Doug Levy is a photographer based in Acton, MA. He shoots weddings and portraits. Check out his blog. Check out Doug’s first guest blog post about second shooting weddings. Doug will be teaching reception lighting techniques at Inspire Photo Seminars. Follow him on Twitter.
When Seshu saw my year in review post with my favorite ring shots of the year and asked me to write a guest blog about rings, my first thought was, “That’s not substantial enough of a topic for an entire blog post.” Then I gave it some more thought and realized there might be enough there after all.
With my ring shots, the light is almost always the same, small flash through an umbrella or white diffusion panel, as close as I can get it. Shutter at max sync, aperture in the F/8-16 range (you want that diamond to pop!), and ISO 100 or 200.
There are other tricks too. A few years back Matt Grazier turned me onto the idea of magician’s invisible string (to help rings stand up), and though I’ve never been able to make it work for me, I definitely see how it could be a useful tool.
With the technical formalities out of the way, on to the fun part.
My ring shots almost always about one of two things – humor, or something personal to the couple. Sometimes, it’s easy.
The groom was a big Bruins fan, and their wedding was just a few weeks after they’d won the cup, nothing crazy here.
Sometimes though, it’s not quite so obvious.
A bottle cap from room service.
The card from the coffee at the end of the night.
A hotel room key (the couple was going to Hawaii on their honeymoon).
The dessert table is a great spot to dig up ideas.
So is the bar.
When I get really stuck, I start looking for text.
It would be easy to put the rings on the flowers or the cake at every wedding. That’s easy. That’s also, “been there, done that.” And I never want to repeat a shot. To me, that’s just throwing in the towel and being lazy. I love it when potential clients come over and wonder aloud what I’ll do with their rings – that’s the fun part. Then comes the, “I need to step up my game and do this better,” part. But that part should never go away, and that’s what makes it fun.
Share links to your wedding ring shots below in the comments section.
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