Photographing Your Finished Jewelry

Today, our Jetteam member Phylly, will share her thoughts on photographing those finished pieces of jewelry that you created. You can check out her shops;  Sending Love Gallery and Loves Vintage Delights to see all of her items offered for sale.

I have found that the best place to photograph my jewelry is in the front hall of my home. There is an abundance of indirect, natural light that is great for taking photos of my jewelry listed in my shop, Sending Love Gallery.  I use the top left corner of an old Mexican buffet cabinet that I have finished. Originally, this piece was located in the foyer and was used to store mostly odds and ends for seasonal decorating, board games, etc.. When I discovered the great lighting in that area, the cabinet began to be a place to collect photography supplies like jewelry props and scrapbook paper which could be used to photograph jewelry.  After awhile,  I began to store some mailing supplies in it as well.

The right side of the cabinet stores bubble mailers, a small paper cutter and mailing supplies. I try to keep a few USPS flat rate mailing envelopes in there and small flat rate boxes as well , in addition to one each of the two sizes of cardboard boxes I often use for my vintage shop, Loves Vintage Delights. When I need to weigh something, as the result of an item that I have listed on the Etsy website, I have a sample box/mailer available to weigh on my scale.  The bottom shelf also has some candle overflow, however I found a little space for my bracelet cones and an extra “jewelry hand”.

  



This is what I have in the three drawers of the cabinet:
 

Top drawer:

•  digital mailing scale, my ribbon rolls for tying pretty packages, scissors, tape, etc.
•  earring card punch and baggie with earring and necklace cards and clear silicone stoppers for    earrings.
•  package of tarnish strips and a baggie of already cut squares of the anti tarnish paper to pop into my anti tarnish clear zip lock bags for mailing are kept here along with my business cards for both shops.
• jewelry polishing cloths,  a little paint brush and Swiffer cloth (both are great for getting rid of any specks of dust on what I need to photo or wrap up.)
•  package of white cotton gloves that came from a garage sale. I use those mostly for polishing and removing fingerprints on the vintage objects for my shop, Loves Vintage Delights.

Middle drawer:

•  photo props for jewelry
•  a bag of packing peanuts and a box of jewelry gift boxes.
•  a selection of folders .

 



A purple folder contains the appropriate size of the bubble lined mailing envelope I use most often for both shops. It also includes paper equaling the amount for the mailing label and the receipt, business card, earring or necklace card, zip bag, ribbon and a small amount of tissue paper. When I need to enter the weight of a piece of jewelry for an Etsy listing, I grab the folder with these items, add the right size gift box, then the jewelry and layer them on my digital scale to weigh. Tape has weight too, so after I see what the digital scale says, I allow a little wiggle room in the listing for that and any extra packing I might include.

The green folder has a few vellum sheets and photo paper (which I sometimes use as a base for my photos), card stock,  scrapbook paper, white computer paper – also great to photograph on, and a stash of my uncut printed jewelry cards. There is also a folding photo background I made with white computer paper taped inside a manila folder that I sometimes stand up when photographing hanging jewelry. This is a great way to take photos when I don't want the rustic look of the plaster wall that is directly behind the cabinet.

Bottom drawer:

• extras of flat paper supplies, tissue paper and a roll of bubble wrap – just enough to keep inside.

The cabinet won’t hold everything so I keep a larger stash of boxes, peanuts and packing stuff in the garage. The drawer has  room for one of the necklace busts that are used. There are a few board games remaining in the cabinet right now. Oh well!  We'll work on finding them a better place.

 

I hope that this has helped give you all some ideas on storage and photographing your own pieces. My trusty Packing Supervisor and Photography Assistant, Charley … has fallen asleep on the job!  

 

 



Phyllis

Sending Love Gallery
Loves Vintage Delights