Diamond Photo Editing and Retouching Tips for Your Product Images

Real diamond jewelry pieces are a peak symbol of luxury that has stood the test of time. With the luxury, status, and price tag associated with diamonds, you’ll want your business’ images to reflect the flawless quality of your products on your website and ads. That’s why it’s important to know how to edit jewelry photos – in particular, diamond photo retouching and editing that brings out your diamond pieces into the spotlight.

Performing diamond photo retouching isn’t the same as all the other gemstones. These jewelry retouching techniques have to ensure that a diamond’s sparkle and natural shine aren’t diminished during post-production. If done incorrectly, your images may be taking away the natural sparkle and signs of a genuine diamond in your images. But with these diamond photo retouching tips, we’ll show you how to make a diamond sparkle in a picture and bring out the best features your clients expect when looking for diamond jewelry.

Use the Right Lighting

While jewelry retouching services can improve the overall image, it’s best to take on things like lighting by covering all your bases from the shoot to post-production. How diamonds catch and react to light isn’t the same as other gemstones and luxury metals. So a certain lighting type during a shoot might work for the reflectiveness of one of the elements of your jewelry pieces, but retouching will be necessary for other elements. For translucent stones like diamonds, having a backlight in your shot can improve the outline of your diamond while minimizing the shadows and reflections the stone can capture.

When it’s time to go into post-production for diamond image editing, a good practice is to create different paths and layers for the elements in your jewelry. Separate the diamonds from the metal elements and any other gemstone that may be on the piece into different layers, then adjust each layer’s lighting settings (such as brightness and contrast) as necessary. Next, feather the edges of these elements so that they blend well together into one flawlessly enhanced image that features the best appearance for all elements.

Edit Your Lighting Depending on the Illumination Effect

Speaking of studio lighting, you’ll need to know what kind of lighting was used during the shoot and what kind of illumination the diamond was giving in each shot. Factors like the diamond’s cut, color, and other proportions matter as this can create different illumination effects, such as:

• Brilliance – when a diamond reflects white light at its crown, giving it the iconic sparkle associated with luxury. A diamond with high brilliance is one that is pure white with minimal color.
• Fire – also known as the rainbow light you see coming out of a diamond, which is the light dispersing itself from the diamond. A diamond’s cut can affect how much fire is produced.
• Scintillation – this is the colored or colorless light produced when a diamond moves.

Depending on the lighting used, you may get different levels of these. Brilliance is the best form of illumination as it’s associated with a diamond’s beauty and value, so a diamond with this feature would be pure white. On the other hand, a diamond with more fire can also have just as much brilliance but also have more color. Keep this in mind as you retouch your diamond.

Spot the Reflections in Your Jewelry

Aside from the lighting, your diamond can also capture reflections of anything around the room. This is an unavoidable part of production, so it’s important to have a sharp eye when retouching the appearance of your diamond and any other reflective gemstone. While the reflection may be very small or unnoticeable, it can have an effect on the color and quality of your jewelry. That’s why it’s crucial to spot any unwanted reflections on your gem and then use the appropriate stamp or healing tool to remove these reflections.

While performing the necessary diamond photo retouching, also keep an eye out for any additional blemishes that might have been missed during the shoot or was an unavoidable part of production. Things like fingerprints, scratches, and dust particles can affect the quality of your image and reduce the quality of your product. Some metals and gemstones can also capture the color and additional lighting in a room, so retouch your diamond image as necessary to polish the final product.

Use Shadows and Outlines

A diamond’s cut, shape, and color can affect its beauty and value, so failing to use its natural shadow and outline correctly can cheapen the product or fail to show the intricate details that boost your pieces’ value. One mistake some beginner editors do when providing jewellery editing services is removing all traces of a piece’s shadows when it’s not necessary. Doing this can make your jewelry look flat and full, especially for certain types of jewelry that need depth. And when it comes to diamonds, the shadows and outlines can highlight the cut of the stone, which may be what some discerning customers are looking for in jewelry.

Shadows add dimension, depth, and character to your image. For beginners, it’s much easier to remove shadows as necessary so that these aren’t distracting, but they don’t have to be completely removed from an image. Depending on the type of photos taken, it might be necessary to use programs like Photoshop to add shadows for dramatic effect and depth, but it takes a certain level of skill to create a realistic shadow using editing software.

Color Correct Your Elements

As mentioned earlier, the type of illuminating effect you capture on your diamond can determine the color and shimmer you see in the final photo. This may be an issue if you’re going for a brilliant pure white diamond but find that the photo has a high level of fire reflected because of the diamond’s cut. If this happens, use color correction when editing your diamond image to remove the unnecessary colors and highlight the brilliance in your luxury jewelry.

Don’t forget to also use color correction on luxury metals. Because of lighting, reflection, and other factors, it can be easy for metals like white gold, platinum, and silver to look alike. Create a new layer for the metal elements of your jewelry and then adjust the colors to get the true vibrancy and shine of the metal.

Let Your Diamond Jewelry Shine with Jewelry Retouchers

These are just some diamond photo retouching tips that can help you achieve the best output for your diamond pieces. Genuine diamonds are the ultimate symbol of luxury on any jewelry piece, so it’s essential to highlight its best features and bring out its natural beauty to be appreciated by your brand’s customers. Once you’ve learned how to retouch diamond photos, you can display its value and quality in any image you create.

At Jewelry Retouchers, our team of editors can help you create stunning jewelry photography that catches the eye of your audience. Our experience in tricky editing and retouching subjects like reflective jewelry allows us to erase even the smallest blemish on your photos and provide you with flawless images you can use for your website, ads, and other promotional materials.

Contact us today to learn more about our diamond photo retouching services.