Jewelry Photos
Portfolios, web sites, jury slides, and catalogs are just a few reasons why eventually jewelry makers find it necessary to photograph their work. Unfortunately, for most people, this task can be more daunting than actually making the piece being photographed. Most jewelry is small and detailed, so it’s difficult to do justice to the piece. Also, metals require a lot of light so that gold look like gold and not silver. I’ve had a number of people ask me to explain to them how I put photos of my work on web sites and if I had any "secrets" for photographing my work. I can’t say that I have any great "secrets" to reveal, but I may have some ideas I’ve gathered from personal experience that could help you.
Getting Images onto the Web:
Most people are going to think I’m crazy, but one of the best anniversary gifts I ever got from my husband was a flat bed scanner. Okay, he also got me a gorgeous ruby and diamond ring that year, so that was really the best gift. But, that scanner came in a close second. Flat bed scanners are very reasonably priced today and easy to install. Mine only took me about 20 minutes to install. Many scanners can also be hooked up so you can still run your printer too, which is a real time saver.
Probably the neatest thing about these scanners is that you can either scan in photos of your work, or (if the item isn't huge) you can lay it out on the scanner, close the lid, and scan the piece. Voila! You have an instant scanned image. Then you can save it into a .jpg, .gif, whatever format you like.
Once you scan it and save the image in a format you prefer (I like .jpg), then you can start thinking about adding it to the web. But, first, I recommend using some graphics software (such as LView Pro or Photoshop) to resize your image. Often, you’re limited to the amount of space you have on a web site, plus large graphic files can take a long time to appear on the screen.
After the files have been resized, they are ready to be loaded to the web site. Many organizations such as Tripod or Geocities provided software for this. However, you can also use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software to load graphic files onto an organization’s server.
Taking Photos:
One drawback of the scanner is that though it will create the image needed for a web site, you may also need photos to put in a portfolio or to create slides from. (Many juried shows and galleries require slides of your work). Though I’m sure there’s some high tech ways to do this from a scanned image, for the average person it can be a dilemma. So, sooner or later we all have to pick up the dreaded camera. :(
I know very little about photography and I don’t have any fancy equipment. But, I’ve managed to get some photos made that have turned out fairly well. One way I got this mission accomplished was by having a photo-savy "friend of a friend" do the pictures for me. I paid for the film, and traded her jewelry for her time. She was not a professional, but she knew much more about photography than myself, and had a nice camera and some special lenses.
That was years ago, and I’ve moved and lost touch with that friend. So, I eventually had to try to do the photos myself. However, she did give me a tip that was helpful: light, light, light. She accomplished this by taking a lot of her pictures outside. Since I live in Florida, this is a great way for me to now take my own photos. Plus, the use of tree limbs and leaves make a nice back ground for my work.
Of course, eventually we do have over cast days here. So, I’ve also had to take photos inside. When I’ve done this, I’ve gathered up about two or three lamps and positioned them over the jewelry. Then I’ve stood on top of a chair and took the photos.
I hope I've answered some of the questions you may have had about how to photgraph your work and also get it onto the web. As you can image, I could write a book about this topic. So, if I seemed to have missed something, or if you have any questions, please let me know and if I don't know the answer, I'll try to find some one who does.
All graphics created by Tammy Powley.
