For The Love of Beads BlogThe adventures of Suzanne, Nibbler, and friends in the world of beads and jewelry making crafts

Lighting is probably the most important part of photographing your jewelry masterpieces, and most casual photographers don’t think about it. But it can make a huge difference in the quality of your photos (and also in your sales/respect!)

While presentation really does matter, most of us don’t have the money to invest in top rate advertising photography. However, for under 10 bucks (or even less, depending on what you have lying around at home) you can create a perfectly workable lightbox that will give you beautiful product shots.

The best part? It doesn’t take more than gift-wrapping skills and 20 minutes to build.

I used an old kitchen-set box for my lightbox (any size will work), as well as lots of duct tape and tracing paper, although that roll of wax paper in your kitchen drawer will work just as well. For cutting tools, I just used a pair of scissors and a good ol’ X-acto knife.

Building the lightbox is remarkably simple:

1. The box should have its open side facing the front, so you can photograph your piece. Quickly draw outlines on the left and right sides and the top of the box, making sure to leave borders of at least 1 inch to support the wax/tracing paper.

Cut out the sides (carefully!). Depending on the box you’re using, you might want to reinforce those 1-inch borders with tape and/or slivers of your cardboard off-cuts.

2. After reinforcing the borders/pillars with lots of duct tape (if necessary), tape the tracing/wax paper on the cut sides – be sure the wax/tracing paper is stretched flat. Now we’re almost done!

3. The Final Step is to get a piece of white or black paper that will fit from the inside top of the box down to the bottom. DO NOT FOLD IT! Just drape it lightly, making sure you have a good flat surface at the bottom. This will give you that nice blank background in your photos without lines or visual distraction.

It’s not a pretty solution on the outside, but the photos from the inside speak for themselves, as the picture above turns into the one below just by zooming in (plus a teeny tiny little bit of contrast tweaking on the computer =)

I have found that a good bright desk light is often all you need, although if you’re lucky enough to have some direct sunlight to work with, you might want to try that instead (just make sure the wind doesn’t blow the lightbox away! =)

We’d love to see some of your results, so don’t hesitate to email us your photos! Send them to support@fortheloveofbeads.com and we may post a few of the best shots (with your permission, of course =)

Happy photographing!