Through the ages, gold has been the standard for jewelry and the love affair will never end. Yellow gold has been the favorite for wedding bands, watchbands, earrings, and just about any other fashion accessory you might name. Although everyone knows what gold looks like, it is still necessary to present it well in jewelry photographs.
Backgrounds are important in yellow gold photos, and many times, they are white or very light pastels. Digital cameras tend to underexpose images that have light backgrounds. This results in dark unattractive images. The best way to compensate for this problem is through exposure compensation.
Exposure compensation is like most anything else in photography. It is basically trial and error. On digital cameras, you should find a label “EV” which stands for exposure value. If your image is too dark, set this ahead to a +1 and it will lighten it some. Work up incrementally to find the setting that serves you best.
If you overcompensate, your yellow gold will be washed out and almost white. Correcting this is simply a matter of working back the other way. Of course, all the shots you make have to be with your lighting set the same way, or the whole experiment is in vain.
Pictures made of inanimate objects are done best with the use of soft light. Without expensive meters to tell you what you have, how do you know if your light is hard or soft?
A simple test that works for the layperson is accomplished with two hands. Hold out your left hand with the palm up. Then stick out your index finger of your right hand and place it over the left holding it just a few inches above.
If the light is hard, there will be a very distinct dark shadow on the palm of the left hand. Soft light will make a faint shadow that is wider and less defined.
Whether you are photographing yellow gold or other types of jewelry, a digital camera can give you information that lets you know what the conditions are when you make a shot. It isn’t necessary for you to keep notes of camera settings because the file made by each picture contains that data.
If you have made many photos of precious stones or jewelry and adjusted the light or shutter settings several times during the process, you will be able to judge the best shots and know how you want to set the camera the next time you have a similar situation.
When you have loaded the pictures to your PC, you can do a search and set the view for thumbnails so you can see each picture. Right click on any picture and choose “properties,” and then the selection of “details” will give you most of the information you should need to know about the camera setting for that picture.
With a little practice, you can make photos of jewelry that look very professional. This is true of all jewelry, including yellow gold photography.
