28 Wedding Ring Photographs: Examples & Tips

Ring images are a crucial part of capturing every wedding. Not only does the couple pay a lot of money and put a lot of thought into it, but it’s also a symbol of their love in a way. That’s why it’s important to know how to capture the rings properly and come up with creative ideas.

Cute Engagement and Wedding Ring Photo Ideas

If you want to take better and more eye-grabbing ring photos, below you’ll find some of the most creative ring photo ideas, required gear, camera settings, as well as wedding photography tips for capturing rings.

1. Use Bokeh Background

wedding ring photographs bokeh

Bokeh photography emphasizes the subject in the foreground, making it clear and blurring the background. Brilliant bokeh circles make wedding ring photos so fairytale and romantic! At f/3.5, the bokeh turns out perfectly round but has more of an octagonal shape at f/11.

wedding ring photographs bokeh

If you don’t have a bokeh lens or failed to do bokeh while shooting, you can always apply bokeh overlays afterward.

2. Wedding Dress

wedding ring photographs dress

Try incorporating a ring into your wedding dress photography. A ring and a fashionable wedding dress are the most important things at the event and look harmoniously together. This is going to result in a memorable photo that helps reproduce the entire festive look. 

3. Nature Backdrop

wedding ring photographs nature

The shooting location and the time of year are quite important for a wedding day, so try to feature those in your shots. You can take a picture of the place where you celebrate the event and incorporate some environmental elements.

wedding ring photographs nature

It can be autumn leaves, branches, summer flowers, greenery, and even beach sand. It’s a nice idea to take wedding rings photographs with the symbol of the place where the newlyweds met, or the place of their engagement.

All these natural elements are easy to find in your surroundings. For example, a simple dark stone or wood emphasizes the durability of the rings, while tender fresh flowers will accentuate the elegance.

4. Wedding Date

wedding ring photographs date

The choice of the wedding date is an important question for most loving couples, so they are superstitious about it. You can take creative wedding ring photos on the background of a greeting card or an invitation that reminds you of the date, or use the calendar, daily newspaper, or any props, which mark a significant day.

wedding ring photographs date

Talk with the newlyweds and choose the desired format. Prepare all the necessary props in advance.

5. Wedding Bouquet

wedding ring photographs bouquet

Remember to take a picture of the rings on the beautiful bouquet. You can also use the flowers as a wedding ring background. You can place jewelry pieces inside or on the top of flowers to create beautiful engagement ring photos. 

wedding ring photographs bouquet

Although many wedding ring photographers consider this photo banal or too common, the newlyweds take a lot of effort to choose the bouquet for the bride. Therefore, they may be surprised if you neglect such a picture. 

6. Ring Exchange

wedding ring photographs exchange

Ring exchange is the culmination of every wedding, so it needs to be captured. Photographers need to work quickly to take this shot. It’s better not to shoot the faces, but to make close-up pictures while they are exchanging the rings. Thus, you will focus on the most important detail while emotions may be captured later.

7. Wedding Shoes

wedding ring photographs shoes
wedding ring photographs shoes

Each bride chooses fabulous shoes for her special day. You can emphasize the elegance of the stylish footwear by putting a ring on the heel, or beneath it.

8. Wedding Cake and Champagne

wedding ring photographs cake champagne

Take ring photos on a beautifully decorated wedding cake. If you are afraid to spoil the cake, you can take wedding cakes photography and a ring photo separately, and then make a collage in Photoshop.

Don’t forget about the glasses of champagne. Place the rings in the glasses, and they will sparkle with a wedding mood.

9. Use Props

wedding ring photographs props

Jewelry photography props can make your wedding ring photos unique. Whatever you choose, make sure to look into props that emphasize the couple’s personality.

wedding ring photographs props

You can use out-of-the-box props like butterflies, or more ordinary ones, like fabric, scrabble letters, or something connected with the couple’s hobbies, like a piano. 

10. Ring Box

wedding ring photographs ring box

You can also photograph the rings in a ring box, or on the pillows in which they were carried out during the ceremony, or a special holder. 

11. Ring Pictures on Hand

wedding ring photographs hands

Ask the couple to wrap their hands together and snap a close-up. This is a must-have shot for every photographer.

12. Use Rings as a Photo Frame

wedding ring photograph photo frame

Creating a frame out of rings is an attractive composition technique, and is a great idea for a romantic wedding kiss. For such a picture you can use a natural background or a summer landscape.

13. Use Complementary Colors

wedding ring photographs complementary colors

Use complementary colors photography rules to place your rings on beautifully colored surfaces. You can use contrasting colors for a more dramatic effect, or complementary colors for a harmonious picture. The main thing is not to overdo with colors and leave the focus on a jewelry piece.

14. Look for Reflections

wedding ring photographs reflection

Use mirrors, glass surfaces, and other reflective materials to create vertical symmetry. Using reflection photography results in eye-grabbing wedding ring photos.

15. Find Interesting Textures

wedding ring photographs texture

Experiment with different natural textures and patterns for backgrounds, such as marble, pearl, granite, and gray surfaces. 

wedding ring photographs texture

When choosing a background, pick an option that complements the ring, its style, and colors, without taking all the attention from it.

16. Use Water

wedding ring photographs water

Drop the rings in the water if you want to achieve creative wedding ring photos. Use a fish tank and set up 2 strobes on either side.

wedding ring photographs water

You can also use smaller containers, like a glass of water.

17. Add Movement to Your Rings

wedding ring photographs movement
wedding ring photographs movement

Ask the bride and groom to throw rings up in the air. Make sure to incorporate high speed photography principles to avoid blurry shots. Use fast shutter speed, such as 1/1600th of a second.

