A ring, a smartphone, a window with beautiful light. How hard can that be? Anyone who tried it once knows the result: the gold looks pale or orange, the silver reflects the whole room, and the stone, which sparkles in really so beautiful, looks flat on the photo.
If you are planning the recordings for your assortment, you will find the process and the services at jewellery photography in Berlin.
Jewellery is one of the most demanding motifs in product photography. Here you will find out why this is so and what matters with really good jewellery photos. Do you want to have your pieces photographed professionally? My Jewellery photography for online shops and brands includes product images on white background, on-model photos and lifestyle images.
1. Jewellery is tiny and every detail counts
An ear stud is often only a few millimetres in size, but it is shown full of screens in the online shop. For this, close-ups are needed, where every detail becomes visible: engravings, frames, surfaces.
The problem: the closer you take photos, the smaller the area that is sharp. Often only part of the piece of jewellery is sharp, the rest blurs. In order to capture a piece from the front to the back sharply, you need the appropriate technique, for example several shots with different sharpness levels, which are assembled into a picture.
2. Metal is a mirror
Polished gold and silver reflect everything around them: the camera, the photographer, the ceiling of the room, the window. In a photo, this quickly looks restless and unclean.
The solution lies in the light. The studio controls exactly what is reflected in the metal, for example soft, uniform light surfaces, which give the metal a clean shine. Dark edges and bright surfaces are deliberately set so that the shape and curvature of a ring become visible.
3. Gold is not just yellow
Yellow gold, rose gold, white gold, gold plated silver: each material has its own colour. On photos, gold quickly becomes too yellow, too orange or too pale. For customers, this is a real problem: if the piece looks different at home than in the shop, the risk of a return increases.
Good jewellery photos show the colour as it really is. To do this, you need controlled light, a clean colour tuning and a processing that does not distort the colour.
4. Silver quickly turns grey
Silver and white gold have the opposite problem: they often look grey, matt or dirty on photos. In order for silver to look bright and noble, the light must be set so that the surface radiates without being overexposed.
5. Gemstones Need the Right Light to Sparkle
The sparkle of a stone is created by light that is broken and thrown back in the stone. In soft, flat light, stones often appear flat and dark. At the same time, the light must not distort the colour of a sapphire, emerald or ruby.
Each stone reacts differently to light. Therefore, it takes time, experience and often several attempts until brilliance and colour are right.
6. Every grain of dust becomes visible
What is not noticeable with the naked eye is huge in the close-up: dust, fingerprints, fine scratches, lint. Therefore, jewellery is thoroughly cleaned before photographing and touched with gloves. What remains visible is removed in the processing, so that the piece looks clean but still real.
7. An entire collection must look the same
A single beautiful picture is one. But an online shop needs dozens or hundreds of images that all seem the same: the same light, the same angle, the same image section, the same colour. This is the only way to create a calm, high-quality overall impression. This requires a clear planning and a firm setup in the studio.
Why a smartphone photo is not enough
Modern smartphones take great photos; but they are built for landscapes, people and everyday moments. They reach limits when it comes to jewellery: automatic editing distorts colours, smoothes details away and cannot control reflections. For social media stories, that can't be enough, usually not for the online shop.
Natural editing
With all the technology, your jewellery should look like it really is on the photo. That's why all the pictures are created at HB Photography and are naturally processed. This way, your customers get exactly what they have seen on the picture.
Conclusion
Jewellery photography is precision work: small motifs, reflective surfaces, delicate colours and stones that only sparkle in the right light. If your pictures are to show how much craftsmanship is in your jewellery, a specialized studio is worth it. Portfolio or ask your project.
For the image planning of individual types of jewellery you will find further information on Rings, Earrings and hoops.