Not Just Jewelry Designers!

JETs, Jewelry on Etsy Team – what are we? A group of jewelry designers with a common goal. To enhance and guide each other, both design wise and personally. A team with a wealth of knowledge to share.

The point of the title, NOT JUST JEWELRY DESIGNER, is to show what other knowledge is needed as a designer.

One example – photographer and photo manipulator.

Why? You ask. We need to show off our designs to the best of our ability. Customers want to see the real thing so a description really does not do the trick.

We are not professional photographers but we need to know how best to take our photos – lighting, background, sharpness are just a few. Not everyone can afford a top of the range camera and some even use Iphones (which I might add are getting high tech cameras added -  LOL).

So what happens when it goes wrong? Don’t fret. If it’s that bad then start again but there are numerous free, budget and expensive photo editing software programs about.

Picture too dark – just increase exposure or highlights. Decrease shadows maybe.

Picture too bright – if your highlights are too high you may have to start again but decrease highlights and see what happens. Maybe increase shadows.

Item not close enough – crop it baby – easy!

And don’t forget sharpen. Your item must be nice and clear. Never mind the background, make sure you show off your design.

So the main tools are – Exposure, Highlights, Shadows and Sharpen.

Do not mess around with Vibrance, Saturation, Hue and Luminance. These will change colors in your design and not show the real product.

Just a little info about what jewelry designers do behind the scenes. Unfortunately or fortunately I go that a bit further. After taking a few courses on photography I was hooked and below is an example, before editing and after editing, of what I now do – major photo manipulation!

Mandy,

BeadsMe