Presentation Matters

What a cool ring. I love this piece, the "wing ring," from Burcu Buyukunal's "wingy" series. Don't you?

But what was the first thing you noticed in the photo? For me, it was the little piece of putty holding the ring up. I was able to get past it, but I'm not sure I should have to.

Now, I'm not a photographer and I'm not a graphic artist. I'm someone who plays around with Photoshop Elements because it's fun to. Over time I've acquired a few rudimentary skills, and that was all it took to make the problem go away:





















It took about five minutes.

Now check out this piece, the "Small Milagro Heart Ring" from Tere Hernández-Bonét of My Precious Studio:















It's a nice ring too, right? Maybe not a great ring, and not my favorite from this artist, whose work I like a lot. Why post it then? The reason is simple: the first time I saw it, I liked it very very much. I wanted to own it. I thought it was grand.

Over time it dawned on me that I was responding to the quality of the photo, perhaps even more than the quality of the ring itself. The reflection is lovely.

Well done.

Presentation matters. In marketing our work, the image must be at least as high-quality as the piece itself. It wouldn't hurt if it was even better.

Commercial photography is an art in its own right. It can be expensive, and artists are often living on a shoestring. They have to cut corners sometimes, even when they'd rather not.

Here's my advice: eat Ramen noodles. And pay for the very best commercial photographer your money can buy.

Or at least the best photo editor.

tags:
jewelry
marketing
commercial photography
Burcu Buyukunal
Tere Hernández-Bonét