Taking good pictures of jewelry can be important for your jewelry business‘ website, the Instagram account or for selling pieces on eBay. You might even just want to take aesthetic jewelry pieces or improve your photography skills.
The great thing is, smartphones are so good today, you can take high-quality jewelry pictures without needing an actual camera. Makes everything so much easier.
I will show you today 12 methods and hacks on how to take pictures of jewelry with an iPhone. They are unique, easy to do and really upgrade your jewelry pictures!
Preparations For Taking Pictures Of Jewelry
To make your jewelry shooting as effective as possible, you should think about several aspects before starting directly.
At first, you have to think deeply about what you want your jewelry picture to do. Do you just want a detailed close-up picture of your piece? Or do you want a stylistic picture? Do you use it for Instagram, for selling, or for others? Each function can have different aspects you have to focus on.
This also includes choosing a format for your picture right in the beginning. Instagram pics have different formats than product pages on your website. Of course, you can take several formats during one photo shoot, but be aware of these formats.
Don‘t worry if you have no experience in taking pictures of jewelry. Tripods are a great help for starters but also pros. Putting your phone or camera on a tripod is less stressful since you don’t have to hold your camera the whole time. It’s less likely that your pictures are blurred.
How To Take Pictures Of Jewelry To Sell
First, let‘s look at some basic jewelry pieces. For selling your jewelry pieces on your website or an online marketplace, simple and clean jewelry pictures are a must-have.
And no, you don‘t need a big softbox or an expensive high-quality camera. In this section, I show you how you can take amazing jewelry pictures with simple objects in your home. Not many skills needed!
One Paper Hack
This first hack is great for small jewelry pieces. It‘s really simple, while looking so good in the ending. All you need is a white piece of paper, tape, your jewelry, a table lamp, something to hold the paper, I used a box of peanuts, and your phone. It‘s good if you don‘t have an extra lightning, saying you can do this hack without actual sunlight.
First, lay your paper on a table and secure it with tape on the half piece on the edges to the table, as seen in the picture. Put your jewelry piece on that side and turn on your table lamp so it shines on the paper. Pull up now the paper that hasn‘t been taped on the table, so you build a mini photo box. Put now something behind the folded paper, so it stands well, as seen as in the picture.
Now, play around with the lighting, move your table lamp, adjust you jewelry pieces‘ positions, and just try out what works the best for you.
White T-Shirt
For those of you who don‘t have a big white cardboard or white studio and still want an easy way for a white background, this one is for you. Use a white shirt. Put your shirt on your table or ground, you can put whatever you have under one part to create some dimension, if you want. It‘s super simple and still so helpful.
Hanging Piece
In this method, we only need a white shirt or bed sheet and put it over a chair. Secure now your necklace or bracelet at the top back with a tape. If possible, have the shooting near a window with sun light, change the angles, lighting and jewelry position for an optimal result.
Not sure how to do this photo method? Check out my TikTok for more help.
White Roll
Another great way for taking pictures of necklaces and bracelets is using a white roll. For example, this could be a poster‘s back or an old toilet paper roll, for using a small roll. Wrap your jewelry around the roll for a good representation of the piece. It‘s also a great method for comparing two different necklaces to another.
Stairway
This last method is a creative, but still simple necklace photography hack. With cardboard boxes, old packages, books, or whatever else you find in your home, create steps. Now, your necklace chain can be laid on these stairs and it has a pretty effect for the picture.
How To Take Pictures Of Jewelry For Instagram
In this section, I show you unique and special techniques on how to take pictures of jewelry. These methods are great for aesthetic and cool Instagram or Pinterest photos. Yes, basic and simple jewelry pictures are great, but for selling or showing off unique jewelry pieces, you need unique jewelry pictures.
It works well if you, for example, take pictures of your pieces in a simpler way for showing the product in detail, and then add some aesthetic pictures.
If you want to experience with photography, these techniques give you more room to try out new things.
