Apr 9, 2025
Step-by-Step Process for Taking Jewelry Photos with Your Phone
You’ve done it! After hours of researching, planning, and crafting, you’ve finally created the perfect jewelry piece. Now it’s time to photograph your jewelry so you can share it with the world. Your photos look dull, lifeless, and boring. They don’t capture all the details and glitter that make your jewelry unique. If this scenario sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many artisans struggle with capturing their work through a lens, especially when it comes to jewelry. If you’re asking yourself how to photograph jewelry, you’ve come to the right place. This article will teach you how to take pictures of jewelry with your phone to showcase your work in stunning detail for all to see.
The good news is that jewelry photography doesn’t have to be complicated. With a few tips and tricks, you can take eye-catching photos to draw your audience in and leave them wanting more.
Table of Contents
Step-by-Step Process For Taking Jewelry Photos With Your Phone
6 Tips For Capturing Stunning Jewelry Photos With Your Phone
Get Jewelry Product Photos that Increase Your Sales for Free Today
Why Use Your Phone for Jewelry Photography?
Many people overlook the camera on their phone for product photography. But using your smartphone to take pictures of jewelry can yield stunning results. Modern smartphones have high-quality cameras that rival traditional cameras, making them excellent for product photography. Here are some reasons you should consider using your phone to photograph jewelry.
High-Quality Cameras
Modern smartphones feature high-resolution cameras with robust sensors that capture sharp, detailed photos. These advanced cameras often have multiple lenses, including wide-angle and telephoto options for versatile shooting. The combination of hardware and software enhancements ensures that smartphones can produce images with clarity and depth, making them suitable for professional-grade product photography.
Advanced Features
Smartphones come with advanced features that can significantly enhance product photos. Portrait mode creates a pleasing background blur that makes the product stand out, while macro mode captures intricate details up close. Built-in filters and HDR capabilities help achieve the perfect look, ensuring products are showcased in their best light.
Portability and Convenience
Smartphones are portable and always accessible, making them incredibly convenient for product photography. You can quickly set up a photoshoot anywhere, whether at home, in a store, or on the go. This ease of use means you can capture spontaneous shots without bulky equipment, ensuring you take advantage of every opportunity to showcase your products.
Editing Apps
Several powerful editing apps are available for smartphones, allowing quick and effective photo enhancements. These apps offer tools to adjust lighting, color, sharpness, and more, helping to perfect your product images. With features like cropping, retouching, and applying filters, you can achieve a polished and professional look directly from your phone, streamlining the editing process.
Related Reading
• How to Improve Jewellery Business
• Earring Photography
• How to Sell Jewelry on Instagram
• How to Sell Jewelry Online Successfully
5 Essential Equipment for Jewelry Photography
1. The Right Phone Model: Start with a Solid Base
Not all smartphones are created equal. While most modern smartphones have capable cameras, some models are better suited for jewelry photography than others. Don’t be swayed by mere megapixel numbers; focus on the:
Camera sensor size (the larger the better)
Additional camera (macro)
The manufacturer
Some smartphones offer a professional mode in the default camera app and can shoot in RAW format, so watch review videos to ensure the model has these options. Popular choices that excel in this regard include the latest iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel models. If you can’t afford flagship phones, don’t worry. Invest in a phone with at least a few features we have discussed. Remember, you don’t need to break the bank to take stunning jewelry photos with your phone.
2. Stabilize to Maximize: The Importance of a Tripod
Stabilizing your camera is crucial to ensure your product’s sharp and consistent images. Many budget-friendly options are available, so a tripod is worth the investment. A tabletop or mini tripod will do if you shoot primarily small items. You might want a full-size tripod if you shoot larger items (e.g., furniture). Ensure the one you buy comes with or is compatible with a smartphone clip attachment. If you already have a regular camera tripod at home, you can save money by purchasing a smartphone clip.
3. Eliminate Camera Shake with a Wireless Remote
Camera shake = blurry photos. Whenever your hand taps the screen to snap a picture, you risk shaking the camera while it’s capturing it. Even a slight movement can make a big difference in the quality and sharpness of the photo and result in losing essential details of your product. Wireless remotes are inexpensive (most are less than $10) and easily connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth.
