Jewellery Photography’s Common Issues & How to Fix Them

One of the trickiest products to photograph in the world of eCommerce photography is Jewellery. The combination of reflections, intricate details and problematic stones can make it a challenge for even the most experienced of photographers. This blog will elaborate on some tips for your next photoshoot.

Fingerprints and Debris on Jewellery Photography

High-quality photography picks up every little detail. You can catch even dust specs invisible to the naked eye through cameras.

A recommended way to avoid issues with fingerprints and debris is to wear gloves when handling pieces and polish them well before taking photos of them. However, this will not completely fix the fingerprint and debris problem all the time. As a result, you will need to perform post-production editing to remove any issues

Camera reflections On jewellery 

It can be a challenge to avoid reflections when photographing jewellery pieces due to how reflective stones and metals can be. Many different issues can cause reflections to happen. For example, your camera can pick up reflections in jewellery because of harsh lighting or objects behind the camera, like the camera or surroundings.

Experimentation is necessary when removing reflections. Examples of experimenting include adjusting the angle of using cards to block areas behind the camera. Also, if harsh lighting is your problem, you might want to look into purchasing a lightbox to soften your lighting.

Difficult stones 

Some stones can be problematic in how the jewellery catches the light when photographed. It can be complicated with iridescent stones such as opal or labradorite. Taking photos of the jewellery will often wash out the stones. Often removing the prismatic quality jewellery has.

Another issue is transparent stones such as sapphires and emeralds. Harsh lighting can wash and dull the stone’s beautiful colours. To avoid lighting issues with jewellery, use two separate photos of the stone and the metal part. After taking the separate photos, combine them during the editing process. Although combining the images can be time-consuming, you will produce the best results for your jewellery photography.

Jewellery Positioning

Positioning is everything when getting the best Jewellery photography. It is best to ensure that your photos are consistent. Especially if you sell many variations of the same product. It would be best to stick with an angle or position with all of your images. 

Necklaces can often be challenging to photograph because the v of the chain that holds the pendant can be too broad or un-even. As a result, this can make your jewellery photography appear slanted and unprofessional to viewers. To fix this, you should check your photos as you take them carefully to ensure that the shape of the jewellery’s chain is consistent throughout the photoshoot.

Another issue with jewellery positioning is with rings. When photographing rings, you will often want to photograph them upright to ensure that viewers can see every fine detail. However, holding rings upright can be tricky because anything used to prop the ring up will need editing out of the shot to keep the image looking professional. 

It would help if you used somethin as invisible as possible to fix this issue. We recommend using beeswax or blue-tac to hold your ring pieces up due to their small size. 

Another method is photographing the ring piece at different angles. You can then adjust the ring using photoshop to appear upright once you add a white background.

Summary

Overall, jewellery photography can be challenging for less experienced photographers. Therefore, evaluating your options is always best though you may even need to weigh up the time required and the costs of purchasing equipment, too.

Need some inspiration for the rest of your jewellery product listing?

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