I had a great time shooting for Niki, the very talented jeweler and designer behind Enji Studio Jewelry, earlier this year. Her pieces are edgy but beautiful, artistic and well-made. I especially loved the designs shown above – a dangle earring with different metal finishes and crystals.
I recently had the chance to do another shoot for LeightWorks‘ hand cut crystal jewelry. This time, we stuck to a clean white background. Each image is actually a compilation of two photos; a necessity due to the “phenomenal” nature of the glass. I first take an image of the piece with a dark (gray or black) surface behind or around the glass, to make the color appear. Then I take an image of the piece on a white background, per usual, so that the reflections in the metal are of the white surroundings and not black. I then layer the images in Photoshop to show the best of each image.
One day in February, David and Raima–the team behind Leightworks Crystal Jewelry, known for its iridescent glass pieces–stopped by the studio for our first meeting. They came with a tray of about 80 pieces, and were wanting a variety of shots including white background product shots, black gradient shots (for juried art shows), and editorial shots for website headers and ads.
As we went through their dozens of items and discussed what groups they wanted shot together, what colors to do for certain styles, etc., it became clear that we needed a game plan: We decided to knock out all of the individual white background shots first. This ended up being about 70 photos, and will allow them to represent every design on their website. Next I did the black gradient photos of 5 pieces. Last, I took a batch to the beach around 8am one Thursday morning to get some editorial shots.
All in all, the project took about 5-6 weeks, and they ended up with a nice variety of images that’ll be an asset to their business for years to come.