4. Add-On Lenses: Get Up Close and Personal
Mobile photography has come a long way, and so have the options for add-on lenses. A wide-angle lens could be helpful, especially for larger items that might be difficult to fit in frame. A macro lens can help show a product’s intricate detail or texture. Just be careful that the lens you choose doesn’t distort the appearance of your product. A fisheye lens, for example, would create inaccurate proportions that might look stylistically cool, but your customers will want to see what the product looks like.
5. Camera Apps: Choose the Right Tool for the Job
Choosing the right camera app is an integral part of the shooting process. Most smartphones come with a serviceable app, but there are third-party apps that offer many of the same manual controls as a DSLR camera that you can use to customize to your needs. Many camera apps offer an option to shoot in RAW format in addition to the standard JPEG. This can be helpful if you plan to edit on your computer later. Ensure you install the app you want to use on your phone and familiarize yourself with it before the photo shoot.
Why Traditional Jewelry Photography Is Costing Your Brand More Than You Think
Caspa helps eCommerce brands create stunning jewelry photography with AI, eliminating the need for multiple tools, photographers, and models that traditionally eat up to 20% of revenue. From creating ultrarealistic product shots with human models to editing existing photos, Caspa's all-in-one AI product photography platform handles everything from background removal to upscaling, letting brands produce professional marketing visuals in seconds. Whether you need custom stock photos or complete studio editing capabilities, Caspa streamlines the entire product visualization workflow into a single, cost-effective solution. Get pictures of jewelry products that increase your sales for free today!
Related Reading
• Light Box Photography for Jewelry
• Background for Jewellery Photography
• How to Photograph Rings
• Macro Jewelry Photography
Step-by-Step Process For Taking Jewelry Photos With Your Phone
Taking great photos of jewelry doesn't require fancy equipment. Following simple guidelines, you can get stunning shots with your smartphone. The first step is to prepare your jewelry for the photo shoot.
Start by cleaning the piece to remove any smudges or dust that will show up in the photos.
You can use a jewelry polishing cloth or a mild soap solution to clean most pieces gently.
If your jewelry has small openings, like rings or earrings, use a small brush to remove debris lodged inside.
Remove any tags or stickers attached to the piece.
Take a few moments to mentally arrange the story you want to tell with your jewelry photos.
Consider the jewelry’s colors, shapes, textures, and your chosen background to create visually interesting images that capture your audience’s attention.
Set the Scene: Create a Simple, Attractive Background
You can set up your shooting environment once your jewelry is ready to close up. Select a clean and simple background. Neutral colors like white, gray, or black work best. They keep the focus on your jewelry and prevent distractions. A piece of matte paper, a foam board, or a lightbox can give you a smooth, studio-like effect. Find a spot with soft, diffused lighting. Natural light near a window with sheer curtains is ideal, or you can use a softbox or a ring light with a diffuser to eliminate harsh shadows and reflections.
Adjust Your Camera Settings for Jewelry Photography
Before snapping photos, tap your phone screen where the jewelry is to lock the focus and exposure. Hold your finger down to lock these settings on iPhones or advanced Android models. This prevents your camera from auto-adjusting with each shot, which helps with consistency across your photos. If your camera app offers manual controls, use them to fine-tune white balance, brightness, and sharpness to match the lighting conditions and keep colors accurate to life.
Get Up Close and Personal with a Macro Lens
Clip on an external macro lens for smartphones to reveal details, like:
Intricate engravings
Textures
Gemstone cuts
These inexpensive tools can drastically improve clarity and focus when shooting close-up, turning your phone into a capable macro camera. Ensure the lens is clean and centered over your phone’s lens to avoid distortion.
Position Your Jewelry for the Perfect Shot
Now that your setup is ready, it’s time to position your jewelry for photos. Carefully arrange your jewelry so its most interesting elements are visible. Try different angles, flat lays, side views, or upright shots using small stands or holders. Even household items like invisible tape or wax can be used discreetly to prop up pieces. Pay attention to symmetry and negative space to create a balanced, eye-catching composition.
Take Your Photos
Once your piece is in position, take several photos from different angles and distances. Try a few close-ups to highlight details and broader shots for context. This gives you various options during editing and helps build a more complete visual story around the jewelry.
