15 Questions With Jewelry Photographer Ella Sophie

Ella Sophie is a California-based photographer with a client roster that includes Tiffany & Co., Harwell Godfrey and Dorian Webb Jewelry, as well as eco-friendly household product brand ECOS and luxury Swiss brand Teuscher Chocolates.

With a background in fine art and fashion photography, Sophie expanded into photographing jewelry later on in her career, but her broad experience could be seen as a strength in today’s market.

The homepage of her website showcases a gallery of vibrant portraits, product imagery and cinemagraphs. 

While her signature aesthetic certainly comes through, looking at her work overall feels contemporary and personal, a refreshing departure from the simple white background catalog photography that, while still important for things like e-commerce, can begin to feel stale after a while. 

The rise of brand storytelling has signaled to modern jewelry photographers that they need more than technical experience; they need to be able conceptualize with designers in a way that aligns with their brand identity.

Sophie and I sat down for a conversation about the right time to make the investment in professional photography, what to expect in the studio, and the important questions to ask before signing a contract.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Lauren McLemore: Tell me about your background and how you developed your approach to jewelry photography. 

Ella Sophie: My name is Ella Sophie. I am a full-time photographer of well over 10 years. I started in fine art and then kind of swerved into fashion photography. Somewhere along the lines, I landed in jewelry through friends who were photographing jewelry and my own interest in it.

When I was younger, I used to bead and make little fun things, so jewelry has always been something that I've really appreciated, and it seemed like a natural kind of pairing for me to focus on that. 

LM: We hear that jewelry, especially gemstones, can be notoriously difficult to photograph. How important is it to work with a photographer who has experience with jewelry specifically?

ES: I actually just wrote a blog post specifically about photographing colored gemstones. 

I think you can get away with working with someone who is doing high-end commercial product photography if they’re working with other small things, like cosmetics especially; there’s some crossover there. 

There are really a lot of layers to photographing a piece of jewelry well, both figuratively and literally. 

There are times where a single ring on a white background is actually made up of like 50-plus frames that are all stitched together meticulously. 

So, it depends on the level of quality that you’re looking for. If you just need like a quick snapshot, you know, phones are fantastic. 

But if you want something that’s really going to get into all the textural details and be true to the colors in a piece, having a photographer who understands that and knows what they’re doing is definitely crucial. 

LM: What kinds of questions should designers or brands be asking photographers to ensure they’re really aligned and can see their vision?

ES: There are a couple of things. The obvious one to me is always, does the photographer already have work in their portfolio that you like? That is very important. You have to like their work. 

It’s important that you can communicate comfortably and properly, and that they hear you and are also able to provide expertise. 

Your photographer should know better than you on the technical aspect, but if you’re asking for a certain look or style, that should be a conversation they’re open to having. If not, then it’s probably not the best fit.

Asking for references can’t hurt, either, and noting whether they have them to give you or whether they have reviews. 

LM: Where does a designer go to find a photographer these days, especially if they want something very artistic, conceptual and niche and not just their jewelry on a white background?

ES: Google or any kind of search engine is a big part of this. 

While everyone goes to social media, and you can find people on there, I have found that, if you’re looking for really high quality, you’re better off looking at people’s websites first. 

Then, social media can kind of be like a vibe check, but it’s a lot easier to make something look good for a social media post than for a full web page. 

LM: For a designer who hasn’t worked with a photographer before, are there markers that they’re ready to go the professional route and invest beyond their iPhone? Is there something they should have completed beforehand, like have their branding solidified? 

ES: For a lot of photographers, having branding in place before you reach out is definitely a good idea. 

I’m a small business nerd, and I like to geek out about branding and business identity and what your vibe and your voice are. is. So, if you come to me without having established any of that, then that’s something I offer, and we can dig through it together. 

Having an idea of what your brand identity is beforehand is definitely important, especially for the longevity of your images, which is something that I think people don’t think about. 

You see one collection photographed in one way, and then the next collection comes out and it’s like, how do I make the new set of photos feel cohesive? What’s the throughline? How can I still have the old images on my website without feeling like they belong to a totally different brand? 

It’s a financial question for a small business. For those with really tiny budgets, you might be better off still doing it yourself because if you’re hiring someone who’s willing to work for no money, there probably is a reason for that, unless it’s a friend or there’s some other arrangement.

For the most part, you want to go in expecting to spend a couple thousand dollars to have a good set of images. 

