Farlang Jewelry & Gem Photography Standards
General Introduction
FARLANG as a Luxury Guild strives to maintain the highest standards for our members. Therefore all work is expected to be represented by professional photography utilizing Farlang standards and/or quality levels listed after these two visual examples of the quality level required:
Photography Service and Post Processing
FARLANG.com has signed an exclusive agreement with John Parrish. The fine jewelry industry considers John and Robert Weldon the two best jewelry photographers currently active in the United States.
The cost per product photo is $35. Market rates for similar quality photography vary between $75 – $125. Costs also include post processing by the FARLANG team (proper post-processing takes 1-2 hours per photo by a highly skilled team).
Photos will be taken on standard white background.
Photography Standards for all Catalogs
1. Professional photography by experienced jewelry photographers only.
2. High resolution (minimum of 2000-3000 px on each side)
3. White backgrounds
4. All post processed images must have:
a) A natural/original appearance when placed on white background. Image must look like an original even when processed due to use of the original shadow/reflection (See illustrative example below).
If your photo looks artificial and you still have the high resolution original, our post-processing team can fix this problem.
b) NO Artifacts. Due to the increased use of high resolution photos online and the extensive use of cheap photoshop services, we noticed many post processing images on the internet contain remnants of “artifacts” . These are often the consequence of substandard processing and errors introduced by an unqualified post processing individual.
FARLANG does not accept any artifacts in the white backgrounds of your photos which are very visible on laptop screens, especially when tilted. An example of artifacts is shown in the photo below: all the “weird figures/lines” around the bracelet, across the photo.
Where necessary our post-processing team can fix this error.
c) Shadow improvements. Sometimes the shadow or reflection of the original photo is used but it does not come out well. When this occures an entirely “fake or artificial looking” shadow is often added using software such as photoshop.
A new, natural looking, shadow must be created before posting on FARLANG. Where necessary our post processing team can help. See an example below:
d) All smudges, thumbprints, stains removed. Even though your photographer will clean the loose gemstone or piece of jewelry, smudges or finger prints can sometimes be overlooked.
If your image has such an issue, send the original, high-resolution file and our post-processing team will fix it. See the fingerprint example below (within red boundaries in the photo on the left).
Exceptions
1. Custom projects/products
We understand custom projects need to be shipped out quickly and there is no time to send the jewelry piece or custom cut gem to a professional photographer first. However this needs to be balanced with maintaining a current and professionally photographed collection of your work, an absolute necessity for any designer in the luxury industry.
As a compromise we highly recommend setting up a photo-studio in your office or studio to create at least reasonably level photos. They are not accepted for the other catalogs but after some post-processing would be good enough for the custom jewelry and gem sections.
Although rarely, we will be able to process a photo taken with a smartphone if the quality and size are deemed good enough.
Acceptance of all photos is at FARLANG.com’s discretion.
2. Fashion catalog: one-of-a-kind or limited collection jewelry up to $500
We understand paying $35 to professionally photograph a product that costs less than $500 is not in proportion. Good photos sell the product and bad ones do not. Moreover bad images make you-along with the entire FARLANG’s Guild-look unprofessional and thus work counterproductive to what everyone wants to achieve.
As a compromise we highly recommend scheduling a strategy session with one of our business experts in order to assistant smaller budgets. Service is for paid members only.
Acceptance of all photos is at FARLANG.com’s discretion.
3. Loose gemstones
We understand paying $35 to professionally photograph a product that costs less than $500 is not in proportion. Good photos sell the product and bad ones do not. Moreover bad images make you-along with the entire FARLANG’s Guild-look unprofessional and thus work counterproductive to what everyone wants to achieve.
Good photos are well-illuminated, not blurry, not over/underexposed, and on a white background. The photos below were taken by Multicolour, an affordable, online seller of loose gemstones: http://www.multicolour.com/garnet/. (Photos courtesy Multicolour.com).
As a compromise we highly recommend setting up a photo-studio in your office or studio to create at least reasonably level photos. They are not accepted for the other catalogs but after some post-processing would be good enough for the custom jewelry and gem sections.
Sometimes we will be able to process a photo taken with a smartphone as well.
Acceptance of all photos is at FARLANG.com’s discretion.