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10 Top Secrets to Creating Incredible Photographs of Jewelry for Your Online Auctions With Guaranteed Higher Sales and Profit Results

My name is Candy and I have been a buyer and seller of antique and vintage costume and fine jewelry on eBay for 12 years and more recently on Vintagel Gems Emporium the Premier and Exclusive Auction Boutique for Antique, Vintage and New Costume and Fine Jewelry at www.VintageGemsEmporium.com. Over the years I have discovered the ten essential secrets to getting fabulous photos for online jewelry auctions.

I took photography for three semesters in college as it was required for my degree in interior architecture, The camera I used was a Nikon 35mm and TriX black and white film. As part of the photography course work, composition, focus, contrast, and more were stressed to creating the perfect architectural photograph. Now I am by no means a professional photographer but I have discovered the secrets to getting better than average, attractive and attention-getting photos of jewelry so that the buyer will take a second look.

Of course now the 35mm is primarily used solely by the true artists and the digital camera has taken over. I currently own three Sony Mavica CD1000 cameras... why three you ask, well I love the camera so much I bought three so I would always have one that works. When I am up to full speed in listing auctions I am taking close to 1000 frames a week, so as you can see my cameras get a work out. The Sony Mavica CD1000 is no longer available but is unique in that instead of having a memory disc it actually records the images inside the camera on CD-R disc, which can be easily snapped into an adaptor and popped into the drive and the images are ready to be enhanced and turned into jpegs to be uploaded onto the auction site.

The program I prefer to use to touch up my images is Microsoft Picture It!! as it is very user friendly and has all of the bells and whistles that I need. When using any image enhancement program be sure to not overdo the touch up or you will have a lot of disappointed buyers when they receive an item and it does not come close to looking like what they saw on the auction.

Over the past eight years I have discovered the following 10 secrets to taking incredible photographs of jewelry and of course these secrets would also work for anything that is small in size, such as coins, stamps, baseball cards, cabinet and post cards and more.

SECRET # 1: Most jewelry (bracelets, pins, brooches, necklaces, earrings and sets) is either a gold or a silver finish (whether real or not) and having sets or not all look great on a black background. I prefer black velvet in that due to the nature of the fabric it will not reflect light and actually absorbs the light around the object and it is also very easy to touch up should a spec of dust, dirt or hair end up in the photo.

SECRET #2: Unlike the jewelry discussed above, wristwatches and pieces of jewelry where there is great detail in the hardware or complexity to the face with the writing and all, photograph better on an off-white or cream velvet background. The velvet again will not reflect the light and is a soft texture as a backdrop to the hard edges of the watch or other detailed pieces.

SECRET #3: Do not photograph the item looking down on it, you will create shadows and light distortions on the piece of jewelry. The best way to photo most jewelry is where it rests against something (a box underneath the velvet) that puts the item parallel to you when you are at eye level with the item. In other words, sit down at the table where you will be photographing and prop the item up so that you are looking directly at it. The photo will not distort or keystone the item and the items shape will be portrayed correctly and it will more than likely be in focus.

SECRET #4: To add drama to the photograph composition, lay the item down on its back and shoot from a side angle and this will give the item an interesting perspective. Be careful, however if you see that only a small amount of the item (especially when photographing necklaces or bracelets) appears to be in focus, just slightly raise the camera and then most of the item will be in focus.

SECRET #5: My cameras and most decent digital cameras have five things that are truly essential when photographing small items like jewelry. The first and second are Auto Focus and Steady Shot... make sure both are on. The third is a Close Up feature to get within an inch of the item to the capture detail. The fourth is how many Pixels the photo will have. Pixels are simply a dot matrix and the more dots per inch the more detail the photo will have. So if given a choice use the 1600 pixel setting or as close to it as possible. The fifth is White Balance, and this will allow you to balance the coloring of the photo by being able to have more yellow on golden pieces and less yellow and more white on silver and rhinestone pieces.

SECRET #6: The best light to show the brilliance of sets and quality of the metallic finish is a combination of Halogen and Incandescent. Halogen is the whitest light there is and incandescent adds just slight pinkish tone to the overall lighting. Fine jewelry stores use halogen lamps inside their showcases that is why you can not resist trying on that $25,000. diamond ring. What I use is a cheap gooseneck desk lamp that came with a halogen bulb and I place it behind the item to be photographed. My overhead lighting is a mix of halogen and incandescent bulbs. Halogen bulbs that fit into standard lamp sockets are available at most homestores and are about $7.00 - $10.00 each but they last up to two years and a 50 watt halogen gives off the equivalent of what a 100watt incandescent does so you save money on electricity.

SECRET #7: When you are listing an auction online you have a blank canvas basically to put your photo into... well think of this not as a blank canvas but as a billboard. Crop the photo as much as you can so that the billboard you are creating is not a lot of blank ground space (no money there) but is filled with the image of what you are selling. In the sort, your photos will stand out since there is not alot of red, white or whatever everyone else is using as their backdrop.

