Photography solutions for jewelry content creation

Jewelry product photography can vary greatly in price. Here is a list of factors to help understand what influences the price of jewelry product shots:

• the number of products - mass orders will automatically be cheaper
• the difficulty of photographing the products - shiny, semi-transparent and glossy products will require more expertise and cost more
• the size and reputation of the photo studio -  prices vary between freelancers, agencies and in-house studios
• the expected realization time - the faster you need it, the more expensive the service gets.
• color manipulation, background removal and retouch - this means additional post-processing and higher costs.
• preparing the files for print - this will increase the cost as it is an additional service, 

Our ultimate guide about 360-degree photography on the blog will also help you understand prices. You will learn that introducing automation can reduce the costs of product photography, especially for high volumes of products with an expectation of shot repeatability. 
We also created a calculator to help you work out the potential savings that photography automation can bring - try it here.
For more information, contact our sales team via the form, and they will explain all the potential costs.

Using the lighting creatively and precisely is key to making the jewelry in your pictures sparkle. Strong contrast lighting in general and spot lighting for jewels should do the job. All these solutions are available with the Alphashot Micro Pro v2, a device from Orbitvu designed for jewelry photography.

To avoid reflections, you can use soft diffused light. The effect will be more visible when you apply it from a slightly larger distance.

To make jewelry product photography that converts, you will need good equipment, i.e., a lens with a good magnification ratio. Prepare the product thoroughly for the shoot to avoid any scratches and specks of dust. The environment you shoot in is also extremely important - make sure no other objects reflect in the ring. Closed constructions, such as light tents or Orbitvu’s Alphashot Micro Pro v2 device, will be the right solution here. Read more about ring and jewelry photography, including the proper choice of lens, in our dedicated article on the blog.

Watches are quite demanding for a product photographer. Prepare the product, removing all fingerprints and dust from the surface. Furthermore, the lighting should not reflect off the face of the watch. If you use the technique of focus stacking, stop the second hand of the watch (or remove it in the smartwatch options panel) to keep all the photos visually consistent. 

The decision of which camera to choose for jewelry photography is certainly a difficult one and requires wide-ranging market research. As a basic requirement, you can use the high resolution of the sensor to produce very detailed shots of small jewelry pieces. In mirrorless cameras, the high number of autofocus fields is a big bonus, especially as jewelry photography may require precise focusing and focus stacking. Orbitvu’s device for jewelry photography, Alphashot Micro Pro v2, is compatible with Canon and Sony cameras. Look at the compatibility sheet to learn the exact models and requirements.

While editing jewelry pictures, it is important to keep in mind several requirements as to content and technique. First, make sure your image is faithful to reality, i.e., does it still look natural? Then, consider the sharpness of the photo and apply the right filters to adjust it. Next, things will revolve around color saturation and contrast level, which can be easily fixed in post-processing. The final task is to remove any scratches from the surface of the jewelry piece. All these stages are outlined in more detail in our blog article full of tips on “how to photograph jewelry”.

Orbitvu devices and software go a long way in editing jewelry photos. We have created automated tools for background removal, polishing glossy surfaces, and color control—all done in a few clicks.
 

We’ve got good news for you - you don’t need to create a photo lightbox when you’re using Orbitvu devices. They offer all the benefits of a DIY or branded lightbox, while adding huge lighting versatility and dedicated software to remove backgrounds and control the device.