Good photography is essential to selling jewelry online. If a piece looks bad, customers are turned off. Lapel pins, being polished, can be difficult to photograph, much like a diamond ring or wristwatch. Certain lighting techniques and reflection manipulation must be practiced in order to get the look just right. I’m going to cover some of the basics here.

First, you always want to start with a subject that is the higehst quality and as close to being flawless in finish, coloring, etc as possible. Good photography or not, if your lapel pin looks horrible, it’s going to be difficult to make it look amazing on the screen.

Lighting

A typical lighting setup might consist of flood or spot lights. Since lapel pins are reflective (shiny and polished metal) it is difficult to gauge their appearance under light if you’re using strobes. You need to be able to predict the final outcome of the photo, therefore shooting in fixed ambient lighting is more or less required. You’ll want to have diffused light sources to accomplish soft lighting onto the surface of your pin. You’ll also want multiple light sources, left/right/top for example as a basic starting point. You can arrange your lights in a freeform setup, or you can work inside of a lightbox tent, or use freestanding lightboxes commonly seen in professional photo studios. It’s up to you.

Positioning

Positioning your subject just right can be tricky. This is where a little bit of creativity comes into play. When I talk about positioning, I am referring to either the position of your lighting OR your subject, the positions of one or the other, or both is key to achieving proper lighting for great photos. You always want a good amount of light reflecting off of the face of your lapel pin, but not too bright as it will wash out the metal reflection. You need just the right amount of light bouncing off the lapel pin.

Camera Angle

Next up in the juggling act is the camera angle. Camera angle is absolutely crucial to a good photo. If your camera is pointed at your lapel pin the wrong way you’ll get a reflection of the camera cast onto the lapel pin surface, and your photo will look like rubbish. You need to angle your camera so that it is at about a 20 degree angle to being straight-on with your lapel pins. Shooting straight-on can be achieved only with a proper lense and high megapixel camera. You can position your lapel pin outside of the center shot of your lens to remove darkening caused by camera reflection. Remember, the key is reflecting the right amount of light off of the surface of your lapel pins.

Taking the Shot

High shutter speeds are needed for hand-held shooting. If you’re shooting from a tripod (recommended) you can knock the shutter speed back a little. You’ll probably get a slightly better result by also overexposing a half to full stop as well, this will help brighten up your metal and make editing a little faster. Keeping the camera as still as possible is essential here, especially if shooting macro. Your aperture will vary depending on your lens. Again if you’re shooting macro you’ll want a very small aperture (f16 and up) and if you’re shooting FFL or zoom you might be able to get away with a larger aperture. Test shoot your lapel pins and get a handle on what works best for you.