The Wedding Rings

I love photographing wedding rings. I usually ask the couple if I can photograph their rings during dinner. Sometimes they offer their hands and say “Sure!” at which point I inform them “No, you need to take them off.” I actually feel bad about that. They just put them on and I’m asking them to take them off! But off of the hands is the only way I like to photograph wedding rings.

I guess the easiest and safest way for me to carry the rings would be to put them on a finger. I don’t do that however, because I have a superstition about wearing wedding rings that aren’t meant for you. So instead I rush hurriedly across the reception room with my hands enclosing the rings, and over to a mini “studio” that I’ve set up in a corner, a hallway, or even (once) under the stairs. Ten minutes later when I bring the rings back to my clients, they have no idea how I’ve photographed them. I tell them: “You’ll see in the photos. It’ll be a surprise.”

For almost all of these shots, I used the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro.