Aperture & Shutter Speed – Photographing Jewelry in Manual Mode

In this post, we explain how to use aperture and shutter speed when photographing jewelry in manual mode.

How this post is organized?

• What is shutter speed – illustrated with examples
• What is aperture – illustrated with examples
• How do aperture and shutter speed work together in product photography

This post is intended to be less technical. If you’re a business owner just starting out with a camera that has a manual option, this post is for you.

What is camera shutter speed?

Shutter speed is the length of time the camera’s shutter stays open. When you click, the camera’s shutter opens and lets light through to capture the image. The longer the shutter stays open, the more light passes through on to your product. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second.

So to get more light into your image, instead of adding an extra physical light, you can use a slow shutter speed as an alternative. A slower shutter speed will brighten your image.

Here is an example of the same image shot at different shutter speeds. Note that the shutter speeds mentioned below are in fractions of a second so 1/10th sec is 10 times faster than 1 second. As the images below show, the slower the speed, the brighter the image gets. In the below images, all other settings are the same, only the shutter speed varies.

Notice how the image gets brighter with slower shutter speeds. The last image is too bright, so in this example the 1/2 sec shutter speed works best for this piece of jewelry.

Note: In the below images, F14 is the aperture – I’ll explain aperture in the next section below.

Side note: Shutter speed settings are also used to capture motion. For example, have you seen an image of a bird whose wings look like they are fluttering? Thats a result of an image taken with a slow shutter speed. For example, if you set shutter speed to be 1 second, your camera will capture all movements in that one second. For jewelry and most standard product photography, where your products don’t move, shutter speed is less important for motion. It’s more used to increase or reduce light.

However, what if you’re photographing earrings hanging on a stand. If you click while your earrings are dangling, and you’re using a slow shutter speed, the movement will show as blurriness in the image.

What is camera aperture?

Aperture is a setting that lets you control how much of your product is clear (and how much is blurred). Aperture is represented in terms of the letter ‘F’ followed by a number e.g. F5, F14 etc. Higher the number, there is more depth of focus, hence more of the image is clear.

What does depth of focus mean? For example, when photographing a bracelet in an angle like the below, the front of the bracelet is closer to the camera than the back of the bracelet. The distance between the front and the back of the product is the depth.  A low number like F5 will only focus on the parts of the bracelet closer to the camera while a higher number like F25 will focus on more of the bracelet i.e. the depth of focus or focus range increases as the number increases.

Here is the setup.

In product photography, most often, you want the entire image to be clear so buyers can see all the details. However, there are instances when you may use some blur so the focus is on a unique or interesting aspect of a product. For example, when photographing a ring with a large stone, if you want the focus to be on the stone, then setting aperture to blur out the back of the ring would give the image a nice artistic effect.

So if higher apertures give you more depth of focus, why not always use a high number? There are two caveats to photographing at high apertures.

1. The higher the number, the less the brightness. There is more depth of focus but the image is darker. Here is an example of an image shot at F14 and at F5. Note that at equal shutter speeds, the F5 image is brighter.

So to adjust brightness in the F14 image, I’d have to shoot at a slower shutter speed. Here is an example comparing a F14 image with a slower shutter speed. 1/2 sec. is 10 times slower than 1/20th of a second so the brightness increases dramatically.

2. The higher the number, the lower the clarity. The overall image will be more clear at a higher number like F25 but the parts of the image that are clear at F5 will be more clear than at F25.

Here is an example of an image at F25 v. F5. I adjusted shutter speed so the brightness is similar.

• the front+back of the F25 image is clear while in F5, only the front is clear. See blue arrows to see the difference.
• however, the F5 image is more clear in the front. See the green arrows on the small stones. Notice the difference in clarity – the small stones are more clear in the F5 image than in F25.

So, what settings should you use?

I typically shoot at F14 – at this aperture the difference in clarity from F5 is minimal. And once I find the appropriate shutter speed, I leave it at that for all my photos shot from the same angle. If you change your angle or are shooting different types of products, you may have to adjust shutter speed but I rarely change my aperture.

In short, for product photography purposes, a slower shutter speed gives you more light. And a higher aperture number means more depth of focus.

The best way to understand this further is to try it out yourself. Use any bracelet and try to replicate the sample images above. Photograph it with the same settings as above and see how the image changes.

If you have a question, please leave a comment and I will answer.