If you’re ready to start sending your work to stores to be considered, then that’s a space where the better your images are, the stronger your chances are going to be. 

If you’re selling online, that’s another place where you really need to have strong images, that’s something that will help build your brand. 

LM: And if you’re pitching for a placement in National Jeweler?

ES: Yes, if you’re trying to get any kind of press! 

If you’re at the point in your business where you’re starting to have a real website, you’re reaching out to stockists, and you’re reaching out for press, you really want to be investing good chunks of your business expenses into photography. 

You should also always have a headshot from within the last couple years on standby. Depending on how often your look changes, like every two or three years, you should probably be getting a headshot that feels good, so that if there’s ever an opportunity for press, you have your image ready to go.

LM: We often cover big brands’ marketing campaigns. When I think campaign, I think like all day in a studio with models and different things. Is that all-day, all-out affair what people are signing up for, or is every campaign experience a little bit different?

ES: Everything is a little bit different. 

Generally, I will always book people as a full day if we’re doing a campaign. If we’re attaching the word campaign to it, then in my mind, that means it’s more than just a couple product shots. We’re creating something intentional. There are probably models or at least a decent amount of props involved. Even if the actual time on set is only a couple hours, mentally, it’s a full day. 

For me, I always say it’s a full-day production, but it depends on budgets and also the type of photographer you’re hiring. 

Like, what does the crew look like? On a normal campaign photo shoot where you’ve got models and an art director and hair and makeup artists and a wardrobe stylist, you end up on set with like 15 people.

That’s what happens when you’ve got a bigger budget and a bigger campaign that you’re running if you’re Tiffany & Co. or someone in that realm. Those shoots often are $50,000 and up. 

But there’s also space for working with someone who’s more of an artist in their own right, you know?

There are photographers who are very much technical photographers, and then there are photographers who are artists and somehow [jewelry] is what we ended up doing. 

I fall into the latter camp. 

While the big productions can be fun, personally, my favorite shoots are the ones where it’s me and a model or like a couple people and we’re doing something creative. 

That’s something that you want to bring up to the photographer you’re hiring. Ask them what their preferred method of working is. 

You can then kind of gauge where you are financially as a business, what you can invest, and then find someone who will create accordingly. 

LM: I’m sure it also gives you an idea of what to expect on the day instead of showing up and thinking, am I going to be here for an hour, or am I going to be here until the sun goes down?

ES: Yes. And that should all be very transparent before the shoot. 

When you sign your contract, you should know what to expect. Whether you’re actually going to be there or not is always a consideration, because jewelry can be shipped. 

Some of my clients who are nowhere near me send me products and then we set up like a FaceTime call or something where they can remote in and see what I’m shooting as I’m working. 

That’s a nice way to expand your horizons on where to look for a photographer. It doesn’t have to be someone local. 

LM: Any tips for shipping jewelry to your photographer?

ES: Make sure your insurance is covering it and you have a photographer you trust to understand the value of jewelry, [and] that they have a safe and ensure the pieces are kept safe.  

LM: In the last decade, how have you seen the jewelry photography change or evolve regarding trends or even micro-trends?

ES: Some of the big players will dictate the trends. There was a hot second where everyone wanted sand.

I forget who did it originally, but one of the bigger jewelry designers did a campaign with sand, and after that, it was on everyone’s Pinterest board. It was maybe 2021 or 2020, somewhere in there.

One thing that I’m very excited about is that we’ve moved at least a little bit away from the type of models who are portrayed. At least in my world, that has happened very strongly. I'm sure that’s not the case everywhere. 

I’ve always been interested in working with brands and designers who are willing to kind of push the envelope and are interested in inclusivity and body positivity. 

I’m always like, “Here’s your model selection,” and it’s equal across the board from all ethnicities and body shapes and sizes and styles, and I’m always encouraging my clients to, you know, go for people that look like they could be a little more relatable. It’s still aspirational, but it’s not just one specific body type. 

In recent years, one [change] that I’ve been really psyched about is seeing more older people represented in jewelry modeling. 

I think about my grandma’s hands … she always has like these beautiful rings on and that’s a picture that’s always in my head, just like the juxtaposition and how stunning that is. 

LM: It is refreshing to see campaign images that have that extra level of diversity and intentionality behind them. Do you have a favorite jewelry shoot that you’ve done in the last 10 years?

ES: There was one that I did really early on that I still use the images from, and I shot it in maybe 2011. 

