How to Photograph Jewellery for Insurance: What to Capture and Keep

If you ever have to prove what you owned, a clear set of photos helps. A photo record for insurance is the opposite of a sales photo: plain, sharp and unedited, with the marks, wear and details that identify that exact piece. This guide covers what to shoot and how to keep it. It is not insurance or legal advice, so check with your insurer or valuer about what they accept.

Sales photo or record photo

	Sales photo	Insurance record
Goal	Make the piece look its best	Show exactly what the piece is
Editing	Light correction	None, or only a crop
Background	White or styled	Plain, neutral and uncluttered
Shots	Main, detail, worn	Whole, front, back, marks, stones, scale
Styling and AI	Fine, if the piece still matches	Never use it on a record

What you need

• A plain light or mid-grey surface
• A phone or camera on a tripod
• Window light softened with a white sheet
• A small ruler or a coin of a known size, used as a scale reference
• A soft cloth and a blower
• Paper and a pen, or a notes app, for the description

Step 1: Clean and identify the piece

Wipe it with a soft cloth and blow dust off the settings. Give each piece a short name you will keep using, such as “ruby ring”. Write down what you know: metal, stones, size or length, maker, where and when you bought it. If you do not know something, leave it blank and do not guess.

Step 2: Shoot the same set for every piece

1. Whole piece, front. The full piece centred, filling most of the frame.
2. Whole piece, back. Shows the closure, the back of the setting and the construction.
3. Side or profile. Shows depth, shank height or the drop.
4. Hallmarks, stamps and engraving. One close-up of each mark, plus one slightly wider so its place on the piece is clear. Light it from a low angle so the stamp shows.
5. Each main stone up close. Show the cut, the setting and any chips or inclusions visible to the eye. See photographing diamonds and gemstones.
6. Scale. The piece beside a ruler, or worn on a hand or neck. Size is hard to judge from a picture alone.
7. Any damage or repair. Photograph cracks, missing stones or repaired areas as they are, so the record matches the piece.

Step 3: Light it plainly

Use soft window light with a white sheet, and a white card opposite to lift the shadows. You are not trying for mood, only to see the metal and stones clearly. Avoid coloured backgrounds, which change how gold and gems look. Lighting basics are in the lighting guide.

Step 4: Keep it sharp

Put the phone on a tripod, tap on the part you want sharp, and use the 2x lens instead of moving close so the shape does not distort. If a close-up is soft, step back and crop later rather than moving closer than the lens can focus. Settings are covered in the phone photography guide.

Step 5: Store it so you can find it

• Name files with the piece and the date, such as ruby-ring-front-2026-11-06.jpg.
• Keep the originals. Do not filter or compress the master copy.
• Save a copy outside your phone, on cloud storage or a drive.
• Put receipts, certificates and any valuation paper in the same folder.
• Redo the set if a piece is repaired, resized or changes.

Common mistakes

• Using the polished sales photos instead of a plain record.
• Editing or applying a filter that changes colour or hides marks.
• No photo of the back or the hallmark, which is what identifies a piece.
• No scale reference.
• Keeping the only copy on one phone.
• Treating the photos as a valuation.

If you sell jewellery as well, the same pieces need sales photos. Our shot list shows what a listing needs, and the ring, necklace and earring pages cover each piece type.

For your sales photos, not your insurance record

For selling, Jewellery Photoshoot turns one phone photo into studio and on-model images and shows each result next to your original. Use those for listings and social posts. Keep your plain, unedited photos as the record of the piece itself.