18. Discuss the Shot List in Advance

wedding ring photographs shot list

Since everybody’s tastes are different, it is better to discuss in advance all the details of the photos and the setting. Ask the couple what ring photos they need, and compile a wedding photography checklist.

19. Manage Reflections

wedding ring photographs reflections

Shooting metal and diamonds can be challenging due to the highly reflective nature of these elements. To minimize the reflection effect, I recommend placing paper around and at the bottom of the camera lens. You will also need a professional ring light for photography to take photos in the perfect conditions.

20. Use Natural Light for Diamonds

wedding ring photographs natural lighting

When it comes to diamond photography, lighting plays an important role. Soft natural light works best for diamonds. You can take pictures by the window or outdoors. 

wedding ring photographs natural lighting

Besides, avoid flash photography, as it will result in overly lit photos.

21. Mind the Composition

wedding ring photographs composition

Don’t ignore the role of composition when taking a picture of a ring. You can make your photos more stunning by using the rule of thirds in photography. Try dividing your shot into 9 parts and placing interesting elements on the intersections or along the lines.

22. Avoid Distracting Backgrounds

wedding ring photographs background

Take creative wedding ring shots using a simple jewelry background to attract all the attention to the rings. Most photographers use black smooth background. It helps to focus on the main attribute.

23. Outsource Editing Tasks

fixthephoto jewelry retouching before after fixthephoto jewelry retouching before after

After shooting, you will need to edit the image of a ring, as poorly retouched photos might undermine the credibility of your photo business. If you are a beginner without any retouching skills, I recommend hiring a remote employee or contacting a post-production retouching service. For an affordable price, you’ll get attractive results in no time.

24. Use a Macro Lens

wedding ring photographs macro lens

Macro lenses are the best lenses for wedding photography when it comes to capturing rings. It allows you to choose the right scale and capture all the details without resolution loss. Get a Canon 100m macro lens for the most attractive results.

25. Use a Reflector

wedding ring photographs reflector

When taking photos in natural light, you will need to use a reflector board or a mirror to reflect light at the ring on the opposite side. The reflector will provide you with even lighting.

26. Choose the Correct White Balance

wedding ring photographs white balance

In ring photography, it is very important to understand white balance settings to take perfect jewelry photography without distortion. This plays a crucial role in wedding photos, as you need to ensure that photos of gold rings won’t look like pictures of silver ones. To achieve true-to-life colors, make sure to manually adjust the white balance of the camera beforehand.

27. Use Deep Depth of Field

wedding ring photographs aperture

An aperture of f2.8 or f4 is not suitable for ring photography. You need to use a small aperture that allows you to see all the details of the jewelry pieces. The best option is f/8, which is closed down enough to focus on all the details of the ring, but wide enough to create bokeh and blurred backgrounds.

28. Shoot with Manual Focus

wedding ring photographs manual focus

If you are interested in wedding rings photography, you need to rely on manual focus as autofocus is less accurate. By focusing manually, you can get sharper shots and the desired result. 

Amazing Wedding Ring Photographers for Inspiration

If you like to trust your business to a professional or see new wedding photography ideas of experienced shooters, you can examine this list of top wedding photographers from all around the world.

1. Julien Pontarolo

Location: France

julien pontarolo wedding ring photographer

She chooses an individual style for each wedding and prefers to focus on the gems and emphasize the cost of the rings. She believes that the macro lens is the best lens for wedding ring shots, as it allows capturing all the details.

If you are looking for a collection of unique shots, then this photographer is perfect for you. You will find inspiration looking through Julien’s works and will create your own masterpiece.

julien pontarolo wedding ring photographer

Photo by Julien Pontarolo

2. Edwin Tan

Location: Lumpur, Malaysia

edwin tan wedding ring photographer

Edwin is one of the top 30 best photographers in Asia, who work in a professional team. He tries to make photographing rings process a special art. His best pictures are based on the reflection of wedding rings.

Using the contrast of a dark background and lights, he gives the rings extraordinary brilliance and elegance. If you are ready for something unusual and are determined to work on your photo for a few hours, then you can find a couple of ideas on this photographer’s website.

edwin tan wedding ring photographer

Photo by Edwin Tan

3. Francesca Survara

Location: Rome, Italy

francesca survara wedding ring photographer

Francesca is a Rome wedding photographer and he’s been capturing weddings around Italy and abroad for 12 years. His approach is solely focused on conveying the atmosphere of the event, and people's emotions through the shots. In his ring photos, he pays special attention to the light and the background.

francesca survara wedding ring photographer

Photo by Francesca Survara

4. Judith Thomandl

Location: Germany

This extraordinary and mysterious woman is also an excellent photographer from Germany. She loves thinking about posing a photo together with the newlyweds long before the wedding.

She also believes that pictures of engagement rings on hands are an important imprint of this day. She likes to use various objects as a background. That gives her works a particular style. 

judith thomandl wedding ring photographer

Photo by Judith Thomandl

5. Anna Lee

Location: Los Angeles, USA

Anna Lee is a young and already established wedding and music photographer. Her style is a great fit for hip/modern couples that still want a romantic timeless feel.

Her goal when shooting is to document the entire event while creating a beautiful visual story that fits the couple, and their style. Even though she has an individual approach to every wedding she shoots, her wedding photos have a distinct style, that distinguishes her from others.

anna lee wedding ring photographer

Photo by Anna Lee

Bonus Tools

tools for editing wedding ring photographs

If you want to achieve appealing and vibrant wedding ring photographs, but don’t want to spend lots of time on editing, use these ready-made Lr presets. They’ll give your photos a professional look in several minutes.

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