How To Photograph Your Jewelry With Your Phone Like a Pro?
Sometimes the simplest task like taking a picture with your phone can be the hardest when you want it done right. We all have phones and daily we take dozens of pictures, so what could go wrong, right? Well, when styling and shooting an object, you want to portray it in the most flattering way so that people see it for what it is. This way, the object, in your case the jewelry, will be attractive for people to make a purchase.
This is why the process of taking photos of handcrafted isn’t simple and takes a lot of patience and practice.
To ease up the process and speed up your learning curve in this article we’ll discuss tips that you can use when taking pictures of your jewelry with your phone. Pictures that will make people buy and come back for more.
How to Take Pictures of Your Jewelry With a Phone?
If you are at the beginning of your jewelry-crafting business, investing in a good DSLR camera can be an issue. We understand that you’d rather use that money to invest in proper tools and materials for your jewelry, so until you can, a phone will do just fine.
One major benefit of mastering phone photography is also the fact that it can be done very quickly and you can post your pictures online in no time.
Tip #1: Natural Light
Making good use of natural light won’t only make your pictures look radiant but will also save you a ton of money because you won’t have to invest in a lightbox or additional lighting.
The setting you need in a soft diffused natural light. Taking pictures in direct sunlight won’t look good.
Set up your jewelry near a window, about a meter away, where you will have just enough natural light but not too much to change the real colors of your jewelry. Just like with our Talia image above.
Don’t do photoshoots in the evening because there isn’t enough natural light to create crisp, unpixelated images.
Tip #2: Flash is OFF
The flashlight on your phone flattens the image and hides the wonderful sparkles and details of your precious jewelry. It creates a one-dimensional shot that limits people from seeing and feeling your jewelry. Trust us, through good photography, you can make people feel what they’re about to buy even before they touch your jewelry. Can’t you just feel our Théa and all its dimensions?
Tip #3: Stability is Key
Investing in a tripod shouldn’t be as expensive and if you want to get serious, then this is the first thing we’d recommend getting. A tripod will stabilize the image but will also help you use the same angle each time so that you are consistent with your pictures and you show your jewelry in a crisp and detailed manner every time. Just like the ring above. When we stabilized our camera, every little sand grain was visible along with all details on our ring.
A tripod will also be handy when you want to make a video of yourself creating the jewelry. This way, you can share a bit of background on your business and show some behind-the-scenes action for your social media followers.
Tip #4: Keep a Good Focus
To focus properly, you need to find a good distance that works best with your phone and the jewelry you’re shooting. This sweet spot will depend on your phone camera and on the type of jewelry you have in front of you. Getting too close will blur the image and prevent the camera from focusing on the details while keeping a big distance will limit the number of details you can show through your pictures.
Just like our picture of the Anatole bracelet above. Here we only styled our model with a beautiful shirt and its sleeve set up the background to showcase the bracelet without diverting the attention from it and we set the right distance to keep a good focus.
Also, never forget to tap the screen right in the middle of your jewelry so that the camera focuses on the right spot.
This takes us to the next tip closely connected to this one…
Tip #5: Zoom is OFF
Felicia necklace with Cassandre mini choker
Zooming reduces the quality of the image. If you want to have a good focus on all the important details of your jewelry, you simply have to find that sweet spot between getting too close and being too distant. Just as it’s shown in the image above. Keep your zoom off, and you do all the moving around your prop and main object instead.
Tip#6: Macro Lens
Some best-selling necklaces from our collection
Get familiar with macro lenses. This is something that we would recommend investing in after a tripod. This is especially helpful for jewelry because the items are usually small, and it can be hard to capture the natural beauty of the stone, colors, or details without getting too close or zooming.
Macro lenses will attach to your phone camera and will provide an optical zoom without losing any sharpness.
Tip #7: Trial and Error
You can’t master a skill like photography without practice. This will include a lot of error but the more you try, the quicker you learn. In a few months, you’ll be amazed at the difference between your old shots and your new ones. The only way to improve is to start.
Tip #8: The Background
When setting up the scene for your shots, always remember that your jewelry is the statement piece on the picture. There shouldn’t be any overly complex items in the background that cast a shadow on the star of the photo.
Get rid of the multiple props and use simple backgrounds such as a cloth or a marble tabletop like our picture of the Achille choker above.
The simple props will add depth to your image but won’t take the centerpiece away.
Once you become more skilled, you can add more details into your pictures without taking away the focus from your jewelry. Just like we did with the Syna earrings above. We added flowers as the background and attached the earrings to them. This somewhat diverts the attention but still sends an artistic message that catches the eye.
Tip #9: Learn to Edit
Once you’ve taken your brilliant photos, you can make them even more brilliant by editing them slightly to improve the brightness, contrast, and overall style. However, this doesn’t have to be anything professional or too complex.
In fact, you don’t even have to get an app to do so. Many phones have an edit function on photos and even an Auto mode where it automatically adjusts the most important aspects of the picture for you in just one touch. If you want to get truly into it, we recommend some photo editing apps like VSCO and Snapseed.
We hope these tips were of real help. If you have any more tips, feel free to connect with us on our Insta and share more.