Photographing Jewelry
I have a great many uses for photographs of my jewelry: I have a web site for my own jewelry business, I publish photographs on this site, I use photographs in my flyers and postcards, and I like to keep a photo-journal of my work in case I need to reproduce something. There are also instances when I may need to submit a jury photo, or send in a contest entry, or want to just share an idea with a fellow jeweler. Reasons for needing good, clean photographs of my work are endless!
I have tried using a digital camera or film camera for photographing, but have rarely been satisfied with how most items lie, light or the detail. While these methods do work best for dangly earrings or really large, bulky beads, most pieces are better captured by using a flat-bed scanner.
1. Clean the bed of your scanner to make sure there are no smudges, dirt or foreign objects on the glass.
2. Place your jewelry face down on the glass. Remember, clasps, focal beads, items that are meant to be viewed by one side will need to face the scanner, not you.
3. Arrange the jewelry in an eye-pleasing manner. Using props to accessorize is fine, but don't overdo. The focus of the photo should be your jewelry. Consider the background that you want to show on your photo - a scanner bed will generally show as white or very light grey. If your jewelry is very light colored or would benefit from a darker background, experiment with a cloth (or other background) placed between the jewelry and the scanner lid.
4. Carefully close the lid of the scanner. You don't want to move your arranged jewelry, and with some pieces, you might even want to use a small book, CD jewel case or other item to prop the lid up slightly so it doesn't touch the jewelry.
5. Drape a dark colored fabric over the top of the scanner bed. I use an afghan blanket that is heavy and will block out the light. The purpose is to block out all unwanted light that may seep in because the scanner lid is not flush with the scanner bed.
6. Scan your piece. Carefully review the finished scan to check
• does it present your piece neatly and is it still arranged as you'd like it (sometimes things will "adjust" when you close the lid of the scanner),
• are the colors and detail crisp and true,
• would the photo benefit from a different background or prop?
7. If you are satisfied with your scan, save it and complete final touches (crop, rotate, add a "frame", resize, etc.,) using an editor such as PhotoShop. I would discourage you from retouching lighting or coloring, it's usually apparent to anyone with any editing experience.
That's it! Practice makes perfect, and feel free to experiment. Your scanned images will be life size, so you may want to resize if you are posting on the web. In the end, you will have a great image of your piece even if you give away or sell it.