Water On A Mirror
In this first Instagramable picture method, put some water on a pretty mirror, position your ring on top of it and take some good pictures. This method sounds simple but with the right ring, mirror, angle and lighting, it can look very pretty.
Shadows
Another really hack for unique jewelry pictures is playing with shadows. Trees, flowers, or a detailed glas for example make your jewelry picture pretty shadows on your jewelry piece. With these, the pieces still are in focus but are around cute motives and “accessories” that make your picture more fun.
Colored Background
If you want to spice up your boring white background pieces, use a colorful background. Since it shouldn’t take the focus off the jewelry piece, don’t use too many colors or crazy patterns. It’s also important that your jewelry piece matches the color of the background.
Work With Props
Props are great tools for a special jewelry picture. For choosing the right props and objects, think deeply about what your jewelry should portray, what it should be connected with, what style and vibe it has. What colors and forms match the piece and compliment it? Here are some possible and cute ideas for props:
- Small or big flowers/plants
- bowls/glasses/bottles to put your pieces inside
- aesthetic books/magazines
- scarfs/fabric pieces
- perfumes
- home decoration pieces, vases
- light chains
- own hands for showing the jewelry size in context
Wine Glass
Our last method is really pretty. All you need is a wine glass, your necklace, a good background and your phone. Here, I used the bed sheet over chair – method again but you can stand in front of a white wall perfectly as well.
But then your necklace in the wine glass and let the pendant hang outside. Play here around. Change your hand positions, the lighting and just move around. After some time, I’m sure you have some cute special jewelry pictures.
Not sure how to do this photo method? Check out my TikTok for more help.
How To Take Pictures Of Rings
For creating unique ring pictures, all you need is a piece of fabric, your ring and your phone. The fabric can be black or colorful and in whatever material you want.
For my ring pictures, I used a blue velvet top from H&M.
For your photo shoot, make sure that the fabric‘s colors match well the ring material and design. If your fabric is quite small, try different angles in which it would well.
Scrunching The Fabric
For this first method, pleat your fabric. Scrunch it together and so create creases. Put your ring in one of those creases and try out different angles, ring positions and move the creases they you think it all looks the best.
Not sure how to do this photo method? Check out my TikTok for more help.
Rose Shape
In this pretty hack, you can create a rose shape with your fabric. Touch the fabric in the center and twirl it around in one direction. You can also stop in between and continue again, but keep the same direction. Turn it at least one full time around, to create this rose shape. Then, put your ring in the middle and adjust the fabric so you‘re happy with the result.
Not sure how to do this photo method? Check out my TikTok for more help.
Wrapping In
Another hack for taking ring pictures is to stuck the ring into the fabric. Pull the fabric up to thread your ring into it. Adjust the fabric until you like how it looks, by pulling the fabric and changing the ring‘s position.
Not sure how to do this photo method? Check out my TikTok for more help.
Taking Jewelry Pictures – General Tips & Tricks
- Natural Light: For mostly all jewelry picture methods, lighting is very important. The best lighting to have, without much equipment, is natural sun lighting. Pick a shooting time and day where you have sun light. Go near a window, if possible, for your photography. With natural lighting, your jewelry really shines and the colors look bright.
- Turn Your Phone: During your photography session, you want to get as close as possible to the jewelry piece for a detailed picture. For that turn your phone 180°, your outer camera should be now closer to the ground as earlier. Hold your phone slightly over the ground and take your pictures. Watch my TikTok for some extra help.
- Natural Editing: Of course, the picture per se is very important. But for a perfect jewelry picture, the editing afterwards makes the difference. It’s important to go natural, don’t use to many filters that change the piece’s colors too much. In this TikTok I show you how I edit my jewelry pictures in the iPhone editing option.
- Take Your Time: Lastly, I want to remind you that the perfect jewelry pictures take some time. To find the best angles, positions, fabrics and lighting options, some time may pass, as well as your patience. But stick to it! Practice makes perfect, it’s true. Try out a lot of things and be creative.
