Noteworthy, Jewellery Business Advice

Lighting Jewellery for Social Media Photos

Posted on by Dana
Lighting Jewellery for Social Media Photos
17
Jun
We’re often asked how we set up our lighting for social media photos, including the photos for Stones and Findings Instagram. The real trick is using the right light bulbs, we use ‘daylight’ bulbs that are made especially for photography. I tried regular daylight bulbs from the hardware store, but they gave off a bluish tint on the jewellery which is definitely not something you want. Recently I started using Softboxes to light the background but I feel it isn’t necessary if you want to cut costs. I shot most of my previous pictures with three desk top lamps positioned at different angles to reduce shadow and that worked fine. I’ve tried different lighting cubes but I was restricted by their size as I often use logs and different colours of Japanese paper, the sheets can be large and won’t fit inside the cubes. I could cut them but I use them for more than just the one type of photo so I want to be mindful of cost. I often get yellowy bands across my photos when using a cellphone camera, this happens because of the continuous light and is unavoidable. The best lights are the flash type, or the ones that are not continuous. If I’m taking a photo on a white background I will use an SLR camera for pictures. However, I feel you can get excellent lighting and flexibility without buying a lot of equipment. This is what I bought: 1. Softbox lighting on adjustable stands by CanadianStudio bought from Amazon. I paid under $200 for a set of two and   they don’t come with the bulbs. 2. I mostly use inexpensive desk lamps with movable arms and heads, and cover the lamp shade with white tissue paper to soften the light.  Watch the video below to see what I did. 3. Full Spectrum daylight photography bulbs CFL 5500K.  I bought them from Amazon for $37 for a 4/pk, almost identical ones from the camera store were $25.99 each! The best thing to do is take photos with the equipment you have before you start investing money in something you might not need after all! ?Hey, did you find this useful? Did you actually read to the bottom? I want to know if I should make more videos like this, and if yes, on what topics?
Dana