When I started designing jewellery little did I know that “making” it was the tip of the iceberg. Amongst the myriad of skills I have had to learn, how to photograph my work has been one of the hardest.
In the pre-digital age I was firmly in the point and click camp, those were the days when you went away for a week and took a 36 exposure film with you to last for the whole holiday!
I have a cannon DSLR camera acquired when I was painting animal portraits and thankfully this proved perfect for my jewellery. I started off photographing on the kitchen table in the sunlight that streamed through the windows but quickly realised that with the English weather this drastically reduced my chances of getting decent photos, so I bought a cheap light tent from Amazon that came with a couple of lights.
F stops, Iso, white balance! Through trial and error I have tried to conquer these and although I still don’t actually understand them fully, I have learnt how to set my camera to get the results that I need. The recent addition of two better lights has been a big help as has learning how to “tweak” things in Photoshop.
Choice of background was another challenge, matt, shiny, black, white? The jury is still out on whether I prefer black or white but as you know I like “shiny” things so the shiny background won hands down!
I have just embarked upon the mammoth task of tidying up and revamping all my pictures and once done, will update the gallery on this website so keep watching.
I hope can spot the before and after shot, and that you enjoy looking at my photos and can appreciate the time that has gone into them.