Why take bad jewelry photography?

This is the question I've been asking at least 3x an hour for the past three days.

I have been jurying the next Lark 500 jewelry book -- this one celebrates gemstone jewels. So I've reviewed nearly 3,000 images and it left me lightheaded with glee. So much great jewelry by so many great designers.

But......

I have also seen more than my fair share of bad photography. We've had lots of conversations about this in the past 3 days. The fabulous Lark Jewelry Team of Marthe LeVan and Gavin Young (book publishing rock stars!) has seen many, many juries and they concur -- this is the biggest blunder. I'm truly saddened by bad photos. They mean well but they just fail so miserably.

Here's a summary of the sad things I saw in order of annoyance:

#1 ~ Poor lighting 

So many of these images (submitted because the artist thought this jewel had the chance of beating out thousands of competitors to be immortalized in a coffee table book) were dim. Or dull. Lacking vibrancy. So many needed many more watts of power to illuminate the metals and make the gems shine.

I did mention this book was celebrating GEMSTONES,didn't I? Not shape or form which you can make out in fancy restaurant lighting. Colored gemstones neeeeeeeeed as much light as you can provide. Why wouldn't you?

    I think there's a danger in taking your own photos -- I think it leads to delusional thinking. You start to believe your lackluster efforts will slip by unnoticed. You convince yourself the jewel will speak for itself. I'm here to tell you -- jewelry cannot speak so please stop expecting it to talk folks into excusing your photography skills.

#2 ~ Poor Composition

When taking a photo that you intend to use for marketing purposes in printed materials, publicity and maybe even a book sometime please fill the frame. I saw dozens and dozens of shots where the jewel was 20-40% of the image. 

And so we struggled to see it. I had to get up and walk to the screen, look on the computer monitor and make some good bets on what I was looking at. Or how it was set or what was being set. Or in a few cases, I wondered what the heck it actually was. A bracelet? Ring? Objet d'art? Does this happen because the photographer doesn't know better or doesn't own a macro lens?? Inexcuseable.

    Along with this goes the counter yet compatible advice to leave enough around the jewel in the frame so that the art director can crop as necessary. Just 1/8 of an inch in the image but valuable to the graphic artist. Also, as a general rule of thumb it's best not to let the jewel go out of the shot -- there are some rare exceptions though so use very critical judgement.

#3 ~ Wacky backgrounds

I have now come to realize that there is a whole population of people who think the background should MATCH the item. As in a set of gold rings with a granular surface technique shot on ...... SAND! Granular gold and grains of sand are quite similar in color, I've come to discover, especially when it isn't lit particularly well and shot from a distance so the gold is dim. 

And how about sandblasted pale-as-the-moon, natural rough gems shot on a background that looked to be rough (white) plaster. It was a beautiful piece but I was too distracted to really enjoy it. And then of course there was the Mandarin Garnet ring shot on a field of lentils. Yes, orange lentils. 

And sandblasted and textured platinum (really grey) shot on bleached-out driftwood --also grey.

And we had to omit some shots altogether due to their distracting background (which took up most of the image) where we couldn't "find' the jewel easily. backyard grass and trees, anyone? Are we showcasing jewelry or lawncare services?

And while we're talking of backgrounds let's discuss props. A flower dropped in the middle of the necklace is not a helper. It's a distraction. Same goes for food items, bunched-up fabric and chopsticks for any Asian-inspired design. Just say no.

#4 ~ Lighting! see #1 again. It cannot be stressed enough.

And of course, while I looked at all this great jewelry and reveled in the collective talents; I had to make the tough choices and tell this jewel "you're out, Auf Weiderzein" and that jewel to "“pack your knives and go” because "the tribe has spoken." It was a challenge, round after round, to winnow down the pack to get to 500 finalists. 

What made me the saddest, though, was not the ones I had to cut but the ones that never made it to the game. Often I looked at what the designer (or a staffer) sent and said, "hey, why didn't they send their so-and-so brooch or something from their XYZ series? Why did they send this little ring when they do such great giant brooches (that make great pages in a book)?" 

I mourn the absence of the great jewels I know that didn't show up.

And there were many great designers that didn't enter. Did they choose to opt out or did they never read the dozens of emails, blog posts, facebook updates and ads we ran to call for entries? Did their staff screw up and forget to mail the package? Did they run out of time? Why wouldn't you try for this great (FREE) publicity opp that gives you validation and exposure?

Why would you let yourself forget? Miss the deadline? Be out of the loop?

I know when the book comes out so many people will say to me: "oh I wish I had known. I wish I had gotten it together. I wish I had sent better stuff. I wish I had used a professional photographer."

And no one will be more sorry than me that they didn't.

Comments

[Kliton Ceku]

Harriete,
I came across this article and i can't agree more with what you wrote... it's indeed a sad reality. I'm a professional jewelry photographer and i know what it takes to show jewelry at its best. It takes years of experience, skills, equipments, and a solid understanding of lighting, composition, shape and form. Although i appreciate the efforts that many DIY jewelry designers try to put, it's a proven fact that soon or later they will realize that the most cost effective and time-saving solution is to hire a jewelry photographer to get the job done right. Well, that's the reality which is slowly changing:)

Best,
Kliton Ceku
www.cekuprophoto.com