One More Ring Shot ! :-)

[italianfemmy]

So, I tried a couple more shots today and got one that I really like. My girlfriend wants me to post it so here it is:

[MrsOpie]

I like this one the most. practice makes perfect.

[italianfemmy]

Thank you. :-) I keep trying and trying. lol

[italianfemmy]

Anyone else? I am sitting here bored. I would like some comments and critique. :-)

[ShannonHeat]

Beautiful!

[luannf1980]

I like that one.. infact after reading your post.. i just washed up my rings and am going to attempt to take some of my own..lol
Ill share if they come out even half as decent

[luannf1980]

I like that one.. infact after reading your post.. i just washed up my rings and am going to attempt to take some of my own..lol
Ill share if they come out even half as decent

[italianfemmy]

Thanks. Yeah, I was going to use some of my dress shoes to try the shoe detail shots but they are all scuffed up and a size 11! lol. I picked some flowers from a bush nearby for the ring shots with the flowers. I bought a prom dress that is white but looks wedding-ish enough from a consignment shop (50 bucks) and a veil from a thrift shop (5 bucks) so that I can practice dress shots and exposing the whites well.

I made a boquet from flowers and bunched them together. And, my next plan is to find a male model on myspace. :-) - to model with my girlfriend. :-)

[ShannonHeat]

You are a true champ! Keep it up!:)
Thanks. Yeah, I was going to use some of my dress shoes to try the shoe detail shots but they are all scuffed up and a size 11! lol. I picked some flowers from a bush nearby for the ring shots with the flowers. I bought a prom dress that is white but looks wedding-ish enough from a consignment shop (50 bucks) and a veil from a thrift shop (5 bucks) so that I can practice dress shots and exposing the whites well.

I made a boquet from flowers and bunched them together. And, my next plan is to find a male model on myspace. :-) - to model with my girlfriend. :-)

[jgogums]

For modeling I can be reached at myspace.:lol: ...
I've only done a few ring shots myself and each time I feel the need to practice more!
Good work and great dedication you are showing on your part!
I do like your image. Some areas seem a little hot but I've found I tend to like that in some floral shots. Was that intended? Also what lens did you use?

[sapearl]

I think I like your other ring shots better. This image is fair, but visually I feel the white highlights of the petals are competing with the rings.... the distract from it. The ring detail is good and well exposed, but your eye is drawn away from them.

But all this is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Really terrific ring shots are hard to get - perhaps one day I'll get one ;) .

[italianfemmy]

I used the 17-55. It was somewhat intended, yes. I put the flowers directly in the sunlight and I shot away from the sun with the full sun hitting the flowers. I actually didn't lower my exposure comp. on purpose and I shot in RAW and brought the exposure down to my liking there. :-)

Shannon- You can't beat a prom dress that looks somewhat like a wedding dress for 50 bucks, only worn once. I have been to every thrift shop and consignment shop in town hoping to land across some amazing deals. Some of the consignment shops have bridal gowns, the really nice ones with long trains for only 100-150 bucks. Only worn once, no sign of ever being worn but they run small and my model is a size 14-16! :-)

[Philco]

I think with the rings sort of facing different directions, it makes it kinda hard to know where I'm supposed to be looking. I've learned to keep the rings as close to the same focal plane, mostly because the depth of feild is so shallow. Here's an example w/ the Canon 100mm macro.

http://www.defalcophoto.com/post/Pilgrim_Slide046.jpg
The 100mm macro is about a $400 lens, which is cheap for a lens, but alot for a lens you might only use once per wedding.... but they do a great job. Camera shake is an issue if your shooting under, say 250th, but otherwise they're easy as pie to use.

[MrsOpie]

I want a macro lens.... :(:cry:

[Wedding Shooter]

I want a macro lens.... :(:cry:

The Canon 24-70L is a decent macro lens - if you ever decide to trade up the Sigma to the Canon that should be a consideration. I get all my ring shots using it.

[italianfemmy]

To be honest, the rings always facing the same way, always one on top of the other really bores me. I think outside of the box, or atleast I try to. I happen to really like them the way they are (but that's my taste.) I sent them all to a bunch of my friends and most everyone likes the ones that aren't on top of one another the best. I don't mind shooting them that way sometimes.

Also, when I place them on top of one another, it is even more obvious that they are different metals. The band is sterling silver and the ring is white gold. When on top of one another, it looks kind of odd or off to me. :-) Thanks for your opinions though.

[souporman]

The fact that they're not right on top of each other doesn't really bother me, but the image seems really noisy to me. Was that intentional?

