Whether you photograph jewelry with a digital camera or shoot film and scan you need to edit your digital photos with a professional photo editor. The finest and most widely used editor is Adobe Photoshop. To run the software you need a powerful computer with lots of processing power and lots of RAM, especially if you work on high-resolution images. Other important components for editing are a high resolution large screen monitor that operates on at least 1600x1200 pixels, a high resolution video card with more than 64 mb of RAM and a precision monitor calibration device, like Eye-one from GretagMacbeth. Of course these are just tools. The real asset is the operator using these tools...someone with experience in photo editing and manipulation and specialized in Jewelry Photography. Here we'll examine image capture or scanning, ICC color profiling, retouching, color correction, outlining, shadows and backgrounds and optimizing images for various media.
Return to Table of Content Capture and Scanning. Earlier we discussed digital cameras and traditional film cameras. Using a traditional film camera means that the film will have to be digitized with a scanner before editing can begin. There is a multitude of professional scanners varying in size and shape, priced from $1,000 to 250,000. We won't talk here about which scanner is best because that depends on the size of film used (35mm, 2 1/4, 4x5, 8x10) and other factors, but let's review what specifications you should look for on a professional scanner used for jewelry photography. The most important specification is the Dynamic Range or Dmin/Dmax. Dynamic Range is the ratio of the highest signal (highlights) which a scanner can record to the lowest signal (shadows). Dmin/Dmax range is from 0.0 to 4.0. The wider the numbers the better the capture. A scanner with Dmin 0.0/Dmax 3.8 is desirable. Another important specification is the number of bit depth used to represent each pixel. The greater the bit depth, the more colors or grayscale can be represented. For example, a 24-bit color scanner can represent 2 to the 24th power, or 16.7 million colors. The last important specification is resolution. The denser the bit map, the higher the resolution. A scanner with an optical resolution of 1,000 ppi using 4x5 film will cover a 8.5x11 catalog page at 300 ppi. Therefore, if 2 1/4 film is used a scanner with a higher resolution should be used. The scanner operator or digital photographer requires the necessary training and skills to use the software with it's many settings and variations for color calibrations, color profiles, Dmin/Dmax, balance contrast, balance color, set sharpness, set resolution and so on. Return to Table of Content ICC Color Profiling. Before any photograph is taken (digital or traditional) and/or any film is scanned, devices have to be calibrated and devices color profiling assigned (icc Profiles) to softwares, cameras and film, scanners, monitors, printers, ink and paper.
Color profiling is a professional standard to communicate color across all operating systems, input and output devices and computer applications, making sure that colors will be interpreted the same way. Below: Commonly used Color spaces (ICC Profiles) from the original film to RGB devices like computer monitors, to printing and proofing devices, to offset printing like catalogs and magazines, to television.
For more information about icc profiles and application check The International Color Consortium web site. Knowledge of color profiling and how to apply it is important in jewelry photography and especially in color gemstones. It can mean the difference in appearance between a ruby and a garnet, or an emerald and a peridot.
Return to Table of Content Retouching. No matter how careful you are in photographing jewelry there is always something that needs to be fixed. It may be a piece of fiber caught in the prongs, manufacturing imperfections, rhodium plating, a poor setting, a spec of dust or surface scratches. Because of the extreme close ups, fine scratches and imperfections on the jewelry will be noticeable and exaggerated. Images below illustrate two examples of retouching. Rhodium plating imperfections (left) and pitting with a bad reflection (right).
Return to Table of Content Color Correction. Another important part of image editing is color correction. This too requires great skills and experience; to know how to use the curve tool in Photoshop; to change a gemstone from sapphire to emerald; or to change yellow gold to white gold. And when it comes to metal color, it's important to make sure that white gold, platinum and silver look as neutral as possible so each item will look the same across your entire library of images. One more issue we should address here is color contamination. The reflective metal of jewelry picks up everything that's on and around the set, including the color background were it is placed. Diamonds and gemstones are another problem. Because they are translucent they show through any color behind, like yellow gold or background colors. These problems can and should be corrected to show the true colors. Images below illustrate various color corrections. Change gemstone color from sapphire to emerald (left), change from yellow gold to white gold and rose gold (right).
Color change from colorless diamond to a fancy yellow diamond to Jennifer Lopez pink Diamond to a Blue Diamond.
It's important to make sure that white gold, platinum and silver look as neutral as possible so each item will look the same across your entire library of images.
Color contamination from background on the ring shank and gemstone. (left) Color of the emeralds and diamonds are contaminated from the yellow gold behind. (right)
Return to Table of Content Outlining. Outlining is the most time consuming part of photo editing. In order to position jewelry in different backgrounds, or simply use a white background, they first must be outlined. There are a few softwares that are designed specifically for outlining objects from backgrounds, but they are inadequate and inaccurate for jewelry. In most cases jewelry is photographed on a white background and so it reflects the same background into it. Therefore the software is unable to distinguish the edges of the jewelry. The only accurate way to outline jewelry today is with the Photoshop pen tool, stitching every curve by hand and mouse click... click, click, click and click, click, click and click, click, click.
Imagine how much time it would take and how much fun you would have to outlining an entire necklace like the one below.  Return to Table of Content Shadows and Backgrounds. Shadows and backgrounds add dimension and stability to jewelry. It takes talent to create a realistic and believable shadow or background that enhances the jewelry.
Return to Table of Content Optimization for Medias. Creation of an image library include optimizing the entire library for all medias including print, web and television. Images for print have to be high-resolution (300 ppi), need a CMYK color profile embedded, and need to be sharpened for print. Did you know that different countries (United States, Europe and Japan) have different CMYK color profile requirements. Images for the web have to be low-resolution (72 ppi), need an RGB color profile embedded, and need to be sharpened for the web. Remember, the new RGB standard worldwide is Adobe (1998). Images for television have to be low-resolution (96 ppi), need an RGB color profile embedded, and have to be sharpened for the TV. Depending on where they will be used (U.S., Europe, Japan) there are different RGB color profiles like NTSC, PAL, SECAM.
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