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The Best Way to Photograph Swarovski Jewelry

Swarovski jewelry is beautiful to photograph, but also highly reflective. The facets of the jewels and surfaces of the jewelry's metal will bounce your flash in ways that can create harsh glares and highlights on the surface of the jewelry. The sparkles may also confuse your camera's autofocus, making it difficult to capture a photograph. While Swarovski photography can be challenging, a well-composed product photo can show off the jewelry's brilliance.
  1. Lighting

    • As with most jewelry, Swarovski jewelry must be lit properly do so that it shows to its best advantage in photographs. Diffuse lighting works best, as it minimizes the effects of shadows and highlights. If you have access to a light tent, put your Swarovski jewelry inside of it. On sunny days, using your light tent outside will provide plenty of diffuse natural sunlight to illuminate your jewelry. Flashes can be used, but avoid the on-camera flash as it tends to pour too much light directly onto the Swarovski crystals, typically causing unwanted reflections. Instead, use continuous lighting like those found in model lamps, or even standard household lamps.

    Focus

    • Use your camera's spot focus mode if this feature is available. The standard setting for digital cameras is to use an average focus mode, which samples a large area in the center of the photograph and attempts to keep that entire area in focus. While this works well with faces, small items like Swarovski jewelry need to be photographed in a more precise focusing mode.

      Spot focus will tell the camera to autofocus on a much smaller point in the center of the frame. Unfortunately, the natural clarity and reflectiveness of Swarovski jewelry may confuse most camera's autofocus systems. In these cases, a camera with a manual focus mode may be necessary. Once you have obtained the proper focus, lock the focus into place by disabling the camera's autofocus mode. A tripod is also useful to ensure that the camera does not move during the photo shoot.

    Mounting

    • An artistic mount for your Swarovski jewelry will help to present it in the most appealing way. Earrings can be mounted on a small piece of black felt which will best show off the finer details of the crystals used. Bracelets and necklaces can be posed or hung with a thin length of clear monofilament, such as fishing line. You may need to use digital photo editing software to remove the presence of the monofilament in your photos. You can also suspend Swarovski rings with your monofilament, which will move the rings away from any surfaces onto which unattractive shadows may be cast. If you have decorative jewelry mounts, such as glass hand statues or a felt ring mounting, these items can be used as well. Stay away from any mount that is too ornate, as it may draw attention away from your Swarovski jewelry.


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