Enhance Pieces Beauty with Jewelry Photography Props

While too many props can create a distraction, using no props at all can be monotonous in jewelry photography. Hence, if you can use appropriate jewelry props, you can create depth and dimension in images.

There are many types of props that can highlight your jewelry. For example, you can simply take pictures with a jewelry stand to create studio-quality images or use creative props like fake flowers, ribbons, etc to create jewelry lifestyle images. Both types of images can attract customers depending on how to take the image. So, we have created a list for you where you can see what type of jewelry photography props can elevate your product. Keep Reading!

21 Jewelry Photography Props to Highlight Your Piece

We have divided the props into two categories. One where you can take images with simple jewelry stands another one where you can use various types of colorful jewelry photo props to take images. So, let’s see how to use the props.

Studio Quality- Simple Props

Many E-commerce companies prefer simple jewelry images to showcase on their websites. They do not like to make the background busy and only focus on the product. So, you can use these props to create studio-like images.

Note: When we are talking about a prop, we will only talk about that assuming you know how to set other things like reflector, light, camera, tripod, lens, etc.

Bust/Jewelry Display for Necklaces

Buy a black and white color bust to capture all types of necklace images. For black busts, use silver or golden color jewelry, and for white busts use bright and golden color jewelry. Just make sure to use the bust that is highlighting the gems. Now, how to take the picture? Place the jewelry display on a white background and capture the image.

Note: For necklaces, you can keep the ghost busts but if you want to up your game, remove the bust and create a 3D ghost mannequin effect with the jewelry. It will help the customers visualize their outlook with the jewelry.

A Hand That Holds Rings

Just like necklace busts, there are hand ring holders where you can place the ring and take a picture. The hand ring holders can be used in different ways to display your ring designs.

The benefit of this jewelry prop is that if the ring is made for a specific finger like index, little, or thumb finger, you can just place the ring on that finger. You can also take the images from different angles.

Earring Display/Holder

There are different types of earrings like stud backs, lever backs, fish hooks, dangling earrings, etc. All of these have different types of locking styles. So, how to photograph earrings for E-commerce? You can use an earring display for photography. Any type of earrings can be photographed on these displays.

Place the earrings on these stands and lock them properly with their hooks. It will keep the earrings standing and stabilized. You can take the images from the side or front easily. If you do not need to show the back of the earrings, don’t capture the back.

White Cloth/White Foam Board

Not only can you use white cloth/ white foam board as a prop, but also as a bouncer. How to use it as a both? Place the foam board on the table and position the jewelry. For white clothes, you can do it both in bed or table. Since it is white in color, the light will bounce putting more light on the jewelry and reducing the harsh shadows. If the shadows are still looking harsher, place another foam board opposite of the light and it will soften the shadows automatically. Ensure the shadows look natural to provide a pleasing vibe.

White Tile/Acrylic Sheet to Create Natural Reflections

There are different colors of acrylic sheets like green, yellow, blue, etc. You create a combination of jewelry color and sheet color to get a beautiful shadow.

However, since we are talking about white background jewelry images, place a white acrylic sheet or white tile on the table and position the jewelry. Put the light over the jewelry and you will see that it is creating natural shadows on the tile. To highlight the stones, you can use contrast such as black or multi-colored jewelry on a white tile and you will be able to see the best reflections.

Prop Wax for Stabilizing the Jewelry

When it comes to photographing rings and necklaces, prop wax is your best friend. You can easily buy it from your nearby stores or Amazon. Just cut a small piece from the packet and place it under the ring. Now, the ring will stay standing on the table.

As for the necklaces, just take a small piece and place it under the chain. Now, attach the wax to the table. Organize it and make it look like it is standing in the images. You can also position it with tweezers and try different angles. So, the potential buyers will be able to visualize how it would look on them.

Note: To get high-quality standing jewelry images, edit the wax from the jewelry in Photoshop.

Macro Extenders in Place of Macro Lens

Macro lenses are very important for jewelry product photography. So, if you do not have a macro lens but have a DSLR camera, you can buy macro extenders to use in its place. It also works well for capturing jewelry gems.

