Photo Study

I like to photograph my jewelry outside in natural light.  I really look for the perfect combination of time of day, shade, angle and so many other things can come into play.  I sometimes try to shield away too much reflected light that may come back from a large painted wall.  I have a large round nylon tent cover of all things, that makes the area where I photograph a bit more mellow with added shade.

  

I like what I call the sweet afternoon light and the photos can look so warm and rich.  At times, I place my items on a brick wall and get a little closer to a row of trees where the afternoon light will shine through.  I then adjust my pieces around so the soft light might hit a stone or brighten up a pearl.

If you look at these two photos, you will see one where the labradorite dangle illuminates and it's as dull as can be in the other photo.  This was due to the angle the photos were taken.  It's a great stone and if I want to sell something, I have to make sure it shows well.  This usually means I take loads of photos and have lots to sort through.  I upload, look through them, pencil down the good ones, note a check mark, one or two stars and note 3, 4, 5 after that.  I usually save my best pics and don't put those out there in cyber-land. 

Stones that can be a bit challenging to photograph are labradorite, moon stone, kyanite and opal.  The good stones have a color flash and you really want to capture that by working the various angles.