Experimenting with new jewellery photography setup

I was sad to get to the end of the exhibition at The Forge gallery on Leather Lane yesterday, but at the same time I’ve been itching to get round to photographing all my new pieces that were on show.

I’m always trying to improve the quality of my product photos, both lifestyle and white background ones. I’ve even considered employing a photographer, but I can’t seem to find the right fit. I don’t want photography that is so retouched that it almost looks like a CAD render. On the other hand, I want to show my work in the best light, rather than putting out homespun, low quality images. The trouble is that it’s very hard for me to be objective about what looks good and what doesn’t. I’m just too close to the subject.

Thankfully, technology is getting better all the time, both in terms of cameras (I prefer to use my iPhone and upgraded to the latest model in a bid to getting higher resolution, sharper images) and image editing software, but also in terms of lighting. I have, over the years, invested in lighting that has disappointed and frustrated me. In the end I have had to rely on natural daylight, but in the UK daylight is not reliable. Also, the colour of the light is very yellow in winter on bright days (even though white balance can be corrected afterwards). So after much procrastination I invested in a new light which is specifically recommended for jewellery. I’m still working my way around it and did some experimenting today. It has a dial so you can adjust the brightness and it is also adjustable in height and angle which is extremely handy. I was worried that this would be another disappointing purchase, but I think I might have finally struck gold. I used my old white fabric photography tent which used to be too big in the past and never worked with natural light, filtering out too much of it. I would really appreciate your opinion on this photo. Does the colour and brightness look right? Anything that looks off? Let me know what you think!

Some behind the scenes photos:

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