Ring Shots 2010

I love photographing rings.  It might have something to do with my love of tiny things, it might be what they symbolize, it might be the challenge they provide with lighting after dark.  Whatever the reason, I love that down-time during the reception when I put on my macro lens and have a few minutes to hone in and be creative with just two tiny little things. . .

And for those of you who like gritty behind-the-scenes details, I am going to post some below each of these images to describe how they were lit, etc., with links to the gear I use.  They are all taken with my Canon 100mm 2.8 macro lens on the Canon 5D.

Above: These rings are sitting on top of a pair of gloves, on a windowsill [the light is coming from behind them].  I gave the diamonds just the teensiest little bit of fill flash at the front.  Since I shot these in daylight I didn’t need to do much.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: The rings are sitting on a lemon, obviously.  This was done after dark, and all I did was sit one of my little readylites on the table behind the slice of lemon to make it glow.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding.

Above: also photographed at night, I had my assistant help by holding two readylites up to light the rings.  They are sitting on a piece of fabric from one of the reception tables.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: Shot after dark, without an assistant.  I looked very silly shooting this I’m sure.  I used one readylite to light it, which I held up with my left hand curved around back of my head while I shot it with my right hand.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: this one was shot in daylight.  There was a window behind and slightly to the left.  The beautiful yellow is a votive candle holder.  I thought it would be fun to photograph Allison’s rings with Dave’s ring acting as the frame.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: One of my favorite memories from the 2010 season is all the kazoo-playing at David and Melanie’s wedding in New York.  It was awesome, so I knew I definitely wanted to include a kazoo in one of the ring shots.  I took this outside in all natural light.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: I love it.  You’ve seen it before.  I think it will always be a cheeky favorite of mine from Evan and Kate’s wedding.  Bling on bling.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: Ashley had her childhood wagon at their wedding, which I thought was fantastic.  One of the slots was the perfect size to fit the rings into.  All natural light.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: this is actually one of my favorite ring shots just because of its simplicity.  I just took a clear plastic cup from the buffet, turned it upside down and set the rings on top.  I used on of my readylites to shine through the bottom.  Simple and fun!  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding. Above: This was shot with all-natural light, using a napkin from the reception as the backdrop.  CLICK HERE to see their whole wedding Above: also done in natural light, we just set the rings in this beautiful little copper “ring warming” bowl to photograph them.  CLICK HERE to view their whole wedding. Above: Shot after dark, I set one of my flashes up off camera to light the rings on a plain white tablecloth.  CLICK HERE to view the whole wedding. Above: Similar to the previous image, I took this shot at the same wedding, using off-camera flash after dark.

So there you have it.  A few of my favorites from 2010 and the details behind them.