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Jewelry Website Content

Background Information

Target Audience: new jewelry owners, particularly women wanting to show off their engagement rings on social media

Publish Location: company blog

Opportunities for Additional Branding: This content can be used to promote social sharing of products as well as encourage use of specific hashtags and company tagging. In addition, this can be used to prominently feature website technologies.

Now that you have a new ring, it’s more stunning in person than you could have imagined. Now comes the fun part: sharing your sparkle with the world! While we’d all love professional photographers for every special moment, you want to show off your ring on your own terms.

Table of Contents

With a few simple tricks, you can take great pictures of your new ring by yourself with a camera phone you probably already own. Whether you’re announcing an engagement or casually showing off a new manicure that happens to include your new ring, these tips can help you shine brightly in your photos.  

Lighting is Everything

The light you use is key in taking photos that shine, but there’s no need to buy expensive equipment to capture a special moment. Try these tricks:

Sunlight

Use sunlight to your advantage. By taking pictures outside or next to an open window, you can harness the power of sunlight to take great pictures. Direct sunlight during midday provides harsh light that can cast unflattering shadows. Try taking pictures in the morning or afternoon while facing the sun. This will give your photos a warmer appearance and can create flattering shadows that make pictures look artistic.

For a dreamy and romantic feel, try taking pictures during the so-called “golden hour,” the hour before sunset. The amount of light is lower, but the warm colors and long shadows created will look soft and inviting and are the perfect backdrop to show brilliance and shine.

Indoor Light

Indoor lighting can be tricky. Incandescent bulbs cast yellow light that’s unflattering, while fluorescent and some LED bulbs create harsh blue tones. Look for LED bulbs that balance these extremes.

Most home lighting works for our eyes but doesn’t provide enough light for great photos. Gather several lamps and position them in front of your subject. This extra light improves your photos, adds appealing shadows, and makes colors look more natural.

Use a “Sparkle Light”

A regular photograph can show the beauty of your ring but won’t necessarily show sparkle. To do that, try shining a phone flashlight directly at the diamond and place your hand on a pure white background such as a piece of paper. The direct light will bounce off the facets of your stone, showing off its flash and brilliance.

Pro tip: The same lighting that makes your diamond sparkle to your eye will make it shine in photos. If it looks brilliant in person, you’ve found your perfect lighting setup!

Posing

Ever wondered why some hand photos don’t look right? Small positioning changes make a big difference. Keep your fingers relaxed and slightly curved. Avoid laying your hand flat or stretching fingers outward which creates unflattering bulk. Relax your wrists to create clean lines from wrist to fingertips.

Position your ring finger prominently, and don’t be afraid of poses that feel unnatural because they often create the most flattering lines.

All About Angles

The angle between the camera lens and the ring you want to photograph can make a big difference. A 45-degree angle captures light and allows it to bounce off of the facets of a stone. A straight-on angle shows off the beauty of the ring as a whole and is especially useful to show off the setting as well as stone. A side angle can make rings look bigger and give the look of someone else taking the picture. Your other hand can be used as support to get a flattering pose and angle.

If you want to show maximum sparkle, try capturing a video. Relax your hand into a soft but natural pose. Shine a light directly onto the diamond just out of the frame of the video. You can do that with a flashlight or the flashlight feature on a phone. Then, gently rock your hand back and forth slowly, allowing the light to pick up the moving facets and bounce off of them, creating that desirable sparkle.

Picture Perfect Hands

Your hands and nails serve as a canvas to show off your ring. Don’t abandon your personality for the sake of a picture. If short, black nails or neon acrylics are your thing, don’t change that for the sake of a picture. This is a picture of YOU, not just a ring.

You can help your hands look perfected aside from just your nails. Use cuticle oil to eliminate dryness and a rich hand cream to help your skin look plump and fresh. If you wear other jewelry, choose rings or bracelets that represent you and your style but that also complement and enhance your new ring. If your other jewelry is too busy, you’ll distract from the beautiful piece you want to show off.

Composition

Composition means the things you can see in a photograph. A few composition tricks can make your pictures look polished and professional.

Rule of Thirds

Imagine your photo divided into nine squares (three across, three down).

Place your ring at one of the four intersection points rather than dead center. This creates dynamic, professional-looking compositions that naturally draw the eye to your jewelry.

Props and Background

Use props to enhance the look of photos but not overpower them. Laying your hand on a loud, floral print scarf could pull focus away from you and to the fabric instead.

Textures such as silk or velvet in a contrasting color add visual interest with little effort. Flowers make pictures romantic. Also, you can try injecting your personality through props as well. Posing with your favorite book or a brightly colored ice cream cone adds texture in an unexpected way while letting your personality shine. When all else fails, you can never go wrong with a solid white background. This creates a clean, professional-looking image and is a good canvas for trying out lighting and poses.

Camera Tricks

Your phone camera likely has settings that create professional-looking photos. Portrait mode adds background blur, making photos look polished while keeping focus on your ring. Many phones also let you adjust exposure. Use this feature if your photos are too bright (blown out) or too dark.

Take lots of pictures. In fact, that’s what professionals do. The more options you have, the better you can identify what works. Delete the misses and keep the hits.

Editing

A little editing goes a long way, and your phone already has tools to adjust exposure, enhance contrast, and increase saturation. Avoid heavy filters that scream “amateur” in favor of subtle adjustments to make your ring’s metal pop and eliminate small imperfections.

Have a picture worth showing off? We’d love to see it! Post it with the hashtag #EXAMPLEHASHTAG and share your story.