Say Cheese! Three Easy Tips for Taking Good Jewelry Photos

It feels as if I've been taking photos of my creations forever. Like 35mm film forever. Candie Cooper here and yes, I've gone from film, to digital, to my phone for capturing jewelry photos.  Whether you're selling your jewelry online or simply posting photos to social media, I've got a few tips to share on touching up your jewelry photo game. They're easy too! When the planets are in alignment, my favorite way to shoot photos for my blog is with my friend Nic.  This is for a couple reasons; one, we have a blast chatting while we work (we went to high school together) and two, she gets it done.  And I mean DONE.  Her work is gorgeous. But let's say you're rolling solo. Here are a few tips for how I take my jewelry photos so you don't have to spend a ton on photo equipment to get good results. Believe it or not, some of my best photos are taken outside, but not on just any ol' day.  The key is to take the pictures when the sky is overcast.  The clouds act as a huge white tent which diffuses the light so you don't get tons of glare or hot spots on metal and glass. Did you see the last blog post? We made handmade wire hoop earrings.  Here's a behind the scenes snippet.  Meet one of the best assistants ever, Bebe.  Bebe always has to be where the action is.  She's a good girl. A little editing and my jewelry photo is ready to go!  I'll show you what program I often use to edit in a minute. Tip number two!  Let's say you've got blue skies for miles and the sun is bright or it's raining outside....  You can shoot by a window to capture that beautiful natural light.  For an extra bump of brightness, pick up a piece of white foam core (I like the Elmer's brand science fair ones because they are folded and stand on their own).  This white board bounces the light back and down on the subject to make your piece just a little brighter.   Tip three!  PicMonkey is your new BFF.  It's easy to use and has a free and paid version.  I'm a big fan of the monkey because you can add text, watermark photos and edit them to make them brighter, have cool effects, and and and..... You can literally get lost on this website for hours doodling up photos.  Ask Sarah or me....we've done that...a time or thousand. This photo is a good example of what you can do in PicMonkey:  add logos, arrows, and a cool filter.  If you're selling your jewelry or posting it on your website and facebook, it never hurts to have your logo or name married to the jewelry photo.  Things get shared over and over (which is awesome)!  Why not put your John Hancock on it? The last thing I'll mention is photography is just like anything else:  the more you do it, the better you get.  Practice really does make perfect.  Play.  Don't expect amazing results the first 100 times and I think by the time you get to photo 101, you'll be pretty proud of yourself. And please keep us posted on your progress or let us know your fave tips for taking pictures.  We love to hear them!