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5 common mistakes in jewelry retouching

admin August 5,2017

After designing a jewelry website, you can not ignore the product photography. This is not a simple step. Many photographers find difficult with some products which have small size or details, light reflection. Here are 10 common mistakes and solutions when taking pictures of jewelry for your website.

Not well prepared

Preparation is obvious when shooting any product, not just jewelry photography. You need to make sure the jewelry is clean and shiny before you shoot, clean your jewelry every time you touch it because the fingerprints on your jewelry surface would make the product blurred. When you look by the naked eye, the dirt will not visible, but when the product is taken with a camera, especially high-resolution DSLRs, the details will appear clear, making your photos not be aesthetic. So, to save time, you should wear gloves while holding the product

Jewelry image is inconsistent

Consistency is the key in product photography. Any small change in every product photo makes your website become subtle. So, try to prepare the camera, lighting, background and product position so that even though shooting on different days, your photos do not change significantly.

Glitzy background

Some inexperienced retailers looking at images of white-background products will think “it’s boring”. They try to highlight the background of products with many colors, logos or animated images. But that was a mistake.

That is why large e-commerce sites in the world such as Amazon, eBay, Rakuten and many other professional websites use product images with white background or neutral background. A white or light gray background will help your customer focus on your product. The black background is also quite popular, but if you intend to sell products on the exchange or internet market, it will be a little difficult.

White backdrop is not only easy to do but also saves you money. You can use white paper, better create a wooden box painted white, even, you can completely take pictures of white products on a white background

Use the wrong props

This is similar to the use of glitzy background as we said above. Many people think that your jewelry will look more beautiful when it’s elaborately thoroughly, or you want to show the item as vividly as possible by using a dummy.

You can see, most props pull the viewer’s attention out of your product. Here it is necessary to distinguish between product photography and fashion photography. Props are only appropriate when you take fashion photos. These photos were taken for the purpose of branding and posting in magazines, banner ads, website or email … rather than product shots.

You should minimize the use of props if not necessary. If you have to use the props, you should choose simple and same color with the background to easily remove in the post-production. One thing that you always have to remember is that you are taking pictures of jewelry and jewelry only. Do not make customers distracted by anything other than the product.

Reflection

If your product is shiny it means that it has good contrast. There are many inexperienced photographers who make a very unfortunate mistake. They let the shadow of the surrounding environment into the picture like the shadow of the photographer or lens.

You can see in the two pictures above, the picture on the left is printed by the surrounding environment, causing the product image does not show true colors. The picture on the right, on the other hand, is not affected and the picture looks perfect. Stone and metal surfaces are a real challenge for jewelry photography. However, nothing is impossible if you follow the instructions below.

Place your product on a firm surface such as on a board or a shelf, then use two flashlights illuminated two sides down. You can diffuse the light with umbrellas or white cloth. Then, stick a blank white sheet at the back and bottom of the product, folding the paper inside. This will help block reflections from the surroundings and reflect more light back into the product.

Place the camera on the tripod and slightly downward to take a photo of the product. Side lamps with the same direction of the camera will prevent the bad reflections.

The above are 5 common mistakes when taking pictures of jewelry products as well as instructions on how to overcome those errors.