Jewelry Display Ideas » Displaying Jewelry for Photos

Using Live Models for Your Jewelry Display Photos

Rena Klingenberg — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:42:20 +0000

Learn how Alyson Garvey of Alyson Garvey Jewelry Designs displays her jewelry on her friends:

Hand-hammered hoop necklace
by Alyson Garvey,
modeled by one of her friends
(photo by Judith Black).

Alyson shares how having friends model her jewelry works for advertising her business as well as for getting beautiful jewelry photos, in her article Getting Your Friends to Model Your Jewelry. (Includes photos of Alyson's jewelry with and without her models.)

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful jewelry photos and great tips, Alyson!

Cheap Jewelry Display Ideas

Rena Klingenberg — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:57:26 +0000

Often you can pull together a beautiful, unique, cheap jewelry display from simple odds and ends.

Reminiscent of Guinivere, Galadriel, and other legendary ladies of long ago, this jewelry display would be wonderful for an art show, a gallery window, or a photography session.

Can you tell what this ethereal setting is made from?

Look closely and you'll see an ordinary styrofoam wig stand; a bit of fine, sheer fabric; and a piece of cheap netting – under dreamy blue lighting.

It's incredibly simple – and incredibly cheap! – but also very beautiful and moving.

Cheap jewelry display ideas are all around us!

Some of the best finds come from garage sales, thrift shops, and your own closets.

Tips and Props for Photographing Fused Glass Jewelry

Rena Klingenberg — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:24:01 +0000

Sheryl Lambert of Quotentials shares her fused glass jewelry displayed beautifully in three photos – and her tips for achieving your own great jewelry photos using similar props:

Fused glass pendant by Sheryl Lambert
"Photographs for web pages are often put in thumbnail size, and must be eye-catching at that tiny size.

When photographing fused glass jewelry for websites, use a background that is interesting without being distracting.

Fused glass pendant by Sheryl Lambert

Fill plastic containers with textural items, such as rice or beans.

Place your jewelry piece and a decorative item in the beans or rice, and photograph them using the macro setting and natural light.

A small table-top tripod comes in handy here.

Keep a selection of decorative items, such as silk flowers or seashells, that would enhance the color of the piece you are photographing.

Fused glass pendant by Sheryl Lambert

The resulting pictures are eye-catching without taking away from the beauty of your handcrafted jewelry."

Very beautifully displayed and photographed, Sheryl! Thank you for sharing your tips for photographing fused glass jewelry.

Jewelry Display Photography

Rena Klingenberg — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:56:32 +0000

Here are some jewelry display photography and editing tips from Michelle Wade of Creativity Bead Jewellery.

Michelle says:

"I have spent hours getting the right results with my jewellery photography as I'm sure you all have done too! I have found the best results come from a combination of digital photography and scanning.

Necklace and Photo by Michelle Wade

To photograph jewellery I use a light tent/box (which I made from balsa wood and light weight white parka nylon material stapled on sides and top). Sized at around 400mm sq works best.

For lighting I bought 2 desk spotlights and fitted them with daylight bulbs, available from a lighting retailer for around $3 ea.

Position the item in the centre of the tent and position the spotlights hard up against left and right sides of the tent.

Mount your camera on a tripod, available for around $80 on eBay, or your local appliance shop, and set your camera exposure to 1.5 – 2.0. Daylight setting is best if you have that option.

For necklaces that need structure, I recommend using a white jewellery neck (bought for about $15 on eBay).

Necklace and Photo by Michelle Wade

Photograph your item, save to disc and edit it in any photo edit programme – Corel Photopaint works best and can be picked up relatively cheaply for earlier versions of the software.

Use your photo editor's brightness, contrast, intensity functions to wash out your background, adjust lightness and darkness, your eraser tool to remove any unwanted lines or shadows, and your replace colour tool if your colours come out inaccurately.

Scanning seems to work best with copper materials, light silver beads, crystal beads and lighter pinks and blues, as you get a better representation of light reflection without that horrible glare effect.

To scan jewellery, lay flat on your scanner, face down, with a white piece of card between the jewellery and the top of the scanner for light blockout and a neutral background.

Necklace and Photo by Michelle Wade

Scan your item, save and repeat the steps for photo editing as above. You can pick up a good scanner second hand for around $60.

Save your files and upload to your website… and watch your conversion rate climb!

Having really nice photos is the difference between sales and no sales as we all find pretty things irresistable!

These tips worked really well for me and saved me a fortune in jewellery photography charges!

Happy snapping!"

Thanks for the tips and photos, Michelle!

See Photographing Jewelry for more tips and techniques for getting good photos of your work.

Ring Display Idea Using Flowers

Rena Klingenberg — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:24:22 +0000

A lovely spring or Valentine ring display idea is to set the ring inside a flower:

You can use real or silk flowers, arranged in a vase or other interesting container.

Flowers are always eye-catching, and this can be a really effective way to showcase one special ring that draws attention to the rest of your ring display.

This can also be a wonderful way to pose your jewelry when you photograph it for your website or marketing literature.

Necklace Display in a Curio Cabinet

Rena Klingenberg — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:13:47 +0000

Here's a lovely and unusual necklace display idea from Donna Philcox of Kyoli Kreations:

I bought a wooden curio cabinet (no doors) that had 12 open spaces.

I cut a strip of cardboard the width and height of the space, and covered it with white felt.

I glued it to the sides, allowing some small space at the top to arrange the necklaces.

I also cut little "V"s on each side of the felt, allowing for the drape of the necklace chains.

I am able to hang 12 different necklaces in this little curio cabinet.

I place the entire cabinet in two large trash bags to transport it back and forth.

It works great, and I've received many compliments on its appearance!

Originally posted by Donna Philcox in Rena's Jewelry Business Blog. Thank you so much for sharing this Donna, and thanks for the lovely photo!

Caterpillar Bracelet Display

Rena Klingenberg — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:35:06 +0000

MaryLou of Time2Cre8 enjoys coming up with new ways to display jewelry. She says,

I like displaying my jewelry creations in unique ways, especially when the viewers don't have the ability to see the items firsthand.

One of my favorite displays was of a 'caterpillar bracelet' I made as a special order for a customer, photographed as it rested next to a dandelion:

I also displayed two of them lying together on a leafy shrub:

They are caterpillars, after all! Weeds can be pretty, too!