Frequently Asked Questions

A luxury jewellery photographer specialises in capturing the precise visual detail, material quality, and craftsmanship of fine jewellery — diamonds, gemstones, precious metals, surface textures, and setting details. The resulting images are used across brand campaigns, ecommerce, print catalogues, social media, and auction listings. The work requires specialist knowledge of how light interacts with reflective and refractive materials, and how to render gemstones and metals faithfully without losing detail in highlights or shadow areas.

Watch photography demands precise control of reflections across polished cases, bezels, and bracelets — surfaces that can easily degrade into distracting flare or lose defining finishing detail without careful technique. The dial must be rendered with full clarity including indices, hands, text, and complications. Finishing differences between brushed and polished surfaces, colour accuracy across different metal tones, and the need for consistency across a watch family all require a specialist approach that goes well beyond standard product photography.

Watches and jewellery are among the most technically demanding subjects in commercial photography. Polished metal, faceted gemstones, and reflective dials all require expert lighting control to communicate clearly rather than distract. A specialist understands how to render these materials faithfully, maintaining detail in both highlights and shadows. The result is images a brand can use across campaign, catalog, and ecommerce without extensive correction or reshooting.

Look for demonstrable experience photographing reflective metal surfaces, faceted gemstones, and fine construction detail. Consistency across a collection is essential — images must work together as a set. Ask to see both catalog execution and stronger creative work, and ask how the photographer handles post-production, retouching, and file delivery. A good specialist will also understand your brand's existing visual identity and adapt to it, not impose a generic approach.

Auction catalogues require images that are clear, accurate, and consistently presented across many lots. The images must communicate exactly what a piece is — its condition, detail, character, and scale — with no ambiguity. Experience with both watches and jewellery matters, as does efficiency across high volumes. The photographer should understand collector expectations and be able to photograph complex pieces — multi-stone jewellery, complicated movements, engraved cases — with full clarity.

A jewellery photography project from Wood Workshop typically includes: consultation on visual direction and brief; product styling and preparation; studio photography with specialist lighting setup; post-production and retouching; and delivery in agreed formats for digital and print use. Multiple angles, macro detail shots, and lifestyle or styled setups can be included depending on the brief and intended usage.

A watch photography project typically covers: consultation on creative or catalog direction; studio photography of dial, case, bracelet or strap, clasp, and key detail areas; post-production and reflection management; colour correction; and final file delivery for campaign, ecommerce, editorial, or catalog use. For collection shoots, consistency across multiple references is standard. Individual hero images and detail crops can be delivered within the same project.

Yes. Wood Workshop handles clean catalog-style photography — consistent, accurate, efficient across multiple products — as well as elevated creative campaign imagery. Many projects combine both: a clean catalog deliverable for retail and ecommerce use alongside stronger creative images for editorial, campaign, and brand storytelling. The approach is discussed and defined at brief stage.

Yes. Final images are delivered in the formats and specifications required for each channel: high-resolution files for print and OOH, platform-optimised files for ecommerce and social media, and additional crops or formats where the brief requires it. Delivery requirements are confirmed at the start of each project.

Yes. Auction catalogue requirements call for clear, accurate, and well-lit images that communicate exactly what each lot is: its condition, detail, scale, and visual character. Wood Workshop's specialist approach to watch and jewellery photography aligns directly with these needs, with previous experience photographing timepieces and fine jewellery across a wide range of brands and categories.

Yes. Wood Workshop is based in Hong Kong — but Sam works with clients from around the world, not just locally. International commissions are a regular part of the practice.

Yes, for clients based in Hong Kong. Sam shoots on-site at client premises — showrooms, boutiques, retail spaces, and offices — which is a practical option for larger collections, high-value pieces that are better not transported, or clients who want to be present. For clients outside Hong Kong, the usual arrangement is to ship pieces to Sam, who delivers finished images digitally. Get in touch to discuss what works best for your project.

Yes — and this is a common arrangement. Clients based in the UK, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and elsewhere regularly commission shoots remotely. The typical process is simple: you ship your pieces to Sam in Hong Kong, he arranges the shoot, and final images are delivered to you digitally. Pre-production briefing is handled remotely by email or call, and no on-site presence is required. Get in touch at info@wood-workshop.com to discuss your project.

Yes. Wood Workshop works with brands directly, and with creative agencies and in-house marketing, ecommerce, and communications teams. For agency projects, Wood Workshop integrates within broader creative teams, adapts to existing art direction briefs, and works within established production and delivery workflows.

Wood Workshop photographs all categories of fine and high jewellery: rings, necklaces, pendants, earrings, bracelets, brooches, and sets. This includes diamond jewellery, coloured gemstone pieces, precious metal jewellery, enamel work, and mixed-material designs. Previous clients include Anabela Chan, TSL Jewellery, Prince Jewellery & Watch, and WH Jewellery.

Wood Workshop photographs dress watches, sport watches, chronographs, and complications across steel, gold, ceramic, and titanium cases and bracelets. Dial types covered include enamel, guilloche, skeletonised, and standard applied-index finishes. Previous work includes commissions for Andersmann, Giorgio Fedon, and Zorbello.

Products should arrive clean, polished, and in the condition you want represented. For jewellery, check for tarnish, surface marks, or minor damage before sending. For watches, straps and bracelets should be fitted and the time set. Packaging and presentation materials should be included if they form part of the brief. Wood Workshop provides preparation guidance during pre-production consultation as part of every project.

Contact Sam directly at info@wood-workshop.com or via the contact page with a brief describing your products, intended usage, timeline, and deliverables. Wood Workshop accepts single-piece commissions through to large catalog shoots for full collections. A pre-production consultation is included with every project to align on visual direction, preparation, and technical specifications.

Wood Workshop operates exclusively in three specialties: luxury watch photography, fine jewellery photography, and premium still life product photography. This focus means Sam Chui has spent over 15 years solving exactly the technical problems these subjects present — reflective metal surfaces, faceted gemstones, dial legibility, polished and brushed finishing — rather than dividing attention across unrelated categories. Brands that require images to perform at campaign, catalog, ecommerce, and editorial level simultaneously benefit from that depth of specialist focus.

Yes. Combined watch and jewellery shoots can be structured into a single commission where the brief calls for it — for example, a retailer or auction house requiring both categories photographed in the same session. Each category is lit and approached on its own terms within the same production. Contact Wood Workshop to discuss your specific requirements.