How to Take Great Photos of Jewelry

The first time I started to still life photography, it was to give a helping hand to a friend who launched its online website selling jewelry. Since I'm already improved a lot and I'll be happy to share my techniques. Let us guide you!

Make sure you have the right equipment

Wondering if your Nikon compact camera is good enough to introduce you to the still life? Yes, rest assured, there's no need to replace the device unless you want to specialize in this branch and make your job later. However, make sure the focal length of the camera, because if it is between 30 mm to 50 mm, you can only do wide shots.

Indeed, a long focal length of at least 100 mm is required if you want to dispose of shots close to photograph jewelry. Otherwise, to avoid unsightly net effect for this type of pictures, a tripod is an essential accessory for all photographers of still life, amateur or professional. Moreover, at least to interact with the device in my photo shoots, I buy a remote trigger. Therefore, I rarely manipulates the equipment, thus optimizing stability.

Also, make jewelry is only possible with a support. A small side table will do nicely provided the furniture is still in good condition. I opted for a stable cabinet and without any defects on the surface, avoiding to choose a design medium that could steal the jewelry showcase.

Now comes the lighting. Indeed, since the shooting takes place indoors, I strongly recommend the use of a source of artificial lighting. At least the advantage of still life is freedom in choosing pictures of timetables, since natural light is not essential. And ideally, the light scattering is uniform to correct color differences. While other photographers prefer the continuous light, I preferred the external flash to the light output, identical to daylight.

Techniques and settings

Since the objective of photo shoots is to showcase the beauty of jewelery, I do not care about the background while this is not the case for other areas of still lifes. So, I do close-ups of jewelry designs that will be later published on the online store. And unlike many ideas, this exercise is not easy, especially if the necklace or bracelet in question is set with precious stones.

My tip? To avoid reflections on the photographs, I place the jewelry on a uniformly white support. Yes, too much light kills the light. That's why I use a lot also flash if possible to associate with a reflector used to illuminate dark areas.

Otherwise, to bring out every detail of jewelery, I switch to macro mode, with a small aperture, which is synonymous with a narrow depth of field. Concerning the white balance, I adapt it depending on the nature of my light source. The shutter speed will be about the minimum because the photographed subject is stationary. The key is to minimize blur genera moved by the device, for clear, sharp images. As for sensitivity, ISO 100 shots amply sufficient to very good quality.

Anyway, before each shot, do not hesitate to make many developed until the completion of the cliché suits you. And to end this post, here's a video explaining the speed of obscuration.

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