6 Tips For Capturing Stunning Jewelry Photos With Your Phone
1. Choose the Right Smartphone
A great smartphone is worth its weight in gold. Today, smartphones have become essential all-in-one tools for staying connected, capturing great photos, and more, all in the palm of our hands. Smartphone manufacturers have invested substantial research and development budgets in advancing the capabilities of smartphone cameras over the last decade. These pocket-sized powerhouses now pack some fantastic features that traditional cameras are yet to catch up with, including:
8K video
108MP image sensors
100x digital zoom
They are also undoubtedly convenient and easy to use as they don’t require users to fiddle with lenses or settings.
2. It’s All About Lighting
It’s no secret that jewelry photography is all about lighting. Jewelry photography requires unique lighting conditions to bring the jewelry to life. Most jewelry pieces exhibit unique properties, including being incredibly tiny to shoot. They often have reflective surfaces and faceted gemstones that interact differently under different lighting conditions. The lighting conditions required to bring a jewelry piece to life include a mixture of soft, diffused lights at color-corrected:
Temperatures
Reflectors
Backdrops
That’s when you’d use a light tent, a lightbox, or softboxes for your jewelry photography. Each setup brings various degrees of success and complexity. A lightbox is the perfect solution to save yourself the headache and achieve consistency in your Jewelry images. Lightboxes provide a controlled lighting environment, which usually requires little to no tinkering or customization from the user to start utilizing effectively.
3. Make the Most of Applications
Smartphone photography applications are a great way to edit and enhance jewelry images without hassle or spending hours in Photoshop. Groan! Most smartphone photography applications are free to download and provide valuable tools and functions to bring your jewelry images to the next level. For example, jewelers often recommend Snapseed as a simple way to remove unwanted shadows, dust, and reflections from images. Aside from image editing, smartphone applications are also beneficial for improving your quality of life and photography process. Dropbox is a service that allows you to store, transfer, and share all your jewelry images between multiple devices and people. It’s a simple and effective way to simultaneously manage your pictures and inventory.
4. Using the Right Background
Photographing jewelry can be challenging, but creating images that focus the buyer’s attention is crucial for online sales. I tailor my photo style based on the target audience: using clean, distraction-free backgrounds for e-commerce to reflect a consistent, professional brand image. I experiment with props and colorful backgrounds for social media to create a fun, vibrant vibe that adds personality to my brand. Textured background packs from local craft stores are a great, long-lasting option for these shots. Mixing jewelry pieces and elements keeps my content fresh and engaging across platforms.
5. Videos Are the Future
As I refine my jewelry photography skills, incorporating video is the next strategic step. With over 75% of online engagement now driven by video content, it's a powerful tool for showcasing jewelry in ways that still images can't. Rather than capturing numerous photos to highlight every detail, a short, well-shot video can effectively display the piece’s sparkle, movement, and craftsmanship from multiple angles. A clean white background ensures a professional look, while tools like a lightbox and turntable streamline the process. Adding video enhances my brand presentation, increases engagement, and attracts new customers, making it an essential part of a modern visual strategy.
6. Avoid Using My Phone’s Flash; Opt for Natural or Controlled Lighting Instead
Sometimes, the flash on my phone enhances the quality of my jewelry photographs. However, it can also have the opposite effect. Therefore, using the flash while taking pictures in any environment is not recommended. The flash flattens the image, not showing off all my jewelry pieces’ beautiful sparkles, textures, and details. Natural light will add more depth to my piece instead of the flash, which allows people to imagine the jewelry in real-life lighting too. Any photos that do not do their products justice can result in disappointing sales for a company seeking to persuade customers to buy from them.
Get Jewelry Product Photos that Increase Your Sales for Free Today
Caspa helps eCommerce brands create stunning jewelry photography with AI, eliminating the need for multiple tools, photographers, and models that traditionally eat up to 20% of revenue. From creating ultrarealistic product shots with human models to editing existing photos, Caspa's all-in-one AI product photography platform handles everything from background removal to upscaling, letting brands produce professional marketing visuals in seconds. Whether you need custom stock photos or complete studio editing capabilities, Caspa streamlines the entire product visualization workflow into a single, cost-effective solution. Get pictures of jewelry products that increase your sales for free today!
Related Reading
How to Photograph Rings
Jewelry Photography Pricing
Creative Jewellery Photography
Jewelry Model Photography
Jewelry Photography Retouching