I ran it through noise ninja once, brightened up the diamonds a lil and took a bit of a different crop...

http://www.kevinleitch.com/images/potn/ifring.jpg

[Yeoer]

I think with the rings sort of facing different directions, it makes it kinda hard to know where I'm supposed to be looking. I've learned to keep the rings as close to the same focal plane, mostly because the depth of feild is so shallow. Here's an example w/ the Canon 100mm macro.

http://www.defalcophoto.com/post/Pilgrim_Slide046.jpg
The 100mm macro is about a $400 lens, which is cheap for a lens, but alot for a lens you might only use once per wedding.... but they do a great job. Camera shake is an issue if your shooting under, say 250th, but otherwise they're easy as pie to use.


Nice shot... just a shame you can be seen taking it in the reflection. I guess thats one difficulty when using a macro lens with shiney objects... anyone got any tips on how to avoid it happening?

[GertS]

The Canon 24-70L is a decent macro lens - if you ever decide to trade up the Sigma to the Canon that should be a consideration. I get all my ring shots using it.

I second this, but the shortest distance doesn't reach a real macro lens. So having an extra macro lens is fine. You needn't use it only for macro shots either. :lol: For example the 100 / 2.8 macro is a decent low light tele for a 30D too. Especially if you can't use use flash.

[sapearl]

Bottom line, our opinions or those of a group of friends are not the ultimate judge and jury - it's what the client likes and what she will order as a reprint or treat as a reject.

That being said, their are significant TECHNICAL challenges that must be met when creating a truly beautiful ring shot. You have close focus issues, extremely shallow DOV, reflection concerns, color issues, distractions from other objects, optimum placement for truly showcasing the gem and band... it's no simple task. And once these are met, there are the aesthetic challenges. The shot may be tecnically perfect, but boring as hell.

I've seen stacked, non-stocked, facing and non-facing rings in these forums as well as in bridal mags. Both have worked due to the creative skill of the person behind the lens. One can pull off most any shot given sufficient technically mastery and creative imagination. It just takes time and practice, both of which are rarely accomplished over night.

[MDJAK]

Ring shots seem to be de riguer. Everybody takes them, but do they ever see the light of day? Does any bride and groom frame these?

The shot by the OP is good, but the rings look to be a wierd shade, as if I can't tell if they are gold, silver, or a combination.

I'll state flat out I could NOT take as good a shot.

mark

[sapearl]

Insightful question Mark - and I honestly don't know the answer ;) . I will take them in about a third of my weddings. Less than half those times it's because the B&G have made the request. I have NEVER had a request for a reprint to be framed. Perhaps that's because I have not created a stunning shot.

It seems to be an expectation though, they like having it in their proof book as a visual record, but they rarely order it for the album.

Ring shots seem to be de riguer. Everybody takes them, but do they ever see the light of day? Does any bride and groom frame these?.....

[italianfemmy]

I was proud that I didn't get my reflection in a single shot I took. I know that it's often a rookie mistake and also that a lot of pro's have difficulty with it. But, when I looked at them and they didn't have any reflections, I was shocked.

About the noise.. I don't know how they have noise.
I shot them at 100 ISO., Ap: 5.6, 1/250th at 55mm. It was really bright outside and I shot in RAW and had to bring the detail back into some parts which softened it a lil so I did 33 percent sharpening and 55 threshold in Photoshop. Not that I know what any of that means. It's just what I liked when I looked at it. :-)

[sapearl]

Nope - never saw any noise on my monitor.... just the natural texture of the metal and petals.

[italianfemmy]

Ok, thanks Stu.

[tim1960]

They don't do much for me, sorry. I do, however, prefer the edited one that souporman shows. The color is better in my opinion and not as much noise. Not much on the rings being set apart like they are.

[italianfemmy]

To be honest, I don't see the noise. I think it looks less noisy because of where he cropped it. There is some distortion on the top where a couple of the petals were not in sharp focus. As for the crop, I cropped using the rule of thirds . I like it like it is. I don't like every picture to be zoomed in so tight. Thanks so much for your opinions though.

[italianfemmy]

I forgot to mention.. I do like the tight crops in the rose pictures where the outer edges of the flower are also in the picture. It's different when I was using a huge bunch of flowers. To add definition of the flowers, I cropped so the edges were in the photograph as well.

[tmonatr]

They look a little soft to me. And the highlights a little hot. But the composition is good. Instead of sunlight, try bouncing your flash off a wall indoors and using a tripod. I am no pro, but I have done a couple of ring shots this way and they looked good.

[italianfemmy]

I will try some shots indoors as well. I wanted to try some outdoors first. I got an LED flashlight now so hopefully my diamonds will pop more too!

[philpereira]

Ring shots seem to be de riguer. Everybody takes them, but do they ever see the light of day? Does any bride and groom frame these?



I wonder the same thing; in fact, I never do them and never had anyone ask me why I didn't do it. From a photojournalistic perspective, shots like this don't really resonate with me like other less staged detail photos do. But that's just one person's perspective on things.