 Being a successful jewelry photographer is all about keeping your subject in focus. The professional jewelry photographer will take time to read the camera manual because every camera is different and getting a crisp, sharp focus takes some technical knowledge which is all laid out in the equipment’s pamphlet.
Taking clean product shots starts with locating the "spot focus" mode of your digital camera. The basic auto focus modes for most digital cameras calculate an average focus mode and won’t provide enough sharpness to the picture to showcase the intricacies of the jewelry being photographed. Digital cameras have a hard time maintaining a sharp image when trying to zero in on the small details because they are designed to take in a wide area and hone the focus for this larger perspective.
Paramount to keeping the focus precise, in addition to setting the camera on spot mode, it is best to utilize a tripod. The tripod will keep the camera steady as opposed to hand held because even the slightest twitch can alter the focus and create blurry images
Lighting is essential to any picture taking venture but especially in jewelry photography. As any good diamond photographer will attest to, soft, diffused light works best. Never use the flash for jewelry photography since the brightness levels are much too high for close shots and the positioning of the flash’s illumination will create discordant and disturbing shadows.
Use continuous lighting with a preference for daylight balanced compact florescent bulbs which allow for even natural-colored radiance while producing only a small amount of heat. Because of fluorescent light tends to give off some harshness using a diffuser like an EZcube light tent will reduce the glare and give control over shadows and light distortions.
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