Diamond Engagement and Wedding Rings – Location Macro Studio
One of the skills I’ve found essential to wedding photography is that of flexibility. I love the spontaneity of wedding day photography. Even if I’ve photographed in the same church and reception venue for brides with the same first name two days in a row (and did a few years back) it’s never the exact same day twice.
I’ve collected a case worth of camera gear and, shiny as it all is, I don’t keep lenses or accessories long if they are not getting regular use. Enter one of my favorites – 105mm f/2.8 macro. Great lightweight telephoto lens for portraits, wedding ceremony snaps, and of course macro close up photos. When a recent bride chalked out two hours for her and her bridesmaids to have hair and makeup done at the hotel I got the macro lens out for detail shots of some seriously shiny rings.
Here’s the setup, in vivid iPhone snapshot format.
Tricky thing with a telephoto macro lens – if you’re shooting straight on at your subject there’s not a lot of depth of field wide open. It takes a good deal of light to be able to stop down the aperture for more depth and still have a fast shutter speed for hand-held close-up shots. A large window and tons of diffused overcast light did the trick for lots of light. I saw the shiny black marble-esque window sill and knew it would make a sweet reflective surface to shoot on for a certain idea. Set up the rings and went to town. Here’s one of my favorites from the set of improvised macro photography setup.
Geeky gear specs: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 Macro – exposure 1/20 second at f/45(!!) at ISO 800. Balanced on window sill and lens propped with the ring box lid & bathroom tissue – use what you have at hand!
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