Beginner Jewelry Photography Checklist

Beginner jewelry photography has a pretty steep learning curve. You should have seen my first attempts! Blurry horrible wretched things they were.

When You Think Your Camera Is Crappy…

When you start out, you might have blurry horrible wretched pictures too.  You might be wondering, “Is it my camera?”

I recently got this question from a website visitor by email,

My camera takes sub-grade photo’s of my jewelry. Any recommendations (within a reasonable price), an excellent camera for close up jewelry shots?

My first question to that would be, “How do you know it’s your camera?”

The Beginner Jewelry Photography Checklist

Here’s a quick checklist to go through before you spend any money on a new digital camera for your jewelry photography:

Am I using a tripod?

Camera shake is the first reason why your photos might be blurry. Always, always, always! Use a tripod.

Am I using the macro setting on my camera?

Not using a macro setting is reason number two. Jewelry closeups need the macro setting.

Am I using a lightbox?

Lightboxes will filter out any harsh shadows. You can easily make your own lightbox. There are lots of resources for quick easy cheap lightboxes.

Are there lights pointing from the top and both sides of the lightbox?

Daylight lights are best, or put your lightbox outside and use the sun as your lighting.

Am I experimenting with different white balance settings on my camera to get the right light setting?

I’m not going in depth into the WB settings but you need to know what they are and how to change them to suit the type of lighting you have. Changing these settings can make a big difference in the final output.

Am I adjusting the lighting settings + or – on my camera to compensate for lighter or darker backgrounds?

A camera tries to guess at the lighting levels by “looking” at the lightness or darkness of the general overall scene its pointed at. If you have a white background, it will dim down the entire shot to a neutral gray. You can adjust this by changing a setting on your camera.

Those are the main reasons photos of jewelry end up being subgrade. Most any digital camera nowadays with a macro or super-macro setting, a tripod, and a lightbox should be good enough to take pictures of jewelry for the internet. If you need offline pictures like for a catalogue or postcards) I recommend hiring a photographer to take those ones.

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1. Top 8 Tips for Webtastic Jewelry Photographs
2. Jewelry Business 101: Conversion Rate