Choosing the right photography equipment for your jewellery photography can be overwhelming for some photographers. There is a variety of overpriced equipment that may not produce the results you want available on the online market. It can be difficult to find the equipment that suits your photography skills the best and therefore deliver the desired results.

Camera – Essential Photography Equipment

The main piece of photography equipment. Most DSLR cameras are acceptable for the job. In fact, one of the major concerns when deciding on jewellery photography equipment is lighting and the lenses, you’ll be using on the camera body. 

The Canon EOS 70D DSLR Camera is a good DSLR camera for beginners. Features:

• Wi-Fi connection
• 20-megapixel crop sensor
• live picture processing channels
• touch screen with auto-focus 

Smartphones can also provide good jewellery photography results at a near-professional level and are good photography equipment alternatives. Most smartphones are equipped with adequate settings so that you can adjust in camera, like you would with a DSLR. 

Macro Lens 

Macro lenses are usually the preferred lens for detailed closeup photography, which, consequently, makes them very useful for intricate products like jewellery. Brands often don’t matter when deciding on a macro lens. 

Do keep in mind:

• Focal Length – The angle of view and magnification. To illustrate, how narrow or wide of a landscape to shoot and the size of the subject within that scene. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view is and the smaller the subject would be in the frame. 
• Image stabilisation – Can reduce any movement caused by handheld photography, vital for avoiding blurry images. 

Lighting System/sources 

While not actually photography equipment. Natural lighting provides a cheap option of light, which can adequately illuminate the product. However, it can be very inconsistent and uncontrollable. Due to the way the sun moves throughout the day, shadows and brightness can be unpredictable and therefore make it difficult to maintain consistency.

Artificial Lighting is the preferred lighting system. It can be controlled, as a result it’s one of the most recommended Jewellery photography equipment. Artificial lighting sources commonly used in jewellery photography are soft boxes. You will need to keep all your light sources the same colour temperature in order to maintain consistency.

Table, Jewellery Stand & Other Props 

Use appropriate platforms and stands for each type of jewellery. You can use wax and bluetac for precise positioning.  

These props are important for achieving professional looking jewellery product photos. Use props that compliment your products. Avoid busy, cluttered backdrops.

White paper & Foam boards

White background photography is most common for eCommerce as it is simple and easy to view quickly and efficiently for potential buyers. A role of white paper is an invaluable piece of jewellery photography equipment because it saves time during editing.

Lightbox Photography Equipment

A photo lightbox is a quick and simple way to achieve even lighting on a budget. Also because the lighting is fixed your photos will be consistent everytime.

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