Jewelry Photography
How to take pictures of jewelry

• Lighting & Set-up for jewelry photography
  
• Understanding how exposure effects a white background
• How to add sparkle to diamonds and faceted gems
• Standing up small charms using prop wax
• All different ways to hang earrings & more

• How to make pearls look their best
  
• How to create a soft reflection of your jewelry
• How to use black glass or acrylic for special effects
• TTS Jewelry photography workshops at Brooks Institute
  
• Jewelry Photography equipment

Taking good quality pictures of jewelry for most is an unsolved mystery.  However, there are some simple techniques used by the professional, which even amateur photographers can use to obtain dramatic results with minimal effort. The following examples show the basic setup that should allow anyone to achieve results they can be proud of. These images were all taken using a Canon Digital Rebel camera with a 100MM lens.

The basic setup we used included an EZcube light tent to soften the shadows and eliminate glare, while providing a clean and clutter free background. We used TabletopStudio lights as the primary light source, equipped with true color daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs. We also used a special Diamond dazzler LED bulb to light up the diamonds and faceted gems in the example images on this page.

The keys to good jewelry photography are sharpness, lighting, exposure, and in the case of gemstone photography, creating some sparkle. Good jewelry photography needs sharp, crisp focus. It is worth getting out your camera's manual to find out how to put the camera in "spot focus" mode. The normal focus mode of digital cameras is some sort of average focus mode. That means that the camera will look at a wide area of a scene and base the focus on that area. Since you want to control where the camera is focusing, it's better for jewelry photography to put the camera into spot focus mode, this will allow you to control more precisely what the camera will be focusing on. However, even in spot focus mode many digital cameras can't really "lock-in" on a small shiny object like gemstone jewelry using auto focus.So unfortunately, for close-up jewelry photography, you need a camera with good manual focus capability.

Another key to a sharp image is a tripod. It is absolutely essential to use a tripod or similar camera support when shooting jewelry. A sturdy tripod is better than a flimsy one, but any tripod is many times better than no tripod. Use a tripod.

Another key to good jewelry photography is the lighting. Normally diffuse (soft) lighting works best for jewelry. You have probably already discovered that an on-camera flash does not lead to good jewelry photos. Not only is the camera's flash too bright at such a close distance, but it is probably in the wrong position to actually light up the jewelry properly. On camera flash will also create harsh and distracting shadows. Rather than flash, we like to use continuous lighting for product photography. Using continuous lights makes it easier to visualize what the final image will be like.

We prefer daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs for lighting. These bulbs provide nice, natural-colored light and they produce very little heat so they can be left on for long photo sessions without over heating the photographer. Even fluorescent light bulbs will need to be diffused and for that we use an EZcube light tent as the diffuser. A small light tent makes it easy to reduce glare and control shadows for jewelry photography.

Proper exposure is also key to good jewelry photography. (For more information on adjusting the exposure for jewelry images take a look at this page.) Now lets look at some specific jewelry photography situations that go beyond the basics.

Two lights work well for many jewelry items, and may be all that is needed for great results shooting certain types of jewelry...

The two lights can be positioned to sides of the EZcube, which diffuses the light and eliminates glare. These lights provide the main light source for the piece of jewelry.

Be sure the lights are actually positioned so that they are lighting your jewelry. Try moving the lights around to find a position that flatters your piece. Look at your jewelry as you move the lights to see how the lighting changes

Experienced photographers will often use a more powerful light on one side to add dimension to the subject. You can achieve similar results by setting one light closer to the subject.

The "sparkler" light is the third  light, and the key to having properly lit faceted gemstones. This light must be positioned so that you see the stones sparkle.

Position the sparkler light to shine directly into the gemstone to illuminate the stone. Because this light is not diffused by the light tent, it needs to be a weaker light than the side lights. Move this light until you see the gem light up.  

Look through the camera's viewfinder when positioning the sparkler light.  While taking these example images, I found it helpful to turn off the other lights while I found the perfect placement for the sparkler light.

Adding brilliance to diamonds ... Tabletopstudio has a created a special bulb, for diamond photography, that has 18 daylight color LEDs. The Diamond Dazzler bulb, shown above, provides the direct, focused, hard light that is needed to unleash the fire of your diamonds, without producing unwanted glare! This bulb is an absolute must have for diamond photography.

The daylight colored LEDs are made to match our 5000k daylight color lighting products. This daylight colored LED bulb is made specifically to bring out a diamonds fire or add brilliance to any faceted gemstone without producing glare. It is conveniently designed to fit nicely into our sparkler lights 5" reflector.

Always be sure that all of your lights match in color or you will not be happy with the results. NEVER mix different light source bulb colors. I use all 5000K daylight balanced bulbs for all of my example images, and never need to make color corrections. Also, leave your auto white balance setting ALONE. Most cameras do a great job with this set to Auto. If you ignore this advice and change your white balance setting, expect a greenish color cast over the entire image. White balance settings will not give you a white background.

Stand up small charms or pendants using prop wax... Wax can be a great invisible hand when it comes to standing up small pieces of jewelry. Just place a tiny little bit on the bottom of the item you are working with. This is a great way to stand up rings or tall focal beads too. I used a tiny bit too much here to make the point that you don't want to see the wax in the final image. So be frugal, use the least amount possible. The wax is strong and will not dry out so it can be used over and over again.

This wax works great, as shown in this example, on black acrylic. I stood the seahorse upright on top of my black acrylic, and then casually had the gold chain meander through the background. This is a fresh alternative to the jewelry bust that you often find people shooting on these days. The jewelry busts were designed for brick and mortar storefronts, and do not make attractive photographic backgrounds. When in doubt always feel free to look at your favorite jewelry website to see how they lay out their jewelry to be photographed. Tiffany of course has a beautiful website full of inspiration.

White high gloss acrylic provides a soft reflection of the jewelry placed on top. We named this the "Tiffany effect" because Tiffany uses this effect so often on their website ...

Position the bracelet in the middle of the acrylic panel, so the edges can be cropped easily out of the photograph. The angle of camera view will make the reflection more vivid or less, so always look through the camera viewfinder as you adjust your tripod position.

Be sure to clean your jewelry first and always spend some time on the composition or "styling" of the item. It's best to photograph the jewelry from several different angles to see what looks the most pleasing.

Using high gloss black acrylic or glass creates a dramatic reflection. "Black ice" is a favorite of pro photographers and can be used to create many desirable effects depending on light positioning.

Black glass or black acrylic can produce many different effects so decide ahead of time what effect you're looking for. If you desire a dramatic reflection on a pure black background then you will need to insert a piece of black paper {the size of the EZcube sweep} into the EZcube.

The paper will make a sweep that goes along the back of the light tent and arches over the ceiling of the tent inside. This will block all of the refelctions you would see of the EZcube in the black reflective surface.

When photographing pearls, by using only one light source positioned above, the pearls will appear rounder with more dimension.

A 6' light stand positioned on the table next to the 20"EZcube acts as a boom light. I just opened the stand legs partially so the light stand would fit up close to the EZcube. The EZcube works great here to soften the shadows.

Styling your pearls, by positioning them in a smooth, pleasing shape is critical for a professional look. Professional photographers often hire a styling expert to help find the right layout. Be sure to look at good photos of pearls and copy the styling. The pattern "8" is a popular shape for longer strands, and a "dog collar" shape works well for shorter strands.