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Great photograph of jewelry, glass, silver, beads and other small
items
The secret is in the set up and the
lighting
With gratitude to Gareth Eckley of
Portraits in Stone (
http://www.portraitsinstone.com )
Yes, he does carve those cameos from photographs!
The purpose of almost all photographs is to sell. This is
done by creating photo that provokes
 an
emotional reaction with the viewer. People are used to
seeing many images a day. You need to make the photo of your
creation jump out and make people notice it.
Use drama to make your piece the hero of the picture. When
people view your image you want them to be moved by how your art
creation impacts them.
This effect is created by dramatic lighting. This is
achieved by using direct lights angled to lift the important
parts of the jewel.
However as jewelry is so reflective if you only use direct
lights the camera will give you harsh black reflections.
Polished gold, gemstones and diamonds reflect 100 percent of the
light falling on it back to the eye.
What you need is soft even lighting to model the form to
give the illusion of depth and 3d. This is provided by using
light tents or soft boxes to filter studio lights. This method
will model your jewel very well and may well be all you need for
pearls and burnished gold or
 textured
surfaces.
Pearl necklaces are a special case in that they are best
shot with a single light source from above. This helps to model
their spherical nature. This guide from Table top studio
explains this in more detail.
More dramatic photos that you often see in Magazines or are
submitted to Juried shows will use soft lighting in combination
with directed hard light to create more impact. A drop shadow
booth, with a gradient background is often used for these shots.
Clever use of backgrounds can give you striking black or
silver reflections or even make your jewelry seem to float in
space.
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