The Beading Gem

Remember JewelryShoot's fabulous photoshoot giveaway?  It was a great opportunity for one lucky reader to get professional photographs taken of their designs.  Ash is the photographer behind this unique service for artisans who cannot take good pictures but still need quality shots for ecommerce and catalogs.  Carla Allen was the winner of that giveaway.  Shown here are her designs as taken by Ash.  Aren't they - both designs and photos -  lovely?

I've always preferred taking jewelry pictures with natural light because it's easier. But there are occasions when taking pictures at night is more convenient.  Yet I balked at buying lamps.  The guy at our local camera shop told me I needed a lamp that could take 250W fluorescent bulbs. Really?

Imagine munching on jewelry or a handbag! The edible photo shoot by Italian photographer, Fulvio Bonavia was created for his fashion photography book, Matter of Taste. He aimed to do the unexpected and surprise people. Below is the pasta belt and the red cabbage and herb (sage) bangles.

 Did you miss last week's fabulous giveaway for two Modahaus Table Top Studio 216s? Well, there is still time as the contest doesn't end until 6 pm EST today!  So check my blog after that time to see if you win!

This size of studio is perfect for most jewelry artisans. However, if you make very large pieces or take a lot of grouped shots, pictures of cakes and craft items or even small pets and tiny babies, consider the larger ones.

Some of you loath having to take photographs of your jewelry.  The task either distracts from the far more enjoyable jewelry creation process or your photographs do not do your work justice.

Don't you wish you could have someone else do it all?  Well, you can without breaking the bank.  Erin Woodgate, a professional photographer, is offering online artisans a sweet trade.

Okay, you're all going to have to indulge me here. I was so excited when I bought my Modahaus I could hardly wait to try it out.

This first picture I took for last week's giveaway post was the most decent jewelry pix I've ever done with the least amount of effort!

I've had more time to experiment with the portable studio set up over the weekend. The two lucky winners of the giveaway which I will randomly pick later today and other new owners might be interested to see additional pictures and tips.

Image by Modahaus

You don't have to own an iPhone to appreciate UK based Lex McColl's amazing post on how he used his new iPhone 4 and the Modahaus table top photo studio set up to take great jewelry pictures.

An iPhone camera is not what he typically uses as a professional product photographer but he was curious to see if the pictures it took could pass muster in the hardest test of all - jewelry pictures with white backgrounds!

Jewelry Reflections
Part 3 of 3
Jewelry artisans sometimes struggle with jewelry photography. With good reason, we are not professional photographers.

So it helps to have a role model. One incredible jewelry photographer is Israeli Dmitriy Yoav Reinshtein. His reflective shots of some, if not all, of  Michael (Michal) Negrin's scrumptious jewelry.

Let's Party
Part 1 of 2
Talk about blinged out lips!  Drinking and eating would be a tad difficult but you'll be turning heads at your New Year's party!  I have no idea what glue the fashion photographer, Monica Barrenche used, but I'll bet the model lost a few epidermal layers in the aftermath.

What could be more appropriate on Halloween than a little horror inspired photoshoot? This one is based on an old Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. The story is about birds viciously attacking people in a small US coastal town. The film subject is so far removed from jewelry I would never have thought it could be the inspiration behind this unusual bling photo shoot. Ingenious, I say.

Safety Pin Bling
Part 2 of 2

Safety pin jewelry for men
Safety pins in jewelry designs are not a new idea. Think Tom Binns and you'll know what I mean. But safety pins by themselves and geared for just men turned up in a spectacular photo shoot recently. The punk style spread entitled ‘Flex Your Head appeared in the Japanese magazine, SENSE's July 2010 issue.

The photographer Junji Hata and the fashion director Tomiki Sukezane tried to create a tough look with the black and white pictures and black clothes. But somehow I found the pompadour hairstyles to be a distraction from the macho image. Perhaps had I grown up in the 1950's, my view might be different!

Ahoy, me hearties! Today be Talk Like A Pirate Day! Arrrrr! So I've a fierce fire in me belly t' talk like one - at least for the first paragraph! I want t' show the lasses some fine bedazzling eye patches sure t' turn the heads of any buccaneer!

Fashion photographer, Jorg Schieferecke's photo shoot of model Belinda Hirt shows his skill in making the bejeweled eye patch seem like a hot fashion accessory.

Yep. You read right - piglets. This is not the first time I have written about pigs - check out my past post on The Pig Who Ate A Diamond Off a Ring!.

This time we have cute little piglets or just one Miss Piggie modeling jewelry. I've featured some really innovative jewelry photo shoots before (see links below) - babies, on men, even real human skeletons. But this one is a porker of an idea!

I confess I have never seen the much acclaimed tv drama series Mad Men which is set in the 1960's. But after seeing the attention to period detail the set and costume designers paid, I am going to watch! Check out the fashion files as well as the videos on the costumes as well as hair and makeup.


Right on cue with the series' success is New York based Lizzie Fortunato Jewels' Fall 2010 Mad Men inspired collection. Their Look Book shows how much fun they had not just designing the jewelry but plotting the photo shoot - note the ashtray in one of the pictures below.

Ask any one in the ad industry and they will tell you adding babies or small children in commercials or print ads works well. Ask any actor and they will admit it's tough to compete if they have to act with these scene stealers.


So after the Jewelry for Women on Men photoshoot post when some readers might have hyperventilated while reading it, the jewelry on babies photoshoot would surely bring out the oohs and aahs as they showcase bling.  I couldn't resist adding the captions.

Playful Inspirations
Part 2 of 3
Fashion photographers can be very creative. Take Aaron McPolin's photoshoot entitled "Which Witch" for example. Some of his pictures from his project shows a model wearing a water spray necklace!! Before you peek further down this post, have a guess how he did it.

Photographic Inspirations
Part 1 of 3
Many of us sell jewelry online. Those of you who do will agree taking good photographs is loads harder than making the jewelry. "Staging" the jewelry is also necessary to showcase the work. So one way to inspire our efforts is to view jewelry photo shoots by professional photographers and artistic directors.

I've featured some unusual photo shoots from time to time. Today's post appeals to the history buff in me -the French Revolution jewelry photo shoot.

Food Inspirations Part 2 of 2
I've always admired the highly creative folks who work in ad agencies. They do come up with clever posters and ad ideas. One ad campaign by Bark Copenhagen for Waterfront Shopping in Denmark is a superb example. The advertising slogan was "Food meets Fashion" and I say the challenge was well met. Pearls as pasta? A pearl in a pea pod? Brilliant!

The creative director was Nicolas Rafn and the photographer was Martin Juul.  Via and via

Trick or Treat Part 3 of 6
One of the best Victorian Gothic novels was Bram Stoker's Dracula, a fast paced, highly readable and downright scary tale published in 1897. Whilst not the first vampire novel, his book is the most influential as is evident by the countless books, movies and other creative works that followed.