can easily work within the capabilities of scanners and get professional looking jewelry photos. But they do have their limitations - namely, it's hard to shoot three-dimensional pieces.

With a scanner, you can't easily get good pictures of things that don't show to their best advantage when lying flat. "Standing up" shots of rings and cuff bracelets are nearly impossible to photograph with a scanner. You'll get a much better shot of these using a digital camera.

Digital cameras probably give the most professional looking results for jewelry photos. But they're more expensive and have a steeper learning curve than scanners, because there are so many variables and adjustments involved in using digital cameras. They also require extra equipment like a tripod, a light source, and the right kind of lens.

For important digital camera features and recommended cameras, see Best Digital Cameras for Photographing Jewelry.

If they're not overdone, a few props
can enhance jewelry photography

Photographing jewelry is challenging for two main reasons.

First, since most jewelry is shiny, with reflections bouncing off every surface, lighting is one of the trickiest but most important factors in jewelry photography. With a digital camera, getting just the right amount, size, color, and placement of lighting is vital.

Find out how to make your own quick and easy $15 jewelry photography studio that helps you get your lighting just right, or build a tabletop photography studio for your jewelry on a student budget.

The other critical and challenging element in jewelry photography is getting sharp, close up photos that show the jewelry's detail, beauty, and depth of field. A macro lens is a necessary to accomplish this.

Once the elements of lighting and macro lens are in place, you'll have a lot more versatility with a digital camera than with a scanner.

You'll be able to shoot some of those neat photos of a bracelet, ring, or other piece standing up dramatically with no visible support by using a little modeling clay under the jewelry to hold it in the position you want. You can then move the digital camera on its tripod to whatever angle will give you the best shot of the jewelry.

Regardless of the photography equipment you use, you'll need a good background. Try this cheap, cool, and versatile background for photographing jewelry.

You may also want to have pictures of your jewelry being worn by someone. See these tips for getting friends to model for your jewelry photos - and the results of a lovely Parisian-style jewelry photo shoot.

And after taking your jewelry photos with a scanner or digital camera, you'll need to do some photo editing to crop, resize, and adjust your shots.

An excellent resource is Photo Shop Tutorials, featuring tutorials on monitor calibration, graphics file formats, compression, scanning issues, white balancing and more.

Think of non-traditional "jewelry displays" you can
hang your pieces on for photographing

Using Scanners to Photograph Jewelry
Success tips for photographing jewelry using scanners to get clear, artistic, original shots.

Photo Editing for Professional Looking Jewelry Pictures
Easy tips for using photo editing software to put the finishing touch on your jewelry photos.

How to Photograph Jewelry
Learn to photograph jewelry with excellent results, thanks to this easy and very clear tutorial by guest author Jack Shafer.

Best Digital Cameras for Photographing Jewelry
Important digital camera features for jewelry photos. Three of the best digital cameras for taking sharp, professional looking pictures of jewelry.

Easy Jewelry Photography with a Digital Camera
How to make a $15 jewelry photography studio that will help you get the optimum lighting for your jewelry pictures.

Build a Tabletop Photography Studio for Your Jewelry
Learn how to put together a tabletop photography studio for photographing jewelry, all on a student budget.

Jewelry Photography Success Tips for Your $15 Photo Studio
Eight tips for taking professional-quality jewelry pictures using your $15 jewelry photography studio.

Jewelry Lighting
Tips for lighting your jewelry for better photos - including cheap ways to improvise lighting, and ideal indoor and outdoor lighting setups.

Sample Jewelry Pictures - What Worked and What Didn't (and Why)
Sample jewelry pictures from my own inventory. Let's look at these jewelry photos critically and consider what makes them good or bad.

Success Tips for eBay Auction Photos
A picture says a thousand words, and you'll gain an advantage over your competition using these tips for high quality photos in your auction ads.

Photographing Jewelry: Light boxes, tents and backgrounds
Elaine Luther reviews light boxes, tents, and backgrounds for photographing jewelry. These professional-level tools have become extremely affordable, and really make a difference in the quality of your jewelry photos.

Image Hosting for Online Auctions
Your image hosting choice affects the quality, downloading speed, and cost of your eBay jewelry auction photos. Guest author Sophie Van Tiggelen explains the free image hosting system she uses.

Tips for Photographing Jewelry
Tips for photographing jewelry with scanners and digital cameras for professional results. Easy tips for using photo editing software for the finishing touch on your jewelry photos.

Questions and Answers About Photographing Jewelry
Jewelry photography questions, answers, and tips. Post your questions here, and contribute tips and answers to help others.

I hope you'll enjoy experimenting with your equipment and software and get wonderful results when photographing jewelry!

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