JEWELRY PHOTOGRAPHY ON
WHITE BACKGROUND?

Q: I would be grateful for some advice.

We need to photograph hundreds of items of jewelry and post them on our web site. We have a good quality light box and are willing to invest in a suitable (reasonably priced) camera for this job alone.

Our local camera shop has allowed us to try out several digital cameras but the results are very poor. Gray background and poor contrast. We found some articles online about adjusting the white balance and attempted to improve matters but only ended up with shades of gray. With a camera and light box of this quality surely the problem is with us? Thanks in advance.

Mike Rosen
Rosen & Michaels Ltd. 

A: You're not going to like this, but I would advise you to find a professional jewelry photographer to do this for you, but ask for some sample shots first. A portrait or fashion photographer may not have the skills to do a good job at this either! Buying an expensive camera does not make someone an expert in jewelry photography, as you are now discovering, and manipulating images of close-up digital photography is not easy either! 

Photographing Diamond, Gold, Sterling, Gemstone, Pearl , Platinum, alone or in any combination for jewelry designers and jewelry catalogs is a meticulous craft, and it requires a great deal of experience.

A 'good light box' is also unlikely to give the lighting you are going to need - a good lighting setup for this sort of work (strobe or tungsten) would cost more than you would want to spend.

But most importantly the experience of a professional jewelry photographer is what you need to invest in so that you get your desired results repeatedly. Quality delivered on demand has a great value!

Avi Roth
Photographer

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