Jewellery Photography typically comes under the category of
Advertising Photography. Jewelry brands use photographs for digital as well as
print campaigns to showcase their products. Jewelry shoots are the most
exciting but also one of the most time consuming. As a professional photographer a few very basic points to remember before you start the shoot
are:
- Its important to know if it is a catalog jewelry shoot or branded jewelry photography and therefore a conceptual shoot.
- Keep the product free from dust particles, fingerprints and possibilities of scratches - a tedious task by itself.
- Lighting needs to be thought out carefully as you are dealing with reflective surface objects – so you need to play carefully with the lighting on the object.
- Important know which angle works best to show the best / whole of the product.
Knowing the core attributes of the jewellery pieces you are
shooting will help in conceptualizing the shoot – eg colors of gemstones,
craftsmanship and design. Apart from the angle.lighting plays an important role
here. A common practice is using light
tents to photograph the jewellery items (again works for a catalog jewellery
shoot), but Advertising photographers like Sudhir Ramchandran prefer setting up
their own lighting thereby customizing it to each product they shoot. This way
they can capture the right essence of each jewellery piece and have control on
the quality of the final image being delivered.
For a catalog jewellery shoot you need a white background.
However for a conceptual shoot it is important to choose a background that is
not stronger than the jewellery piece itself. When developing the concept it
helps :
- To delve into the mind of the jewellery designer.
- What does the jewellery personify?
- Is it a daily wear, a celebratory piece or a wedding collection?
- Is the collection inspired by a theme or is a heritage piece of the brand?
Answers to the above will help visualize the shoot and shows
that you are a professional jewellery photographer really interested in helping
the brand communicate its core attributes. What you infuse now into the
photograph is your style based on the above understanding and voila soon you
will be a celebrated conceptual jewellery photographer!
