Usually, wedding photography is totally different from product photography. There are numerous times where our commercial & product photography skills really come in handy: when we’re shooting bridal jewelry. Part of getting up close and personal with many couples on their wedding day is getting close-ups.

A lot of couples ask for shots of their wedding rings, and brides who wear tiaras or other heirloom pieces passed down from generation to generation will ask us to photograph them.

Using a close-up macro lens is important for jewelry shots, of course, but lighting is the ultimate key. Natural lighting tends to work badly for ring shots, due to a reflective blend of colors that can mottle the jewelry. To really make the jewels sparkle, close-up photographs tend to need a LOT of light and they need to be well-placed lights.

For example, couple of weeks ago, we shot a wedding at the Ranch Golf Club in San Jose. The wedding colors were purple and green, and the bride’s flower of choice was purple tulips. When we shoot up-close with petals, getting the lighting right is super important—the rings in the purple flower would look dingy and purple, had the setting not been backlit with well-placed lights and reflected back. This shot took us just a few minutes, but could easily be used by a jewelry company for a full two-page spread advertising in a fashion magazine!!!

One of my other favorite jewelry shots was from a wedding at Far Niente, an amazing high-end winery in Napa. The winery has huge wine caves built into the hills, and their wines are in the hundreds. They do not usually hold weddings in the vineyard, but since the groom works there, they made an exception. The couple’s love is in its early phases now, but will age like a fine wine, so we honored the occasion and the spectacular setting by showing the rings against the ripening grapes.

The natural light outdoors made for great wedding shots, but we used lights for the ring pictures. Like the tulip photograph, this was especially important, because the light going through things like leaves and petals can leave a weird tint on the metal and jewels. By carefully lighting the rings in this shot, we made them sparkle and really pop against the green leaves and purple grapes.

One more that I LOVE is this stack of rings. This is from another incredible wedding, this time at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. The groom has a son and daughter, and they decided to buy them rings for the wedding too, so that the wedding was not just about the couple, but also about the memorable and meaningful new bond between the kids and their step-mom. Isn’t that sweet?! It totally melted my heart. We stacked the rings together to show how the family’s rings were a symbol of their togetherness—all the separate rings became one.

Below is some of our commercial photography work, photographed for Brilliant Earth, a San Francisco conflict-free gem company that sells wedding rings to couples who are concerned about the source of their diamonds. As you can see, the type of work is not much different from the personal jewelry shots!!

When couples ask us to photograph their rings, we always look for creative ways to tell a story with the picture—it shouldn’t look like an ad for a jewelry store; it is personal and real. And it should definitely have the right lighting. ☺