How To Make Diamonds Sparkle In Photos
The sparkling diamond is one of the most critical aspects of jewelry photography. But sometimes, it might get tricky to get into the perfect angle to create sparkle. So let’s learn how to make these jewels sparkle in photos.
The diamond might not show sparkle right away even for a professional jewelry photographer. So to make the task easier, you need to learn the nitty-gritty of it.
You could get improved photos during the diamond photoshoot with a better setup and tricks. It would be helpful for you to create an ideal composition for jewelry photos. Let’s learn it right now.
Why Making Diamond Sparkle Is The Priority
Making diamond sparkles is one of the key aspects of jewelry photography. Sparkling proves its authenticity. It attracts more viewers to the jewelry product image. As a result, product photography succeeds in its aspect.
Thus, making a perfect sparkle is not an easy task to go on. At most times, the diamond doesn’t shine on DSLR cameras right away. But it only happens when the gem sits at the correct angle with lights. So you need to place lighting correctly and start shooting to shine better.
Tips On How To Make Your Diamonds Shine Within Photos
Getting a precious diamond sparkle can make your image worthwhile a lot faster. Follow the below-mentioned tips to help you get perfect on the jewelry photographs. These practices can lead you to photos that are the most attractive.
Clean & Polish out the Diamond Thoroughly
Before you start clicking photos of the diamond, make sure it’s cleaned and polished enough. With even the lightest dirt speck, the gem will not reach its shining potential. Meanwhile, wear gloves and use a microfiber cloth to clean it up.
When photographing a diamond ring, clean out the ring as well. We will talk about it in the next section. Thus, cleaned and polished ones sparkle the most, which is why they keep them as clean as possible. Clean surface to provide great reflection with minimum effort.
Be A Bit Creative With External Lightings
We recommend using external lights to get the most sparkle in your camera. However, it’s better to buy some LED lighting and place it in unique angles. Moreover, it’s better not to use any built-in camera lights as it’s not effective to get the diamond sparkling within the photo.
Take multiple photos with different lighting angles. Check which angles give you the most impressive sparkle. Most of the time, placing the LED lighting at a 45-degree angle would be enough to create the perfect lighting. On the other hand, use more diffused lights like a softbox to get a sweater ambiance and glitter at the same time.
Use Sparking Lightings To Add Glare
Sparkling lights can be a unique and effective way to get some sort of sparkling. You could buy sparkling lighting in your surrounding stores. Choose a place beside the diamond to place the sparkling lighting. It would create a mild yet interesting sparkle which is great to watch.
Don’t get too complicated with the selection of sparkling light. You only need a few sparkling lights. Moreover, don’t overdo the lighting as it might alter the color balance of images. If you face color temperature or balance issues, fix them in the post-production phase.
Try To Use Electronic Sparkling Tools
If creating diamond sparkles seems a hassle, use a lightbox for aid. Most of the current day’s lightbox comes with built-in lighting. These lightings are curated to provide you with the best composition possible. Make sure to buy out the light with built-in lighting as well.
Within a lightbox, you have the option to rotate the diamond to get a better angle. Hence, before you start capturing the photo, try to adjust the angle and experiment. If your jewelry photography lightbox doesn’t have built-in lights, use LED lights with a combination.
Shoot With Macro Lens
To get better details of the diamond, try to use the microlens. These lenses come with compatibility with DSLR cameras. Thus, now you can capture the sparkle and smaller detail. Macro lenses make great captures when it comes to jewelry photography. Thus you should use it for your photographs.
In case you don’t want to use the macro photography lenses, use a lens that has a longer focal length. It would let you put the diamond into the focus, which is why even a slighted sparkle would be visible within the image. Either way, you go, make sure to add a distraction-free background.
Avoid Destruction On Background
Let’s think a bit about the background. At first, you could either use the white or black background as you wish. Plus, photographing jewelry on a reflective surface is one of the big trends. So although a white background works great for jewelry photographs, keep checking yourself and find out the best one.
When talking about the props, use flowers, papers, or others you think of. But, keep in mind the photo composition must be free of any destruction. By minimizing the destruction, improving the sparkle of the diamond would be a lot easier.
Keep The Diamond In Focus
Focus can be a vital part of getting sparkling diamonds. To create a perfect focus on a DSLR, follow the mentioned steps. First, set the DSLR on the tripod. Afterward, change the lens mode to AF and turn the camera to “Live View Mood.” Now, Zoom on the diamond, and don’t overdo it.
Now, you only have to hold the AF-on button, and the camera will start auto-focusing on the diamond. Perhaps, you need to hold down the button until you get the perfect focus. Always follow the same procedure, and you will find out the perfect focus.
Editing Tasks To Make The Diamonds Sparkle
One of the essential parts of getting sparkling diamonds is post-production. You could use software like Photoshop to polish up the jewelry images. Follow the below-mentioned sweets to make your jewelry photos look more appealing and sparking.
- Crop out the unnecessary image part to place the product in focus.
- Start improving the brightness and contrast of the image in Photoshop.
- Remove or retouch the background and make it less with destruction.
- At last, retouch any imperfection on the ring as well.
Thus, if you don’t have the skill to run Photoshop, take a jewelry photo retouching service. Of course, it would smother the post-production process. But, as a result, you would get a more polished and shining diamond.
How Do I Make My Diamond Ring Sparkle?
Want to make the ring sparkle like the diamonds are? First, you need to polish the rings and clean them up. Then, even if you don’t get any shininess, customize the lighting so the ring’s edges. Further, be sure to adjust the focus to get the perfect shininess of your ring.
You could use hot water and soap to create the cleaning solution and clean it up. You may need to use photo editing tools to make diamonds shine in the worst cases. It won’t turn on the sparkle out of magic but will help you turn the shine and reflection into a more attractive one.
Instances Where Diamond Sparkles
Let’s get into the instances where diamonds start sparkling. In short, you have three instances where it starts emitting lightning. Learning these out can help you to create a better lighting setup.
- Fire: When the light enters the diamond and disperses into the center, creating rainbow effects.
- Brilliance: Light bounces off the surface and gets into viewers’ eyes in the following instance. Thus, it creates crown-like effects on the top.
- Scintillation: Instances when the viewers or the diamond moves, and it creates a light of the flash, hence, creating scintillating effects.
Note: To get the perfect scintillation effects, use faster shutter speed and lower quality ISO.
Let’s get into the questions about making a diamond shine in photos.
Which Apps Are The Best For Sparkling The Diamond?
In case you are using your smartphone, use apps like KiraKira+. Even though the app is like an Instagram filter, it would get sparkling effects. But when it comes to post-production, instead use Photoshop.
What Makes The Diamond Sparkle?
Diamond sparkles when the light gets in, hitting several times within the structure and going into your eyes. The shimmer can vary according to the cuttings of the jewel itself. Thus, you could get to see flash and rainbow effects.
How To Keep A Diamond Shiny All The Time?
If you need to use the same diamond for a longer time, keep it clean with water and a dishwasher. You only have to put it in the water solution once a week. After putting out the water diamond, clean it up with a fabric.
Conclusion
Getting into how to make diamonds sparkle in photos can give you a boost as a jewelry photographer. Because it provides you with a precious sparkle, which makes it look great. Perhaps you capture the beauty of the jewelry products seamlessly.
Thus, you must admit, that jewelry photography is not a kid’s play. You have to be precise, skilled, and clever to set up perfect lighting. But don’t get it wrong, as with time, you will be an expert in the niche and provide you with spectacular diamond photos.