Background for Jewellery Photos

Happiness Necklace I was recently a judge in a beading competition and there was one entry that I thought was stunning and should have been the winner. Unfortunately, because it was an internet competition, the photograph played a major role in the judging and this is where the entry fell short. The necklace was white and the participant took the photo on a white bust. I had to look carefully to see the details of her work against the white background. I understand her dilemma, since one usually only find white or black busts for jewellery display. Yet both white and black are often the worse backgrounds to use for jewellery photography especially if you are photographing jewellery with white beads. Even a professional photographer has told me that it is a problem when you are trying to take a photo of white beads on a black background. The exposure is a problem because the camera seems to adjust to the black background and then overexpose the white colour. Even when you try to correct this with a graphics program on the computer, it is not always successful. The other colours in the jewellery often gets distorted. To solve this problem, I have started to paint my plastic busts with a mat acrylic paint. The mat colour also avoids the bust from reflecting the light, the way plastic usually does. The colour that I find most practical is grey. I have actually painted 3 bust in 3 different shades of grey to cater for various shades of beads. This gives me room to experiment. I usually take photos on a variety of differently painted bust and then decide which photo I like best.