The best way for artisans to show the entire
world their beautiful handmade jewelry is to
TAKE and use GREAT photographs!

Dear friend:

My name is Jim Juris and my specialty is photographing jewelry and small craft items. I do this without buying and using a lot of expensive photography equipment. Of course, this is assuming that you already have purchased a digital camera and a good tripod. Jewelry photography is like anything else, the more time and effort that you put into photographing jewelry the better you will become and the easier it will be. This is true not only for jewelry photography but for any craft or hobby.

This ebook is not just for jewelry makers, it is for any craft person or hobbyist that needs to photograph small objects...

• matchbox cars
• teddy bears
• arrowheads
• fishing ties
• birdhouses
• thimbles
• candles
• coins
• soap

Benefits of reading my ebook:

• Fast! You won't need to spend days, weeks, months, or a year trying to perfect your photography. You can read my ebook in two hours or less.
• Easy! The methods that I teach in my ebook are easy to understand and use.
• Low Cost! You won't have to spend hundreds of dollars on additional equipment such as special lighting or a jewelry photography light box to make your photos look good.
• Free Shipping! Save money by not having to pay for shipping charges like you would if you where purchasing a book that is printed on paper.
• Immediate Download! You never have to leave home to purchase my ebook.

Quality jewelry, polymer clay, and other craft photography is easy once you know some key techniques. While many artisans create beautiful jewelry, they don't know how to take great photographs of their fabulous creations. The photos look bad so they miss out on sales.

I visited hundreds of artisan/ entrepreneur web sites and quickly saw the need for a focused ebook on quick photography techniques. Some of the web sites that I visited lack quality pictures. Their items on eBay, Itsy, and other sites looked bad compared to the photos on competitors' pages. With some practice and by using the knowledge that I will provide from my own experience, you should be seeing a great improvement in the quality of your digital jewelry photography very quickly.

Testimonial

"Jim, I really believe in your ebook. I think it is extremely well written and easy to understand. All of my pictures are so much better and I have only been using some of your tips."

Diana Norman, www.DianaNormanDesigns.com

My ebook consists of 57 pages of text. Included in those 57 pages are 34 images.

Table of contents:

• What to look for when buying a digital camera
• Becoming familiar with your digital camera
• Using a tripod and the camera's self-timer for sharp images
• The three different focus mode settings, tips and tricks to avoid blurry images
• White balance, exposure compensation settings, and bracketing
• Photo Light boxes and light tents
• Using various types of backgrounds for your jewelry or craft item photography
• Using a water jug to photograph small items
• Digital darkroom basics
• Advanced image editing techniques
• Pinhole lighting techniques

Why you need great photos

One of the advantages of buying jewelry in a store is that you can look, feel, and try on the jewelry before you buy it. Your web sites photographs compete with that experience so they need to be terrific. If your jewelry does not look good on your web site then how can you expect someone to purchase it from you?

Your competition

If you want to be successful at selling jewelry on the internet you must have quality photographs of your products, otherwise people will just go on to the next jewelry web site. Thousands of people are competing with you to sell their jewelry online, either on an auction site, a craft mall site, or on their own web site. Unlike your local retail shops, internet stores can attract potential buyers from anywhere.

I have won several photography contests

As a photographer I enjoy competing in online photo competitions. Out of the twenty to thirty photo contests that I have entered on several photography web sites two of my photographs won first place and one photo won third place.

My latest winning photograph is the train photo that you see on the right side of this page. I won first place with this photo on October 31, 2007 on the About.com photography forum.

Four tips for photographing jewelry

Here are the four most common tips that I have given to people who are having problems with their jewelry photography.

1. Read the camera owner's manual and become familiar with all of the features of your camera. For example, some of the things that you should become familiar with are the self-timer, setting the white balance and exposure values, how to take photographs using the manual or macro focusing settings, how to use the built in flash, how to zoom in and out from the subject of the photograph, and how to set the resolution you are going to use for taking your photographs.
2. Move the camera as close to the subject as possible. Use the LCD viewing screen on the camera, and fill up the screen as much as possible. This may mean that you will need to use the macro setting on your camera. Refer to your camera's owner's manual for the distance that the camera is designed for using the macro setting.
3. Use a tripod and the camera self-timer. Using these two items at all times will give you clear and sharp photographs.
4. Keep the subject of the photograph focused. Nobody likes to look at a photograph that is out of focus. If your photo is not focused properly, then retake the photograph.

You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment to get great shots. You can take excellent pictures with just a digital camera that is 2 mega pixels or greater and a small inexpensive tripod.

One of the methods that I teach and use does not require using a tripod. This is actually my favorite method of close up photography. This method will also work for photographing small flat items like coins, stamps, arrowheads, and casino chips. I explain this method completely in my ebook.

It is not necessary to have a 5, 6, 7, or 8 mega pixel camera. A 2, 3, or 4 mega pixel digital camera will work fine. Having expensive equipment does not automatically make you a great photographer. You need to know how to use the equipment properly, in order to take excellent photographs.

Yes, you can spend hundreds and maybe a thousand dollars or more, for quality lighting, a photo light box or tent, and other accessories, but that is not really necessary for jewelry photography, unless you are planning on making a living as a professional photographer. Using inexpensive photography accessories allows you to spend your money on your business and yourself instead.

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Copyright © 2009 Jim Juris - All Rights Reserved

Ebook cover created by Josh Ingerling. Please visit his web site at Pydigor.com