Common product photography problems:

Perhaps the most common product photography problems I see posted about in forums like those on Etsy, is how to combat either dark photos with grey backgrounds which are supposed to be white, or backgrounds with a colour cast that are also supposed to be white.

Underexposure & incorrect white balance:

Both are very easily fixed, it's how you're exposing the shots that causes the greyness and incorrect white balance that causes colour casts.

A little exposure compensation on your camera will fix underexposure and grey backgrounds a treat - I've written a tutorial which covers both issues and several others. Choosing the correct white balance, or setting up a custom one for combined lighting sources can fix weird colour casts. Very often, both are an issue and fixing them in the camera will save a lot of post-processing work later.


See this page - underexposure of this nature is explained and illustrated about two thirds down the page: http://www.boo.myzen.co.uk/artisan.html

One simple adjustment on your camera will sort it out - if you can't find the controls for it, come out of auto mode and try something like P (programmed auto) or A (aperture priority) instead - that often relinquishes a lot of controls the camera takes over in full auto mode.

Jewellery and photography

My two passions are making jewellery and photography - and they spend a lot of time coming together.

I aim to post about both here and to incorporate articles I've already written on photographing jewellery into this format.

To follow shortly I have tutorials on photographing small objects to sell on places like Etsy.com and my own free lighting diffuser - i.e. you can make it free from found objects. The diffuser was used for the bracelet photograph above right.