I have a thing for diamonds and all things sparkly. I can’t really resist sequin shirts, and on a wedding day, I can’t really resist pairing rings with glitter. They’re just a natural match. 🙂

I started doing this because I fell head over heels in love with Susan Stripling’s bokeh-filled ring shots. So at the beginning of May, I was second shooting a wedding and I saw some glittered CARDS letters, so I stacked them up, placed the rings on them, and LOVED the outcome (first photo below). Not every bride is going to have glitterfied things at their wedding, so I needed a way to bring my own glitter. I kept racking my brain and during an impromptu trip to Michaels, I realized that glitter scrapbook paper may just do the job! So I searched through the racks and racks and found one that I figured would work for all wedding rings – a silver/gold mixture. So I bought one, brought it home, used my handy dandy fiskars paper cutter, cut it in half (2-6×12 pieces), and folded each piece. It worked great. The second photo is using that piece of paper. But then I realized that I needed to mix it up. So the ring shot kit was born. 🙂

I got this small recollections case from Michaels. It was 9.99, but I used a 40% off coupon. This is the ring shot kit. 🙂

I cut each of the 12×12 papers in half first (so on the 6″ line), then turned them and trimmed them to 8.5″ long. So there are 4 pieces from each 12×12 piece – two 6×8.5″ pieces and two 6×4″ pieces. The two 6×8.5″ pieces are the ones that go in my kit. I am NOT folding them anymore. They don’t hold up as well if you do. The little pieces are in my desk. I tried to get every color so that any bride would be happy with her glitter shot. So there’s dark purple, lilac, dark blue, light blue, aqua, green, yellow, orange, red, coral, hot pink, a medium pink, and a light pink. Then there’s the neutrals – there’s a polka dot (it’s cool), black, charcoal, silver, copper, silver/gold mix, and white. And then there are the specialty ones – tulle, lace, a mirrored silver, cork, and burlap. A little something for everyone. 🙂

Then in this little guy, there’s pearls, crystal beads, and little hot-fix diamonds. They look like lots of little diamonds when photographed. And then there’s my handy dandy little friend, dental wax. If you are frustrated with being able to stand your rings up, use dental wax. It’s a lifesaver, and for like 2 dollars, it’ll last FOREVER. 🙂

Quick tips for ring shots:

1. Lighting: I use my ice light, but any video light will do. Ring shots are tough when you’re inside with natural light. So video light or flash is your friend. Just be careful to not get crazy light the front of the diamond. 
2. Lens Choice: I prefer the 105 2.8, but I own the 60 2.8. If you haven’t bought a macro, go for the longer lens. You won’t block your own light when you’re so close!
3. Aperture: I’m usually at F8-F11 for my ring shots. Since you’re so close to your rings, your depth of field is WAY smaller, so you need to really close down. 
4. Focus: I manually focus in LIVE VIEW (yes…use it!). I zoom in and focus on the prong that is closest to me.
5. Hand shake: VR lenses are your friend. High shutter speeds are your friend, too. But even with both of those, breathe out before you snap the shutter.
6. Editing: If there’s a color cast, you can use a saturation brush in LR and bring the saturation down on the stone. I didn’t on the first one, but I like the purple in it. 🙂

ENJOY! 🙂

Edited to add some samples! (side note…I never thought I’d say this, but my facebook album has better quality images than the mess blogstomp has created! view them here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.203395216451546.1073741833.174779895979745&type=1)

(here’s a behind the scenes of that one) 🙂