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Taking Good Product Photos
Introduction
I have recently joined this forum, in the hope that I can offer some much needed guidance and pointers to aspiring jewellery photographers. So many of us have websites, online shops and social media profiles, and photography is the essential medium for showing our work. I have spent around 10 years learning jewellery photography, most of which is self taught and the result of continued experimentation and improvement.
I'll gladly offer whatever help I can to anyone who wants to improve their photography to make their jewellery look as good as possible.
Working daily on jewellery photos for our website, I get the chance to experiment for best results. And for anyone disappointed with their current results, take a look at an example of my photography when I started, and how much it has improved with persistence over the years.
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Holding Wax and Reflections
Hi Sam,
The dental wax sounds like good advice. The holding wax is hard to get hold of but since I ordered a few blocks of this, I think they'll last me a very long time. I use the tiniest amount so that it does not overlap the shank of rings. If the wax overspills on the far side of the shank, this is easier to edit out using Photoshop. I'd be happy to add an example or two sometime.
I find product photographs with some natural reflection and shadow best. Shadow and reflection can be isolated as a layer in Photoshop and minimised. Alternatively you can burn the shadow more in the same application for a darker effect. For white background I use bright white satin photo paper. This is easily sourced in high street shops like W.H.Smith. You get minimum reflection and a little shadow.
This is a photograph of my setup. Large lamps for maximum light over an open surface give me elbow room. Light-boxes are a little restrictive and caused much frustration in the early days.
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