First of all, I can’t believe that this is the first time I’m writing about this topic. Ring shots are my FAVORITE details to photograph! To back up a little bit though, I didn’t always used to be good at them. For instance, take a look at this gem below:

This is my high school graduation ring that I posted in September of 2015. If you notice the caption, I was determined to learn how to nail a hood ring shot. Fast forward two years and here we are!

When it comes to taking ring shots, I’ve learned a lot of tips and tricks to make the ring look amazing:

1. Find good natural light. This helps fill the diamond with light and make it look a lot shinier and brighter!
2. Make sure there are no reflections on the face of the diamond. The best ring shots are the ones where you can see the intricacies of the diamond, and of there is a glare, that detail is no longer visible.
3. Focus on the closest prong. This, honestly, is just a mind trick! If you focus on the closest prong on the ring, it will appear as if the entire ring is in focus. If you focus on something farther away, there will be blurriness in the foreground, making it look like you missed the focus.
4. Hold your breath. This is a silly one, but it help! There is such a small plane in focus on these shots that even a breath will make your camera move and cause you to miss focus.
5. Manually focus. This is the only time of the wedding day that I manually focus. I’ve found that auto focus doesn’t given me any control to focus on the closest prong… it just goes wherever it wants to! By manually focusing (and holding my breath) I can choose exactly where I want the focus to be.

The lens that I use for my ring shots is the Nikon 105mm macro. This lens is incredible and I highly recommend it! Plus, it doubles as a portrait lens, too. This lens can capture impeccable detail. So much so, that you can tell whether or not the ring has been cleaned! I recommend to all of my brides to have their ring cleaned before our time together to ensure that it is sparkling to the best of its ability!

Hopefully these tips were helpful for you! Ring shots take time and a LOT of practice. If you are wanting to practice, but don’t have any clients’ rings to photograph, then there’s #noshame in picking up cheap ring from Walmart. On my early days, I bet you couldn’t even tell which ones were real, which ones weren’t! It’s a great way to get practice without the pressure of a portrait session. Happy snapping!