Jewellery macro photography of rings

Macro photography reveals many tiny details that difficult, or impossible, to see with the naked eye. Jewellery macro photography magnifies the small imperfections of tiny pieces of metal and makes these precious items look far from their best. That is why extensive retouching is always required for jewellery and watches, and below I have included the before and after images.

The photo I shot is representative of how the rings actually look, but it will not suffice as an advertising image without some heavy retouching.

Required retouching

• Desaturate silver wedding ring AND radiosity at base
• Re-shape metal to left of diamond and lower right of friendship ring
• Clean up hue at edges of diamond
• Smooth metal and reflections
• Remove hallmark on left ring
• Clean sparkles on both rings
• Smooth reflection on inner of left ring
• Perfect rim of wedding ring
• Smooth hammered metal between shapes on right ring
• Erase sparkle on inner left of right ring
• Remove dark spot/shadow at base of wedding ring
• Remove dark and light spots on inside rim of wedding ring
• Widen highlight on front left of engagement ring where it meets diamond setting
• Saturate the gold more to make the image more vibrant
• Overall sharpen