Can I just say, I LOVE shooting ring shots! Whether you are at the wedding or even the engagement session, ring shots give you chance to be creative. Everybody loves a good ring shot and they aren’t hard to accomplish.
1) LIGHTING
It is so important to find good lighting. You want the ring evenly lit and you want the ring to glisten. Make sure your light source isn’t pointing directly into the face of the diamond because it can look more flat than dimensional. Whether you are shooting at the engagement session or wedding, don’t wait until the end to shoot the ring, your light source will be gone. Make sure there is still enough light so that you can move the diamond and see it sparkle. You gotta make the bling BLING!
2) DETAIL
When getting the perfect shot, I always take into account my surroundings and details. I look for colors that are in the wedding, a detail in the wedding, or something that represents the location to place the ring on. If you can picture the album ahead of time you can envision how the image will tie into the rest. You want to keep it consistent all day long.
Haley & Matt were on a dock in Old Town Alexandria – – so I used the rope around the dock to shoot their ring on.
3) MACRO LENS
A good macro lens will make or break the shot. I shoot with a Canon 70-200mm and that bad boy is the best! I can get so close to the ring it blows my mind!
4) MANUAL FOCUS
Shooting the ring on manual focus is a must do. Make sure you focus on the prong closest to you. Depending on what you are trying to get in the shot, you can shoot anywhere from 2.8 to 4.0.
**TIPS***
Make sure the ring doesn’t have a lot of distraction in the background. Remember simplicity with details is KEY.
Sometimes using Live View on your camera really helps to put the ring in perspective.
If the ring is picking up a lot of color from its surroundings, take that bad boy into Lightroom or Photoshop and desaturate it a little bit to get the color out (sometimes, I don’t mind the color).
Try different angles. There is no “right” way to shoot a ring!