The designer was making rap jewelry. It had a very strong spiritual vibe to it. She’d made a collection based on the seven chakras. Initially, she came to me with ideas that were very literal takes on what the chakras were. 

There was one where she envisioned standing somewhere with a bowl of strawberries, so we ended up creating this set of beauty portraits with all the jewelry on, and in one image, we made a crown out of strawberries. For each color way, for each chakra, we dug into which fruits represent that. It kind of took it from a literal interpretation to being something a lot more conceptual. 

Recently, I’ve been playing with pairing jewelry with odd animals, like I did one with a koi fish. 

Anytime I get to do something that’s sort of on the weirder side, a little more like creative and conceptual, I’m a happy pumpkin. 

LM: Going back to designers or brands who are still trying to figure out if they’re at that point of going professional, do you have tips for people on getting quality images with a phone camera? 

ES: Two things. One, even with the smaller budget, something that I do—and I’m sure I’m not the only photographer who does this—is, if you come to me with a teeny little baby budget, we can figure out a single image we can make with that budget. 

Usually what I end up doing is creating one group shot with some various props and elements in it that serves as a landing page or base image. So that elevates things a little bit.

From there, what I usually will have people do is reuse some of those elements and props that we’ve shown in the photo when taking their own photos with a phone. 

The main thing to know when working with your phone is having good, bright indirect light. That’ll be the easiest to work with. 

If you have a nice sunny day, work in the shade. Photographing directly in the sun will give these really hard shadows that are cold but hard to work with. If you can find a window that’s not getting direct sun, that’s usually what I tell people to look for. 

Get yourself a clean textural surface, whether it’s a piece of wood or marble or a fabric, something that you can repeatedly use, and you can create with your phone. 

With the brand consistency we were talking about, use the same patterns or colors or styles in every photo, especially if you’re making a lot of custom or one-of-a-kind pieces but maybe not at that high of a price point. 

With material costs going up, margins are not always there to photograph the pieces, but creating a little setup that works well for you is definitely important and doable. 

Another thing, which I think gets overlooked often, is organizing your images, making sure you have a system in place where you’re keeping all your files so that you can find them later on. 

LM: Are there questions regarding copyright and image ownership that a designer might want to ask if they do or don’t want that? What are the right questions to ask in that regard? 

ES: That is a huge part of how pricing for commercial photography is determined. 

So, generally, with commercial photography, you have, the creative fee or the day rate. There’s a couple of different terms that people use, but basically, that’s a flat fee, and then there’s usually a licensing fee for each image. 

Some people will wrap it up as a library licensing, like putting all the images under one fee, and some people break it down by photo. 

Generally, what happens is the photographer always keeps the copyright. 

I think the easiest way to think about licensing for jewelry designers is really that concept of like, if you sell someone a piece of jewelry, you haven’t given them the design, you’ve just given them the one physical piece.

You are paying for the ability to use the images commercially. Because most designers are small businesses, I have my own setup for that, as I’ve figured out sort of what the needs are that they have. 

For example, I usually do like a three- or five-year period, where you have rights to the images to use in advertising and on social and on your website and marketing collateral, all that good stuff. 

Some photographers license by individual years. Sometimes you’ll get people who will say you can license them forever. Usually that costs more, so that’s a conversation.

LM: So that’s a common thing, to have a photographer who will license the images for a year. Does that mean at the end of the year, the designers can use the pictures still on their website, but they can’t use them in like other marketing materials? Or they can’t use the pictures anymore at all?

ES: That depends on the individual agreement. With licensing, there’s so much variety in what people offer. There’s no standardization, which I think drives us all crazy, photographers and clients alike. 

What I usually do is, once that period is up, I tell people if they want to run new ads or do any new material with those photos, then they would want to relicense the images. 

I don’t bother telling people to take stuff down, especially blog posts or social, because no one has time for that. 

If you have an archive section on your site where you’re showing older pieces that aren’t in production anymore or aren’t for sale anymore, but you just want to show that gallery of images, most photographers should be pretty OK with those photos staying in use there. 

A nice thing too to always do is, especially with the more creative images, is to credit the photographer. 

If you work together as a team, you’ll generally find photographers to be pretty open and agreeable to making things work for both of you. 

LM: If someone wants to work with you, how might they do that? 

ES: The best way to get in touch with me is through my website. I have my email address listed, and I also have a “schedule a call with me” link on my About page.