PurlsAndPixels

DIY Jewelry Photography Stand

DIY Jewelry Photography Stand

A tutorial by Liz @PurlsAndPixelsDIY earring photography stand instructions from PurlsAndPixels

It can be tricky to take nice studio-style photographs of dangle earrings. Laying them flat can distort how the earrings look. And hanging them on something can be tricky because props can distract from your pretty jewelry. After playing with a few different ideas, I built a jewelry photography stand to photograph my earrings. It hangs on the wall like a photograph and displays my earrings nicely for studio style pictures.

Learn how to make a jewelry photography stand with simple items you may have around the house or can easily get at you local craft store or online. Then I’ll show you how to photograph your jewelry with your new stand.

Materials

To create this DIY jewelry photography stand, you’ll need:

How to make a Jewelry Photography Stand, DIY from PurlsAndPixelsInstructions

First, carefully remove the glass from the shadow box. Discard it or reuse the glass for another project.

Next, using your jewelry pliers, screw an eye screw into the side of the shadow box. You’ll want put the screw on the swing side of the shadow box, near where the glass was attached.

Screw a second eye screw into the opposite side of the shadow box.

Tightly tie the fishing line to one eye screw. Then, tie the other end of the fishing line to the second eye screw. Make sure you pulling the string tightly enough to support the weight of your earrings without sagging, but not so tightly as to rip out the first eye screw.

With the pins included in the shadow box, pin your backdrop paper to the inside of the shadow box.

DIY Jewelry Photography Stand for Earrings

Photographing Earrings on your Jewelry Stand

Now that your jewelry photography stand is complete, all you have left to do is hang your earrings and take a photo.

Ensure that you have hung your photo stand near a window with lots of natural light. Otherwise you’ll need to get a set of studio lights to make sure your photos are not underexposed. Try the flash if you like, but I don’t recommend it. The flash tends to distort very shiny jewelry, especially with close up photos.

Place your earrings on the wire, and space them so they don’t touch each other.

I use a tripod to take my earring photos, to keep it as steady as possible. Plus this makes it easier to photograph multiple pieces of jewelry, without having to re-position the camera every time.

Zoom in on the earrings, taking the frame of the stand out of your photo. Focus the camera on the earrings, and capture your photograph. Experiment with different pieces of paper and different textures behind your jewelry to find your personal style. Most people go with white. I say do what you think looks best.

Silver unicorn earrings photograph by Liz @PurlsAndPixels
Silver unicorn earrings photograph by Liz @PurlsAndPixels

I remove the string from my images in Photoshop using the healing brush tool set to “content aware.” The program removes the string so it looks as though the earrings are floating in the air. You could also use a decorative string or ribbon from the start of your project, and then you would not need to use Photoshop after taking your pictures.

Now you’re ready to take professional-looking studio-style photographs of your earrings on your DIY jewelry stand. Have fun!

Jewelry Photography Stand for photographing earrings

Leave a Reply