I’ve been shooting weddings for a little while now and as each one goes by I implement improvements in how I do things, whether it’s where I shoot from for certain parts of a wedding, how I organise the group shots or how I shoot the detail shots.
Some of these little improvements can happen quite naturally through sheer experience of how things work through a wedding and others can come glaring back at you whilst your editing the images and require an immediate change in the next wedding you shoot.
The one obvious change I needed to make from one of my first weddings was the detail shot of the rings, but I didn’t see it till I was editing away and noticed that in every shot I took of the rings I had the same problem.
If you look closely at the shot just below you’ll see what that problem was. Me! It’s my reflection, or rather that of my camera with me behind it. Well I may not appear that big in the picture and it may not be entirely obvious but for me its not ideal specially when its a problem that can be fairly easily solved or reduced.
So what has caused this problem. It’s simply because I have shot it fairly straight on. It’s as if I’ve taken a picture directly into a mirror and seeing as the rings generally have a very reflective nature and that’s why you get to see me.
So the remedy is just as easy as creating the initial problem. You still shoot into that mirror but at an angle. Just by increasing the angle at which you shoot the rings and shooting from a slightly higher perspective looking down on them means there is less chance of having your reflection in the rings. Of course this is fairly dependent on the rings themselves because no two sets of rings are ever the same shape. The more concave they are on the outside the more chance your reflection will feature somewhere in the rings but shooting them from above instead of low down and inline will reduce the chances greatly.
This shot below was from one of my more recent weddings. Like the one above its is shot from a fairly similar distance. Both are lit in pretty much the same way, the one above being lit by flash bounced of the ceiling where as the one below being lit by a flashgun angled up but with a Stofen Omni-Bounce attachment to soften the light and any shadows. The only real difference between the two is the angle and height of the shot, and to be honest it doesn’t take that much of an angle to make a big difference and a much better picture.
I hope this can be of some help to any looking to shoot weddings, or for anyone who may not have spotted it in their own shots. Likewise If you have any tip/tricks behind shooting the rings, any special way in which you shoot them or any improvements on my technique then use the comments form below to let me and everyone else know.
Well that’s it from me for now, I’m off to enjoy Christmas with my family. I very much hope you all have a great one two.
Dom 
I like the first ring picture! But then they are my rings. We probably wouldn’t have noticed your reflection if you hadn’t pointed it out. But then you are family so it’s nice to have another rare photo with you in as you were taking them
Hi Jacky, I like that first shot too, and I’m still very proud of the fact you allowed me, along with Scot, to shoot my first wedding on your very special big day. Technically there is nothing wrong with the shot of your rings, in fact it’s a darn good shot, but it’s just the perfectionist in me finding a way to improve on what I have done. I see things that generally only other good photographers would ever really see or notice and so spotting myself in the pic was so easy afterwards whilst I was editing. I take it upon myself to use little things like this to get better at what I do and offer a better service to future Brides.
As for me being in a pic, yeah its rare but not unheard of lol
You have to watch those reflections
http://www.dmfoto.co.uk/photos/20954/078-20120927.html