SquirrelNuts
TPF Noob!
I became engaged Monday night...and I even used photography to propose! The short version is that I hid a 4x6 index card with "Will you marry me?" in the middle of a mini photo album with some pictures.
Last night I tried to photograph her engagment ring and wedding band with my Nikon 5400. I put the camera in macro mode and tried various backgrounds, angles, and lighting, but I just could not get the effect that I wanted 100%.
My best result was taking an off white cloth napkin and pulling it through the rings, and using the rest of the material as a backdrop. I shot in black and white. The ring was at an angle so that you could see the face and the side of the center diamond, as well as four ouf of the eight other diamons on the side of the center diamond. I used a white LED flashlight at an angle to produce a reflection off the face (table) of the center diamond. That was the best I could do to capture a sparkle. I tried this under flourescent and incandescent lighting. I set the camera to ISO 50 and the smallest aperature for good DOF.
What suggestions do you have to improve this shot? Would a different color cloth work (ring is white gold with colorless diamonds) or a different light source or mode?
My intent was to have a very sharp (hence ISO 50), very clear (hence small aperature), sparkling shot. I got all of it but the sparkle. I even tried moving the LED light during the exposure to try and attain many reflections, but to no avail.
-SquirrelNuts
Last night I tried to photograph her engagment ring and wedding band with my Nikon 5400. I put the camera in macro mode and tried various backgrounds, angles, and lighting, but I just could not get the effect that I wanted 100%.
My best result was taking an off white cloth napkin and pulling it through the rings, and using the rest of the material as a backdrop. I shot in black and white. The ring was at an angle so that you could see the face and the side of the center diamond, as well as four ouf of the eight other diamons on the side of the center diamond. I used a white LED flashlight at an angle to produce a reflection off the face (table) of the center diamond. That was the best I could do to capture a sparkle. I tried this under flourescent and incandescent lighting. I set the camera to ISO 50 and the smallest aperature for good DOF.
What suggestions do you have to improve this shot? Would a different color cloth work (ring is white gold with colorless diamonds) or a different light source or mode?
My intent was to have a very sharp (hence ISO 50), very clear (hence small aperature), sparkling shot. I got all of it but the sparkle. I even tried moving the LED light during the exposure to try and attain many reflections, but to no avail.
-SquirrelNuts