8 Simple Jewelry Photography Props You Can Use

This is an overview of the jewelry photography props that I use while photographing earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. By props, I mean the things I use to position earrings and necklaces so I can photograph them in the angle that I need to.

The images below were taken while working on a project for Sea Lustre Jewelry – Brooke Hartman is the lead designer and GIA Graduate Gemologist behind the brand.  All of her designs feature hand chosen South Sea, Tahitian and Freshwater Pearls.

Note: I took the pictures in this post from a couple feet away so you could see the prop used when photographing the jewelry. When taking the actual photo, I would zoom in to get pretty close to the jewelry (not too close or your images may be blurry).

(updated November 2022)

How to Photograph Necklaces

I use 3 props to photograph necklaces – one for shorter pendant necklaces, another for long necklaces and a standard bust for layered necklaces.

Pendant stand:

This stand is helpful because it has slots that can be used depending on whether you want a wide/narrow V shape on the necklace image. And it also helps accommodate for different lengths of chains.

Here is what I use but any similar stand will work. I bought this on Amazon – it was a dark brown color, which I spray painted white to avoid the dark color reflecting on the jewelry.

Photographing Long Necklaces:

For long necklaces that needed to be shot hanging, I couldn’t find a similar stand as above so I DIY’ed a simple stand. Some wood and picture nails. I use this for 30″ necklaces. These necklaces are too long for the stand above – they would hit the surface.

I could use this for short necklaces too but the other stand is more flexible. But if you can make a better stand than what I did here, then this can possibly be your only stand.

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Bowl for shaping necklaces:

When photographing necklaces flat, I use a bowl (or sometimes a can) to shape it.

Flat lay photography – shooting top down – Bracelet example

Shooting top-down requires a tripod with a horizontal arm. To block out reflections and get a soft diffused lighting effect, this transparent light cone is very useful – for jewelry, I recommend the phone-size and the medium-size cones. The phone-size has a smaller opening on top so it blocks out more reflection. The medium size has a bigger opening so is better for larger items like necklaces.

Here is how I set it up for a bracelet shot from top down. Shown below is the phone-size cone.

Here’s the view from the camera – notice how close the cone opening is to the bracelet.

Final image after some minor editing is in the gallery towards the bottom of the post. Notice how even the lighting is across the bracelet links and the sparkling stones.

How to Photograph Earrings

Studs or other Earrings with a Post Back:

For earrings with stud backs, I have an acrylic stand with two holes it it. It works perfectly for all earrings with a stud back. Or for small studs, I just lay them flat on a surface without any prop.

Photographing earrings with hook backs:

Here, I use a frame like the above but with a cut out center. And I use clear acrylic thread held together with clips. The clear thread is taken out in photoshop to achieve the floating effect on earrings.

I don’t remember where I got this from (from a small store I found while googling) but I checked a bit on Amazon and don’t see anything similar. Still, it’s simple enough to make it you are a bit handy – you can use a couple pieces of wood like the necklace prop above and instead of the bar on top, tie some clear thread or even white thread will do.

The three cards (black, gray and white) cards are used above to allow for color correction in Photoshop. I’ll put up another post soon on how to use these.

Here are some of the finished images.

Other Jewelry Photography Props

White tile or acrylic sheet:

I don’t personally use this but if you want to get natural reflections of jewelry in your photos, then a black or white glossy tile is a good option. And there are acrylic sheets like these on amazon – amazon link.

White putty or prop wax for rings and bracelets:

To get a ring to stand, I use white putty or prop wax. I prefer this white putty because it doesn’t make your fingers and product sticky. But prop wax is another option to try. Put a tiny bit of this under the ring to make it stand – amazon link.

Summary

Working with jewelry is difficult because it’s hard to get chains, ear wires and charms to sit at the angle you want it to. These props help you do that. I’ve tried several different types of props for photographing jewelry but the ones mentioned above have worked best for me.

For more tips on photographing jewelry, visit the jewelry photography page or learn from these online photography courses.

If you want to outsource your project, please click here for pricing.

I hope this post gave you some ideas on what props to use when photographing jewelry.

If you have a question or want to share other ideas that have worked for you, please leave a comment and I will respond.