I am always a sucker for an amazing ring shot! Ring photos are super important for engagement sessions and on wedding days. The ring symbolizes the start of the engagement and everlasting love so it's a great addition to every engagement and wedding gallery. A lot of other photographers always ask me how I achieve the ring shots that I capture so here are 5 tips to help you nail those ring shots every time!
1. Choose Your Light Wisely
Ring shots work best when there is a lot of natural light available. Even if you are a more dark and moody photographer, you will still want to make sure there is sufficient natural light present. The light will not only help you nail your focus but will make sure the ring looks it's best. However, with that said, you won't want your light source to be shinning directly into the main stone and will want the stone shaded so it doesn't reflect the light back into your camera.
2. Get Close
Personally I think the best ring images are the ones that show all of the details of the ring and make the ring big and front and center. You don't want to take a photo of the ring and have it be super tiny in the image. Make sure you are close enough that the ring fills up the frame and showcases the beautiful details of the ring.
3. Focus On The Prong That's Closest To The Camera
I believe I heard this first from the lovely Katelyn James and it really helped take my ring shots to the next level. Because you are photographing the ring so close and with a macro lens, you more than likely won't get getting the whole ring in perfect focus. The trick to make the whole ring look like it's in perfect focus or make the focus look like it is right in front, is to focus on the prong that is closest to your camera instead of focusing on the main stone. If you focus on the main stone, the prongs will be out of focus and will make your image look out of focus. Focusing on the prong will ensure your ring looks sharp!
4. Use A Lower Aperture
As a prime lens gal, I regularly have my aperture at 1.4-2.5 and that helps me achieve my perfect style. However, for my ring shots I lower my aperture to around a 5-9. This helps me make sure my ring images are nice and sharp with a lot of the ring in detail.
5. Consider The Background
A lot of photographers will put the ring on a busy background, the invitations, or something with a lot of detail. Although these images can look great, I personally love having the ring be the focal point so I prefect a more plain and simple background so the ring will really stand out.
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