Camera Settings for Jewelry Photography

This is a quick camera settings guide for jewelry photography when using a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

I skip the theory here and walk you through how to determine the best camera settings for photographing jewelry based on your lighting set up – whether it’s a lightbox or tent or a custom set up. These guidelines are applicable for any DSLR or mirrorless camera – Nikon or Canon or Sony.

Who this guide is for?

Ideal for beginners starting to use a DSLR or mirrorless camera to photograph jewelry. These settings will work well if you’re photographing jewelry to sell online via Etsy, eBay, Amazon or your own website.

Step by step guide: How to set camera settings when photographing jewelry

Step 1: First, figure out which buttons or knobs you to need to use to change aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings on your camera. And how to switch from Auto mode to Aperture mode and Manual mode.

Step 2: Put the camera on Aperture Mode and set aperture to F14 and ISO to the lowest setting your camera will allow — usually 100 or 200. Based on my experience, when the camera is 10–20 inches away from the product, F14 is an ideal aperture.

Step 3: When you’re in aperture mode, the camera automatically sets the shutter speed. Take a pic and look at the shutter speed setting which was set.

If the colors are accurate and the image is clear, you’re done — those are your settings. Switch to manual mode and use F14 with the shutter speed that the camera automatically set for you.

If the colors look darker or lighter than what you want, then continue below.

Step 4: Switch to manual mode.

Step 5: Set aperture to F14 again and set the shutter speed to what you saw in Aperture mode.

Step 6: To make the image brighter, tweak the shutter speed to be a little slower (if you want more light) or little faster (if you want less light). For example, if your shutter speed in aperture mode was 1/5th of a second, change it to 1/3rd of a second to make the image brighter or make it faster to 1/8th second to make the image darker.

Step 7: Take another pic. Your image should be brighter or darker based on what you did to your shutter speed. If the image looks like how you want it, you’re done. If not, go back to step 6.

That’s it. Use those camera settings for all your products. That is the ideal setting based on your lighting set up.

Consistency: These settings will give you the best image for your type of product with your lighting set up. For example, if you determine your settings in a room with only product lighting switched on, then take all future pics in that same set up.

Don’t determine settings like above and then shoot in daylight near a window with those same settings. That won’t work. If you plan to shoot with different lighting setups, repeat the process for each environment.

More tips on camera settings and product photography

Before you get to these tips, it’ll help if you get familiar with what aperture and shutter speed do.

• Why F14? The larger the number, more of the product will be in focus. Through trial and error, I find that F14 gives you an ideal blend of clarity and focus for jewelry photography. You could try F11 too but don’t go higher to F18 or more. Images will start to get a bit blurry if you do.
• Quick Photoshop editing tip: Use Unsharp Mask with a setting of 60, radius of 1 and threshold of 3 to sharpen your image. If you’re shooting with a entry level or mid-priced DSLR with the kit lens, this is sufficient in most cases. You can move the sliders around to see if a different setting works better for you.
• White background: These settings will give you clear product images with good colors. If want a whiter background, then point more light at the background. Just because your background is white, doesn’t mean the camera sees it that way. For example, if you look at a white wall in a dark room, its not going to look white. So point a light on the background and your background will be whiter. It’s hard to get a perfectly white background for every shot so get it as white as you can, and then edit in photoshop. There are many tutorials on YouTube on how to edit for a white background or hire a freelancer from fiverr or upwork who will do it for you for a low cost. Or use a background removal tool that can do this automatically for you.
• Settings based on product: In some cases, if you are shooting a white product or black product, your settings might need to change again using the above process but shutter speed is the primary setting you should tweak. Go through the above process with 3 products — a light or white product, a dark or black product and medium color like blue or green product. If the settings turn out to be different, you change your settings based on the color of the product you’re photographing.
• What setting should you change and when? Aperture should be tweaked only if your image is not clear. Shutter speed should be tweaked if you want your image to be brighter or darker. For product photography, don’t change ISO — keep it at it’s lowest setting, typically 100 or 200.

For more DIY tips, view our jewelry photography page or product photography classes. Looking to outsource your project – view pricing here.

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