Here are some quick tips to take your jewelry photos from this to this.  Cleaning the piece is very important.  Editing out smudges or fingerprints takes a lot of time.  At Stuller we use the sonic machine.  It's quick and easy and clean more than one at a time.  Make sure you have a cleaning cloth to wipe off the sonic soap.  A lint-free one is best.  To not add fingerprints to your freshly cleaned piece, we use tongs and finger cots to hold the piece.  You can use any powder free latex gloves as well.  After you dry your piece find a flat surface with a simple desk lamp.  

After you have the piece in place lower the desk lamp so that it's just outside of the cameras view.  Keep an eye on what the light is doing to your piece.  To fill in the metal, simply cut some pieces of printer paper and fold them in half so that they can stand up on their own.  While keeping an eye on the metal reflections, place the paper as close to the ring as possible without blocking the camera's view and then snap away.