There was SO much going on during Showit United this year! If you were anything like me, I was wishing I could be in about 4 places at once. There was so much awesome information being shared, but only one of me and that bummed me out a bit. I had a pretty good turnout for my breakout session, but found out that there were quite a few people that wanted to be there, but they also had the same problem as myself. One of them, 3 places they wanted to go. Pretty sucky if you ask me. The information that I shared wasn’t anything profound. It wasn’t something that you couldn’t search for and find yourself, but it was all balled up into a short 1 hour long session, and I wanted to be sure that anyone who wanted that information could have it! I wrote out my notes because I am NOT as well versed in this as Katelyn James or Mary Marantz, and thought I would share with you guys what I shared during my breakout session-just in case you missed it!

My Ring Shot Breakout Session at Showit United 2016

Not just ok….EPIC.

Start with the Basics

-Camera/macro lens or filters

I think it’s important that you have all of these to take epic rings shots. It goes without saying to have a camera, but one of the most helpful pieces of this puzzle for me is my macro lens. I shoot Nikon and love ADORE my Nikon 105 macro. I couldn’t get the ring shots I get without it. I know other swear by their macro filters and can’t justify a lens that they would only use for details. My macro isn’t used to portrait. I only use it for ring shots, some detail photos, and then it goes back in my bag, but I LOVE what it does render when I use it for those.

-light

You need to have light somewhere! Whether it’s window light, OCF, or a little LED video light.

-background/foreground elements

I don’t carry a ring shot kit with me anymore, but incorporate things from the wedding for my ring shots.

-location

You need to have a safe location. Not for you. For the ring.

-Rings

• Educate clients to have all details together at the beginning of the day. THIS IS KEY.
• ALL THREE RINGS
• I MEAN IT
• Word of caution. Don’t be in charge of them.
• FUN STORY: I shot a wedding this last fall and decided to take it upon myself to be the keeper of the grooms ring. It was all fine and dandy. I figured I would put it in my camera bag and have that with me throughout the day. Once we got to ceremony time, we were running behind, so I parked my car across the parking lot from the ceremony location, but close to where the bride was.  MID CEREMONY- I realized the ring was still in my bag. In my car. I very non-chalantly walked up the stairs to my 2nd, told her to go get the ring out of my car and she said “which one is your car?” KNOWING that I very well couldn’t send her into the sea of cars in the parking lot in hopes that she found mine, I had her stay there and I sprinted -mind you, I don’t run- to my car, to get the ring, walk back down the stairs, kneel next to the best man who luckily was sitting in the front row, and said “I think you need this.”

• OH MAN.

• Make sure someone else is in charge of them
• This brings up another issue. What if you don’t get the rings until later in the day?

See above. I be sure to educate my clients that I need all three rings in the morning. I make sure to let them know that if I don’t have them all, there is a chance I won’t be able to shoot them all later in the day. They’re usually pretty good about it then.

• Have another source of light if needed
• Have FLASH if needed
• Be creative-sparklers, twinkle lights, whatever

What’s the Story

-Naturally as a photographer, we’re a story teller. We tell the story of the wedding day right? Doesn’t that story start with the rings? That’s the first commitment they make to each other, so why not take EPIC RING SHOTS. AMIRIGHT?

-Think of the wedding day as a story and rings are just a part of that piece

• HOW
  • Incorporate pieces of the wedding into your shot
  • Invitations
    
  • Bridesmaids dresses
    
  • bride’s granny’s hanky
  • veil
  • flowers —i don’t do this very often anymore, but in a moment of weakness I will. Some love this, and that’s OK! 🙂
  • bride’s jewelry
    
  • Cacti? 😀
    
  • any special something of the day

Shooting

Aperture

• anywhere from f8-11
• I had people ask, what about ISO? I’d rather have a tack sharp diamond and some –manageable-noise, than slipped focus and no noise
• The higher the diamond, the higher the aperture needs to be. Halos, higher set diamonds, Multiple diamonds, etc
• When setting up shots, make sure the rings are on the same plane.  Some people use a ruler for this. I just eyeball it.

Shutter speed

• Know your shake point. I know I can’t shoot a ring shot at lower than 1/160. Not breathing, and steady on something.   Like shooting a gun. HA!

ISO

• Bump it to where it needs to be with the available light, or bring in a light source

LIGHT

• Always try to have your light source at an angle to the face of the diamond. If there’s glare on the diamond face, it washes it out, and it’s not as luminous. Think about a jewerly store. They have tons of little pin point lights to make sure the facets of the diamonds all light up!

FOCUS

• Focus on the prongs. With a higher aperture, if you focus on the prongs, the entire diamond should be in focus. Shooting at 2.8 will cause the prongs to be in focus, but not the entire diamond. If you love that look, then do that.
• MANUAL FOCUS!
• My 105 is a spaz when it comes to focusing. It’s so much quicker and time efficient when I manual focus. If you have issues practice!!
• Shoot more ways than one.
• You want diversity in the images, just like with the rest of the images.
• Don’t forget to shoot vertical and horizontal!
• Shoot with invitations, with flowers, jewelry
• Doesn’t have to be a whole different set up, just change the setup of the rings themselves

TIPS

• Shoot with the jewelry or anything shiny behind (or in front) of the ring. You get pretty bokeh, and it looks awesome, BUT it can also be distracting if there’s too much.
• Remember light fall off
• The ring can be lit, and the background darker
• Thing of foreground and background elements
• Gives your image dimension
• Just like the rest of your shots during the day, remember your composition!
• Leading lines, reflections, rule of thirds, etc.
• Know when to break the rules
• Think outside the box.
• Once you get the safe shots, be a little more adventurous.
• It doesn’t need to take long
• Don’t focus on just the rings and forget about everything else

Hopefully that helps you guys! Let me know if you have other questions about ring shots! 😀