Photographing Jewelry 101

So now that I found the method and tools that worked for me I am going to share it with you. Here it is:

All you need is a Camera, Lighting, Tripod and a Photo Editing Software

I have the Canon PowerShot SD1200IS camera to take pictures for my catalog and my jewelry making tutorial section. This camera has worked wonders for me as it comes with 10 megapixels, macro mode (setting that allows a camera to focus on objects which are very close), and white balance (adjusts the camera to compensate for the type of light). These are the basic features that you should look for when buying any camera.

Because great lighting is essential when photographing jewelry I stopped using the flash of my camera and always use a portable studio photo center that helps me get my lighting just right Digital Concepts Ps-101 Portable Lighting Studio. It also come with another essential: a Tripod - to hold the camera steady.

The final tool that you will need is a photo editing software to recompose photos to any size-without distortion, apply effects and edit color, contrast and lighting. The software I use is Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (about $80.00) but there are also free editing software online that will help you with basic editing:

• Picasa
• Gimp
• Picnik
• Photoscape

Once you play around with your macro mode from your camera, lighting and your editing software you can be sure that you will have beautiful and professional looking jewelry photos to showcase online or on your catalog.

Related Tutorials:

• Photoshop Elements: Adjusting Lighting Tutorial
• How to Take Pictures in Macro Mode

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