Bead Photography Tip: All white background tip

I like shooting  beads on a white background. It provides a uniformed look with other photos, background colors don’t interfere and it allows me to easily isolate the the bead in Photoshop for compositions like ads or banners. But one problem I come across from time to time is losing the details in the edge of the  bead. This usually happens because the bead itself is pale and it looks like the  white is swallowing the bead.

Bead with out black edge

After some experimenting I came across a simple solution.  I place  a large piece of black cardboard behind it out or frame. By doing this it ads enough dark reflection to define the edges on the light background.

Bead with Black background edges

As you can see in these examples the edges are more defined. Which makes it easier to adjust the contrast with out losing detail.

Soft edges without black background

With the Black out of the frame the edges are more defined.

This even works great for totally clear beads