when you come to see the fi nal result, potentially ruining a beautiful shot of a very beautiful piece. So a tripod is an absolute must to hold the camera steady. They’re not at all expensive and will give you that impressive air of professionalism too! You can also avoid camera shake by adjusting your camera to timer mode if you have this feature.


Finally, set your camera to its macro setting (normally shown as a ‘tulip’ icon) and don’t zoom in too close. This will reduce the depth of fi eld so only part of the piece will be in focus. Allow for plenty of space around the piece as you can always crop it later.


The fi nishing touches. So you’ve got the shot? Great. But there’s a lot more to do before you’ve arrived at the fi nished article. Of course you should achieve the best shot you possibly can ‘in camera’ as the professionals say but there’s still a lot more you can do to enhance the shot through what’s known as ‘post production’.


There are a lot of diff erent photo editing programmes available with diff erent levels of complexity but Photoshop (professional editing software) and Windows photo gallery (basic editing software) are two of the most common. Look on the Internet for free trial versions before you buy.


Crop – This is very important as an exciting composition will help attract customers. Your piece should occupy about 75% of the frame to achieve the maximum impact.


Contrast – Increasing the contrast in your photograph can help to bring your design off the page. Be careful not to increase the contrast too much as this will change the depth of colour which could prove misleading.


Colour balance – Your photographs need to give an accurate representation of the colours in your jewellery. Make sure colours are not too warm (red/orange) or too cool (blue/green).


Sharpen – This can help make your photograph more dramatic.


Brightness/Exposure – If you have taken your photograph against a white background your piece may look a little dark. Altering brightness or exposure levels can help to brighten the subject against the background.


Whiten the background – This can help to lift the piece off the page and get rid of any distracting marks.


Thank you to our Facebook followers for submitting these beautiful pieces.


cooksongold.com 15


Make sure you thoroughly clean each piece before you start shooting.


Top tips


Select a background to complement


your piece rather than distract the eye. Keep things simple.


Don’t use a white background when photographing silver, white gold and platinum jewellery. It will disappear!


Inspire yourself by looking at


great jewellery images and the work of top photographers.


Get your lighting just right. Always use a tripod. Don’t rush things.


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