How to use it to take pictures of jewelry? It is a bit hard but with a bit of practice, you can take perfect jewelry images in focus. Choose a well-lit room. Adjust macro extenders with the camera. Focus manually, and increase the ISO because it takes time for the light to reach the lenses. Also, keep the Aperture higher like f/9/10/11 to capture the jewelry in focus with the surroundings.

Simple Yet Creative Props

In this part, I will talk about some creative jewelry props that are easily available around you or you can buy them at a cheap price from online or nearby stores.

Cup and Bowl to Shape the Jewelry

When I saw this trick, I laughed so hard because a cup and a round-shaped bowl were always there at my home but I never knew it was this easy to shape necklaces, bracelets, and anklets with this item.

Now, let’s come to the main point. How to shape jewelry with a bowl or cup? Spread the necklace on the table and use the round-shaped bowl to shape the links. If the necklace is long use larger bowls and if the necklace is short, use smaller bowls. After shaping the jewelry, take out the bowl slowly.

Note: Depending on how you want to shape the ornaments, you can use bowls or cups.

Monstera Leaf As a Photo Prop

If you want to bring some nature into jewelry photos, use artificial tropical leaves “Monstera leaf”. These are available in all sizes. You can use them in many ways. You can place the jewelry over the leaf or even use it to create beautiful shadows over the jewelry.

Fake/Real Plants for Decoration and Shadows

Not only Monstera Leaf, but you can also use other plants for photographing earrings and other jewelry. Just place them on the plant's leaf, or branches. Experiment by placing jewelry in different places of the plants and capturing the best image. Also, in order to show creativity, you can do shadow play with the plants.

Fake/Real Flowers for an Aesthetic Feel

Flowers are one of the classic jewelry photography props. While plants give you a natural vibe, the flowers will provide an aesthetic feeling. There are so many varieties of flowers that you can use any of them to beautify your jewelry. For example, you can circle flower petals and place the jewelry in the circle or place the jewelry in the flower petals. When it comes to styling jewelry with flowers, the sky is the limit. So, I highly recommend using flowers as a photo prop.

Different Types of Papers

For photographing jewelry, you can use any type of paper, at least I do. Since you can find papers in different colors, you can even match them with jewelry stones. And the fun fact about using paper is that you can use it without using any money. For example, you can use paper scraps from gift bags, Ferrero rocher wrappers, or even Christmas wrapping papers, etc. And if you can make designs with paper, you can use them as well for jewelry photography. Decorate jewelry nicely with different colors of paper.

Colored/Designed Glass or Bowls

Another one of the common jewelry props is glass and bowls. If you can use lights from different angles, you can capture amazing pictures with designed and colorful glass and bowls. Colorful glass creates colorful shadows that look amazing. You can take jewelry images with glasses in the frame or even with their beautiful colorful shadows.

Gift Box with Wrapper

It is one of the creative ways to capture jewelry images. I will highly recommend using this prop if you sell your jewelry in boxes. Place the jewelry in the gift box or beside/over it and decorate the setting with flowers and wrappers. Make sure it looks catchy and irresistible. However, remember to post the jewelry images individually as the potential customers may not get the full picture of the product.

Flat Lay Pictures with Duo Boards

Just like flat-lay cloth pictures, you can also take jewelry images lying down creatively with duo boards. The duo boards come in all sorts of designs and sizes so you will have a variety of surfaces to shoot your jewelry on. For example, the duo board has a green color in it, you can take your green gems picture with it. Just make the duo board design highlighting the jewelry.

Just lay down your jewelry on the duo board or beside it at the desired angle. You can also combine other props with it such as flowers, ribbons, etc.

Different Colored Fabric

You can photograph different types of jewelry like earrings, rings, anklets, bracelets, and necklaces in fabrics. Any fabric can be used for jewelry photography but if you have clothes/scarfs in muslin, silk, or canvas fabric, jewelry images come best in those. Your bed sheet or any of your colorful scarfs will also work as jewelry props. Try different styles with cloth pieces and capture the image after you are happy with the styling.

