How best?

[owahc]

I have a friend who wants me to do some "wedding" pictures.

 

She is already married but would like some more pictures to add to her album of

things such as the rings, her shoes, her dress etc...

 

I have tried a few shots with the rings but I am not so sure what works and

what doesnt.

 

Attached are two montages of my VERY rough ideas and I woudl welcome your

thoughts and opinions.

 

Thanks

 

K x<div></div>

[owahc]

Rings on flowers...<div></div>

[ellis_vener_photography]

use softer lighting for a start.

[owahc]

Ellis, thanks for your comment. What I meant was more in regard to the positioning/presentation of the rings as these were just rough shots.

 

Thanks

 

K x

[frank_myers2]

I like the one on the bottom left hand side. The angle composition is the strongest to me.

 

 

Frank

[owahc]

Frank, I quite like that one too, my fave is the one in the carnation. I have seen it done with roses but I find carnations more photogenic...!

 

If anyone else has any similar pictures I would love to see them.

 

K x

[william-porter]

This type of shot is harder to do than it looks!

 

The key thing you need to figure out is how to light the subject matter better. You will want to have light coming from a large source or, better, more than one source -- but not hard direct light. You're trying to eliminate shadows. The easiest way to do this is to use a small light box, but that's not necessary. You might want to put the book and rings near a large window with a northern exposure (or at least a window that doesn't have direct sunlight streaming in, perhaps because it's got thin white curtains). Use at least one flash attachment to bounce light off a wall or ceiling in order to eliminate the shadows caused by the light from the window; or instead of a flash, try using some other form of artificial light. (You may end up with white balance problems, using tungsten lights....) Experiment, setup, shoot, chimp (or better move to computer and review), then experiment some more. You can try this sort of thing at home until you get better understanding what is needed generally.

 

But the lighting isn't the entire problem. You need to think also about the depth of field. Seems a little too shallow to me in those flower photos. The background or surface that the items are placed on matters, as well. The angle from which you take the photo is important, of course. Of the four shots in your rings-on-book sample, I like the one in the lower left corner best personally. And finally, look for problems in the material being photographed. THis is like making sure everybody has their eyes open when you take a group shot. It looks to me like there may be a small stain on the page of the Mass book you were photographing. Probably want to avoid using that page, and if possible, pick a page that specifically refers to marriage.

 

Let me add a note about lighting: The approach I'm suggesting (get rid of shadows) is just one approach. I can't think of a specific example now but I'm sure I've seen ring-on-book photos that had dramatic shadows but were very effective. So there aren't really any rules about this, and if you like shadows, then ignore my recommendations and think instead about how to control the light so that you get shadows that look dramatic and meaningful rather than simply the result of bad lighting.

 

Good luck and have fun.

[owahc]

Thanks William. Again to re-iterate my earlier points, tehse were just quick snapshots to play around and so lighting was not considered. Also, the stain on the book is another thing that I dodnt think about! The specific page was requested by the "bride" and so I will have to find a clean prayer book for after teh "dress rehersals". Thanks anyway for your thoughts. I will keep playing around until the final run through.

 

K x

[trunfio]

From the hymm books, I like upper right (warm lighting and shallow depth of field). I think

you want to blur the text so the eye focuses on the rings and avoid folds in the books. I like

I would crop out the black space on the bottom though. But I really like the warm tones (i.e.,

non white paper). Gives it a classy look. I like the free space on the top because it gives depth

to the whole composition.

 

From the flower shots, I don't like the carnation shot because it's a cheap flower. For the

other, I would experiment until you get the rings all in focus. Good work.

[owahc]

Paul, how does this one look?

 

With regard to the warm tones... Dont know how I did that, wasn't paying the lighting any attention! Regarding the carnations, yeah I know they're cheap...!

 

K x<div></div>

[trunfio]

Warm tones look like it was with tungsten (ambient) and no flash. Shoot in RAW and

experiment with the white balance. The attachment looks over-photoshopped... too tight a

vignette.

[trunfio]

Actually, I take back the comment on over-photoshopping... when i saw the image full

screen it looked fine (as opposed to scrolling around)

[trunfio]

Actually, maybe you can try to experiment with the opaqueness of your vignette. it looks

overly strong. Try without any photoshopping too and see how it looks. I like that certain

words pop out: like glory, Lord, holy, God.

[vlad khavin]

Kimberly,

 

Are you trying to create an image that looks like it was taken the day of the wedding, or are you interested in just creating an artistic sort of shot of their rings? I ask because you could feasibly take the rings and put them on some sort of high-gloss black surface and catch them and their reflections... you can add a flower like your carnation into the picture as a compositional element, but not have the rings sitting on or in it. I have such a shot (carnation replaced with white satiny fabric) in the header of my website, if you want to see what it looks like.

 

Just a thought.

[owahc]

Hi Paul. The pictures were taken in a church. There was normal church lighting and then my flashgun. I will experiment more then let you know.

 

Vlad, I like your picture, I will thry something similar.

 

Thanks

 

K x

[steve_c.5]

My suggestion would be use a macro lens and shoot the rings VERY closeup with natural window light, no flash. Use a shallow depth of field (wide aperture like f2.8-f4) so the hymnall text is only sharp where the rings are. If you can get a nice glint of light off a gem surface, that would be nice too. Experiment.

[robbie_caswell]

I have a Tamron 90mm Macro that is very useful for a variety of images, especially detail shots. Inexpensive at about $250 and works well for portraits among other uses and at f/2.8 is fast enough.

 

Also, I find using two lights (one on camera and one off camera) works best. Either use sync cords (cheap) or something more advanced like Pocket Wizards.

[mtrejo6]

Soften your lighting. seems a bit to harsh. try natural lighting with no flash.

[owahc]

Hi all, thanks for your responses. I will get out my macro lens this weekend and have a play about. Check back next week for new results!

 

Thanks again

 

K x

[lamont]

What I try to do with the rings is put the two hands on a table with a corner or some part of the cake, the flowers, a horseshoe if there is one, and a wine glass lying down. (Empty it first!) Sometimes there are other small things on the table you can use. It does not matter if you can't get all of these things in, even a bit of them in the corner works ok. Then I light it by bouncing off some big guy with a white shirt, on the other side of the table so that there are minimal shadows. I can not always do this, but I always try...... and sometimes they just do not work as I had planned.

Try it.

 

Donald.

[owahc]

Donald, that sounds interesting. DO you have an example I can see?

 

K x