For those of us who sell on the internet our pictures are our best salesperson. People naturally look at photographs before even reading the text description so the better your photographs are the better your chance to make a sale.

I have been using digital cameras for almost 20 years and have learned that shooting smalls, especially jewelry, can be challenging. I have done professional photography for a large local auction house and jewelry and smalls are among the most difficult items to photograph.

However with a few basic tips you can drastically improve your jewelry pictures. I decided to share some of my experience with my fellow Ruby Lane shop owners through a serious of How To blogs, of which this is the first.

One of the most important things in photographing jewelry is to make sure you are shooting your pictures in Macro Mode. What exactly is macro mode?

Most digital cameras have different ways they can focus. Via turning a dial or pressing a button you tell your camera how you want to focus.

Autofocus – this is most often used for normal, everyday pictures.

Macro – this is for “closeups” (i.e., for getting close to small objects such as jewelry and coins).

Most cameras can be put into Macro mode in one of two ways: pressing the macro flower or putting the camera into macro mode by pressing a button.

On some cameras, you simply press the flower icon. A small flower icon will appear on your display screen. On other cameras, a button (usually labeled MF-AF) is pressed and the flower icon appears on the display screen.

You know that your camera is in macro mode when you see the flower icon displayed on your camera’s display screen. If you don’t see that flower displayed you are not in macro mode. If you’re not sure how to put your camera in macro mode look in the book that came with your camera. It’s super easy to do and makes a world of difference in how your jewelry or smalls will look.

Compare these two photos of a small piece of jewelry. One was taken in macro mode, one was not. The difference is amazing. Now consider this…if you were shopping for a piece of vintage jewelry, which of these pictures would be the most appealing to you? Which one would clinch the sale?

This is the difference that macro mode can make!

Good luck in your photography efforts and watch for more blogs on this subject.

Carol Scheer
A Return To Splendor - http://areturntosplendor.rubylane.com