Geometric Foam Props

These jewelry props come in different colors, sizes, and shapes such as circles, rectangles, stars, and many other shapes. So, you can buy them individually or in sets. You can style jewelry however you want with this prop so experiment a little to see which angle and style highlight your jewelry the most.

Full Jewelry Set with props

If you have a full set of jewelry which consists of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, take a picture with a full set in a frame. You can use any prop like a gift box, fabric, flowers, or a combination of these props. Portray the set beautifully and artistically so that potential buyers immediately contact you to buy it.

Be The Model

While props can make the jewelry picture captivating and interesting, the models can evoke emotions and show the outlook of the jewelry. As a jewelry store owner, you can be the model and post pictures wearing the jewelry. For example, a jewelry piece is perfect for the beach, wear it there and post a picture with it. Many people contact to buy jewelry from social media images. So, promote your jewelry in as many places as possible and try to which occasions they should be worn.

Flashlights

I have kept this prop at the very last of the list because it is a bit unusual and hard to use prop for photographing jewelry. However, if you can pull it off, you will be able to highlight your jewelry among the props.

First, decorate your jewelry with props then light the flashlights over the jewelry. It is a bit hard to do alone. So, if you have a helping hand at home, get someone to light the flashlight directly on the jewelry and you take the image.

Do Not Forget to Retouch Your Jewelry Images

Jewelry images always need retouching because of their highly reflective gems. The lighting, camera, setting, and white balance can affect on jewelry’s color. So, these are the things you need to correct in post-production.

• The first thing to correct in the jewelry image is the lighting. If the lighting does not look natural or look dull or yellowish. Edit the lighting to make it look natural. Also, the lighting may look yellowish because of the white balance, fix the white balance to get the natural color.
• Check if there is any dust or dirt on the jewelry and props. Retouch the dust and dirt, and make the objects flawless in the picture.
• Check for prop distraction. While taking the image, a prop may have looked perfect with the jewelry but looking distracting in the final image then edit that prop or remove the background to keep the focus on the jewelry. No matter what prop you use, the product should be clear in the image.
• Though I have mentioned it before, edit the prop wax. If you keep these in the image, the image will look poor quality. However, editing them would elevate your jewelry pictures.
• Do not forget about the shadows. Hard shadows look unpleasant so soften them to make them visually pleasing for the eyes of the audience. Create natural shadows.

If you need a professional hand to retouch your jewelry images, perfect retouching is here for you. Take our jewelry retouching service. Our jewelry retouching experts can detect and correct any flaws with precision. So, take our free trial to check the image quality for yourself then make a decision.

Some Important Tips for Using Props Properly

Creating dimension is important for your online store however, keep these things in mind while utilizing props for jewelry.

• Keep Consistency with backgrounds. If you want to photograph jewelry on a white background, stick to it, and if you want to keep your online store colorful, use a different color background. However, do not mingle both. The audience should not feel confused or distracted.
• Consult with the Client Beforehand. First, check what type of images and props the client wants to use. For example, If they want the images on a white background with a jewelry display, follow their instructions.
• Do not take group images with the same type of jewelry. For example, you placed multiple rings in one place and posted that. The potential customers may feel confused about which one to buy. Never make the audience feel lost. Post images with a single product if it does not come with a set.
• Use an appropriate amount of props for jewelry. Not too less or not too many. Too many props or irrelevant props may distract customers from the main product or the audience may not even understand which one is the product. So, Decorate and use props to increase the product's attractiveness.

Conclusion

Beautify your pieces with jewelry photography props. try new things and portray your style with different props. However, keep the product quality in mind and present the jewelry images with realistic features so that after getting the jewelry in hand, the buyer should feel “it is the same as the picture”.

I hope the props I suggested will be helpful for your jewelry photography. However, if you want to hire a professional jewelry photographer, check this blog to learn about their pricing in detail: How Much Do Jewelry Photographers Charge?

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