So you’ve created some beautiful pieces of jewelry that you’d like to sell on Etsy or eCrater but you need great photos. The good news is with digital cameras becoming so affordable it’s easy to take great photos of jewelry and other small items.
What You’ll Need
A digital camera with a “macro setting”, this setting lets you easily bring object less than 3 feet away into sharp focus.
A tripod. Since you’ll be taking these photos from close up you don’t need a big fancy tripod, you can find inexpensive tabletop tripods at any store that sells digital cameras.
A light tent. You can buy these but I’ll be telling you how to make one for almost free.
A backdrop. This can be a pretty piece of paper or fabric, just try to keep it simple. A really bright color or bold pattern can distract from your jewelry.
Objects to hang your pieces from. This is most useful for earrings that don’t photograph well lying flat. You can use an earring stand, ribbon, or tulle mesh fabric (my favorite choice).
Lights. It’s a must to have plenty of light when taking your photos. I use a pair of desk lamps with daylight bulbs.
Photo editing software. Often you’ll need to crop, resize, or adjust colors in your photos. I recommend the GIMP, it’s a powerful image editor and completely free.Building a Light Tent – Method 1
This method is for building a light tent for photographing flat items.
Materials
Sturdy cardboard box large enough to fit over your jewelry and not too tall that the tripod can’t position the camera over the top.
Box cutter or other sharp knife for cutting the box.Cut the top and bottom completely off the box. On the four sides cut a window leaving at least a 1 inch border around it. Adhere the fabric or paper to the box across each of the four windows using either glue or tape. Make sure to stretch the paper or fabric tightly across each window so it doesn’t wrinkle. You can now place the light tent directly over your jewelry and shoot a photo looking down at it from the top.
Building a Light Tent – Method 2
This method is for photographing standing or hanging items.
Box cutter or other sharp knife for cutting the box.
Floral or 22 gauge wire (optional)Place your box with the open flaps facing you and in the position you want it standing when you take your photos. Cut windows with 1 inch borders on the top, left, and right sides on the box. Do not cut out the bottom or the back. Adhere the fabric or paper to the box across each of the four windows using either glue or tape. Make sure to stretch the paper or fabric tightly across each window so it doesn’t wrinkle.
If you want the option of hanging your jewelry, now is the time to add hangers. You can poke holes in the sides or back to run ribbon or fabric through and then knot it on the back side. You can also create wire loops to either hang your jewelry directly on or to tie ribbon or fabric to for hanging.
Set up your backdrop inside the box using poster adhesive or double-stick tape and position your tripod in front looking through the flaps You may have to adjust your tripod or set your light tent on top of some books to get it the perfect height.
Taking the Photos
Step 1: Set your camera to take the highest quality photos it is capable of. In my case that is 4 mega-pixels.
Step 2: Set up the light tent, lights, and tripod. The lights should be facing the translucent sides of the light box. Adjust them until they are not casting strong or multiple shadows inside the light tent.
Step 3: Adjust your camera light settings, most cameras let you choose between several light settings such as direct sun, indirect sun, incandescent, various fluorescent lights. Select the one that most close matches the type of lights you are using.
Step 4: Arrange your jewelry on it’s background in the light tent to your liking. Adjust your camera until it’s framing your jewelry fully.
Step 5: Check that you have the Macro setting turned on and flash turned off. Take your photos. If your camera has a time delay setting use it to keep the camera from shaking when you snap the picture.
Step 6: Transfer your photos to your computer for editing.
It’s beyond the scope of this article to go into the details of photo editing so instead here are some useful links to get you started.
