Checklist for a Jewelry Photoshoot

There are multiple ways to shoot jewelry, but there are a few essentials that can mean the difference between a good and bad photo. The 4 main things that I need to complete an image are:

 

 

Good jewelry photography needs sharp, crisp focus. Macro focus will work but I prefer to use manual focus to control what part of the item to focus on. Auto-focus will not cut it when doing close up photography.

 

 

 

 

A homemade or store bought lightbox, it doesn’t matter. Good lighting is important and buying or creating a lightbox will pay off. There are certainly ways to take jewelry photos without a lightbox, but you cannot rely solely on the camera’s flash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A piece of gloss black acrylic makes a great surface to place the jewelry on. It will create a mirror image, adding depth to the jewelry and giving it a classier look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photoshop and Lightroom are helpful for cleaning up any unwanted dust or blemishes on the jewelry. Lightroom is a powerful digital developing tool that almost feels like cheating because it’s so easy to use.