How to Photograph Beaded Jewelry

Whether you are creating a piece to sell or to give to a friend, photographing your artwork should become an integral part of your jewelry making process. Recording the pieces you make is a wise way to protect your rites as an artist. It's also a great way to show off to your beading and jewelry making friends. Writing down the directions is a great help for your memory, but including photos of your design makes it easier to visualize what you have created while recording your ideas. Here are some tips on how to create the best photograph.

Things You'll Need

• Desk lamp with "daylight" bulb - or sunlight
• Simple background
• Cardboard box
• White tissue paper
• Exacto blade
• Macro lens for closeup photography

Instructions

1. 

   Create a simple setting. Depending on the look of your piece, design the setting as simply as possible. For example, if your piece has a lot of turquoise, think about a piece of clay tile. Black onyx and pearls, a piece of dark red velvet. You want the setting to reflect the feeling in the piece you have created and show it off in the best possible way. Take a look at jewelry or beadwork magazines for inspiration. Most of the pictures taken are on plain white or black backgrounds.

2. 

   Turn off the flash on your camera. While flash photography is great for taking those stop action photos or filling in a dark picture with a little light, it is not a good thing for jewelry and beadwork. Using a flash to photograph your pieces will tend to make a "hot-spot" on your photography exactly where the flash hit. It will cause reflections, excess shadows and in some cases, even distort the color of the material you used.The best source of light is sunlight. Find a table near a sunny window. Hang a sheer white curtain over the window to soften the light's effects and set your scene up there. The difference can be startling.

3. 

   Purchase daylight-balanced light bulbs. Placing the daylight or full spectrum light bulbs into a desk lamp can give you the effect you would have using sunshine, however you may have the "super-hot" light effect that you get with a flash unit. To avoid this effect, place your piece in a light box. Easy to make yourself, they provide a soft, all-around light source that will help you eliminate shadows while still giving you the perfect coloring.To make your own lightbox simply, get a cardboard box and seal the bottom with tape. Spray paint the inside of the box with white, high gloss paint. Once dry, cut large rectancular holes in 3 sides of the box, allowing about 1 inch of cardboard on each side. Tape white tissue paper over the holes. Place 1 or 2 desk lamps with daylight bulbs on 2 sides of the box with the light pointing into the box through the tissue. Set your scene inside and shoot. Experiment with the play of shadows until you have the exact picture you wish.

4. 

   Use a macro or close-up lense for sharp pictures. Another vital part of taking jewelry photographs is detail. It's so important, I'll say it again..... DETAIL is key! You want to make sure your pictures are sharp and in focus, as well as close enough to fill the frame of the shot. Get as close to your jewelry as you can with your camera. Use a tri-pod if possible to keep the camera steady, or place it on a hard surface and use the automatic timer to give you a steady image. A blurry, out-of-focus shot will not do you any good. Take a number of pictures to guarantee you have the one you want before moving to a different set up and a different piece.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment with angles. Don't take "flat," straight shot photos