Rings shots are one my favorite items to photograph during the wedding day or engagement session! While they are gorgeous and stunning to look at, engagement and wedding rings are SO much more than a diamond or jewel.  Your best friend and soul mate gave you this ring as a promise and symbol of their love, devotion, and loyalty, and I love being photographing these gorgeous pieces. Photographing details and rings can be a challenge, but today I’m sharing 4 tips for creating amazing rings shots on the wedding day or engagement session!

 

 

 

Here are 4 tips for creating amazing ring shots:

1. Manual Focus – When it comes to shooting macro, I used to auto focus to get the shot. I quickly realized it took way too long to get it just right. It does take a little patience and stillness, but you’ll have more focused shots out of the bunch than not. Depending on the style of ring, I like to focus on the most forward diamond. If the prongs on the ring stick out a little bit further out, I focus on that.
2. Location, Location, Location – You can photograph a gorgeous ring with dead-on sharpness, but the background can really change the photo from great to wow! I love incorporating items from the bride’s wedding pieces or colors – her wedding bouquet, wedding dress, veil, or other jewelry. In addition, clean backgrounds are great as well! It gives the ring all the attention it deserves, and really helps the image pop.  For clean backgrounds, I like to use the bridesmaid’s dress or tissue paper I keep on hand.
3. Aperture – I shoot with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 lens for detail shots, and I keep my aperture to about f/2.8. It gives the background a nice creamy feel without having the rest of the ring disappear in the background.
4. Desaturate the diamond in Lightroom/Photoshop – The last step in my post possessing might not necessarily be the “correct” way, but it gets the job done for me 🙂 After I complete my editing on the image, my last step is to desaturate the main diamond just a smidge to get some of the excess color out. The ring might be sitting on flower petals or on a bright dress with the colors reflecting on the diamond. Desaturating the diamond will help make the ring stand out and help separate the background from the ring.