As a artist and designer myself, when selling necklaces and earrings, I try to use a lovely life size mannequin head for at least one frontal and one side photo for earrings and short necklaces. In the case of much longer necklaces, a full mannequin: head to hips is crucial.

I also noticed that when I shop online for jewelry, and I find an item that I like, the first thing I do is look for it being modeled. Now, I have a photo shoot scheduled. 🙂

I also like the idea of props, but don’t care for using a ruler or coins for my finished designs. I’m thinking of coffee mugs, wine glasses, fancy ink pens, or maybe a photo in a frame. What do you think?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this issue, Jean! 🙂

Personally I like pieces displayed without live models. I really want to focus on the jewelry.

Again, thanks for all of the information.
J

Nata, thank you for your insightful comment! And I so appreciate the care you take to keep your jewelry pristine. I can see that many of your beautiful bead embroidery and mixed-media pieces would be impossible to clean. And I agree, using various props and displays can often show off jewelry better than a live model could – and without being distracted by the model’s clothing, hair, facial expression, etc.

No, there is no one golden solution that fits all. I do make bead embroidered jewelry and no, I do not use live models for photos. When I make my pieces I wash my hands often to keep the work clean, and when I have to try them on to see how they will “wear”, I am trying to do so over the clothing, to avoid the touching of my body/skin. Bead embroidery is finished with the fabric (leather, suede, Ultrasuede, silk, velvet, etc.) on the back. How can I use a live model wearing it for the photoshoot and then offer it for sale as bright new? Making one as a sample and wear that for a photoshoot and then make more of identical pieces, well, that doesn’t work for me. I spend days and sometimes weeks making a piece, and I use unique stones, and I am not interested in making $200+ pieces as “samples”.

On the other hand, I personally know an artist who makes sterling and gemstone jewelry and wears it for awhile to live events for promotion, then cleans and selsl it, and nobody will ever guess that some of these items were worn a couple of times. Personally, I do not have a problem with metal and gemstone jewelry that has been worn.

But. Handmade bead embroidery is a quite different case. You can’t clean it! So, yes, like many artists here, I am in the hard place, too. People want to see how my pieces will look on them, but then again, in many cases it is simply a curiosity that doesn’t involve serious interest in purchasing. Etsy now allows 10 photos per listing, and I am making sure I have great pictures with a lot of details and different angles. I’ve also recently purchased a mannequin hand and will be adding new photos using this prop. If a person absolutely LOVES my piece, they will make an effort to ask more about it to make sure it will be a right fit. And if the person is just a “habitual browser”, no amount of photos on live models will convince him or her to buy.

One other good suggestion I saw in the discussion above, is to post photos of actual customers wearing similar item in real life. I am considering doing that, adding one appropriate photo into my Etsy listing, with the explanation that this is a similar item worn by an actual happy customer in real life :).

Margaret, thank you for mentioning that! I agree with you that the expression on a live model’s face can have an impact on how we feel about the jewelry. I often have a negative feeling about products modeled by people who look angry or unhappy.

Great idea, Anne! Thanks for sharing the idea of posing the jewelry on gloved hands / wrists.