SECRET #8: When photographing your item try as closely as possible for it to be in a square format. In other words, not a rectangle. If the item is long and thin as with bracelets or soem pins, put it at a 45% angle so that when it is cropped it will be a square shape. Again in the sort it will stand out and make for a more interesting photo of the piece. I also sometimes photograph even a perfectly square pin tilted on the diagonal and then still crop it to a square and this is also a stunning way to show the item.

SECRET #9: There are basically three types of photos that sell the item. An Overall, a Close Up and a photo of the Back. Well for a low cost item where you do not have much opportunity for much profit let one photo do the trick... and most cases it should be the close-up, this will answer most buyers questions as to color, details and size. If there is more opportunity for profit then use all three and show the closeup first so it will be the one in the sort and the other two will be within the auction for more clarity. I also feel that holding the item in the close-up is a great idea for two reasons... it does a better job of showing scale and size than say a "25 cent quarter" and also the coloring of the piece is accentuated by the fleshtone of your hand by giving the buyer an idea of how it would look on.

SECRET #10: Finally the last secret I have to share. DO NOT OVER FOCUS OR OVER TOUCH UP!!!! Quite literally over focusing (accomplished by overdoing the contrast) HURTS your buyer's eyes and gives them a headache and they will RUN from your auction as soon as they can. Overdoing on the touch up is also not good as this is deception.Making an item more gold or more whatever than it really is is deceiving the buyer into thinking they are buying something other than what you have to sell. Now there is nothing wrong if the photo is too bright and you need to enhance the color of the goldtone, but literally hold the piece up to the screen of your computer and make sure they look alike.Your customers will have faith and trust in what you sell and will be abck many times.

Well as stated I am not a professional photographer nor do I claim to be one, but I have over the past 8 years probably shot almost 500,000 images ... now why do I bring this up... well when I took photography why back when, my professor told us to be prepared to throw away almost 80% of what we shot, as they were not going to be good. And today the same thing applies to this subject, be picky about what you show for your auctions, the time and care you take will reap more sales, higher sales and more profit. Good Luck and Happy Shooting!!!!

By the way for more jewelry tips and to buy and sell on what will soon become the place for Antique and Vintage Costume and Fine Jewelry come see me and others at VINTAGE GEMS EMPORIUM at www.virtualgemsemporium.com. See you there.

About the Author: 

My name is Candace Daugherty and I live near Charleston, South Carolina. I am an entrepreneur and have worked as a retail design and marketing consultant with many internationally known retailers and fashion designers over the past 30 years. I hold a BS degree in Interior Design from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and an MBA from Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA.

My passion however is Antique and Vintage Costume and Fine Jewelry. I have collected jewelry for over 35 years and own many incredibly fabulous book pieces as shown in the many jewelry price guides authored by Harrice Simons Miller, Roseanne Ettinger, Jeannene Bell and others.

I love Victorian, Art Nouveau and Edwardian pieces and have been fortunate to find many wonderful and highly collectible pieces right here in my own backyard of Charleston, SC. I have a special fondness as most do for Miriam Haskell, DeMario, Schiaparelli, Alfred Philippe, Staret, McClelland-Barclay, Pennino and more and have found wonderful ways to put my hands on these pieces at a fraction of what most retailers or collectors could ever expect.

Since September 15, 2008 I along with three others have founded the first of its kind, an exclusive auction boutique for antique, vintage and new costume and fine jewelry. We started Vintage Gems Emporium at www.vintagegemsemporium.com with three concepts in mind. One, a special boutique environment in an Auction Venue just for the collector and specialist of antique and vintage costume and fine jewelry. Two, to be the lowest cost auction or fixed price venue on the internet. And three to put the entire Vintage Gems Emporium community first with unbelievable customer service and fair equal treatment of all trading partners.

About the Author

My name is Candace Daugherty and I live near Charleston, South Carolina. My passion is Antique and Vintage Costume and Fine Jewelry. I have collected jewelry for over 35 years and own many incredibly fabulous book pieces. I love Victorian, Art Nouveau and Edwardian pieces and have been fortunate to find many wonderful and highly collectible pieces right here in my own backyard of Charleston, SC.

For the Olympus digital camera: D-580, where is the focus button?

I have this Olympus digital camera D-580 Zoom and my mom doesn't have the booklet. I'm trying to take pics of my jewelry, but I cant take close ups cause they look all fuzzy. Does anyone know where the focus button is (or the macro button/setting)?

Hello
get on this page
you the information!
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D580/D580A.HTM#operation

Hope I could help.

Home break-in; electronics, jewelry stolen
Pitt County sheriff’s deputies are investigating a report of a break-in at the home of a 30-year-old man Tuesday in the 2800 block of Frog Level Road in Greenville. The man told deputies he knew the suspect. Several checkbooks were stolen, along with jewelry and electronics valued at $3,430.

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