Shot this at a wedding recently and a few people asked about how I did it. I am happy to share that plus the behind-the-scene setup shots to show you exactly what I did.

Before we get there, I thought it will be fun to have a challenge. Anyone who can guess the exact lighting recipe will win a 135-minute World Tour wedding photography instructional DVD which retails for U$100 each. Deadline is next Thursday, 15 December. Good luck!

updated 15 December 2011
This is how we did it…

At a wedding, I always have to improvise and work with mobile tools. For a reasonable good ring shot, it has to be focus and sharp to bring out the design, cut and colours. I have the SB800 & 900s, Lastolite softbox, 60mm macro, and a mirror of make-up kit from the make-up artist Always be nice to the make-up artists. They can be your ALLY!

I need to achieve a few things: background must be almost pitch dark, enough depth of field to show the details of the rings. And for these reasons, I couldn’t have used ambient light whether indoor or outdoor. It would have created a lot of spill. A softbox on the other hand, helps me to contain, shape and direct the light as I see fit.

Shot it at f11, 1/250, ISO200. The low ISO and shutter speed allow me to kill off most of the ambient light so I can get a near pitch back background. At f11, I get reasonable sharpness. It is still some distance from say a De Beers or Tiffany ad, which would require more powerful lights and lenses and camera with higher resolution for a pin sharp shot of the ring. Yet given the little time and limited equipment, I have to compromise between being as perfect as a commercial shooter and getting a good enough shot.

Many correctly predicted the use of a softbox from the left and wrongly assumed that I had a reflector on the right. From the early days of photographing small objects, I’ve learned that mirrors gives a more specular bounce than white or silver surface. This is helpful to bring out the details and colours of the sapphire.

I wish I have a smaller softbox. Lost too much power with the Lastolite 24″. A smaller softbox may help me gain 1-1.5 stop of light, and thus allow me to shoot at f16-18. Oh well, this is guerrilla lighting, not always perfect, but always mobile and effective.

Thank you for taking part in this. Since nobody made a perfect guess, I’ll bring the prize forward to the next recipe challenge. Cheers!

What fun to have the energetic, versatile and expressive Putri back to the studio the next day. Picked up immediately where we left off. Went straight into high energy moves that dancers are accustomed to. Shooting with a blank backdrop is always challenging. You have to bring a story and a visual message to the set through lighting, direction and colours. Fortunately, in Putri and the equipment collection, we have all three.

Putri kept leaping for three hours. When I was ready for a wrap, she chimed in on an idea. Glad she did. We pressed through and came away with four pictures I was pretty please about. What an honor to work with such a talented and professional dancer who carries a wide range of skills and expressions. We called Putri when our first choice model bailed on us 24 hours before the shoot. What a happy accident!

Technically, we used the Elinchrom BXRi500 lights, Deep Throat Octa, standard reflectors and grids for rim rights. Pretty amazing when you have all sorts of light shaping tools. I’ll be sharing a bit more about using these lights and the various light shaping tools.

Just wanna leave you with four pictures from yesterday…can’t wait to get back to the studio and work on another set of pictures.

Deep Throat Octa from the top and a mid size rectangular softbox from the bottom. BXRi 500 on both softboxes.

Deep Throat Octa as the main light from top right. Two 500w on standard reflectors, one of them with a 20 degree grid for the separation light from left.

That’s how we did it

Switched to white backdrop and put red gels through two 500Ws. Deep Throat Octa from the top, without the silk in front for a more contrasty feel. Putri must have jumped at least 50 times for this. Gotta respect her abilities and tenacity.

When I nailed the previous shot, I was happy to wrap up the shoot. Putri convinced me to work on this dance move. This was a tough one. Used a stripbox (130cmx50cm) as mail light and then two 500W on standard reflectors on both sides for separation light. We kept tweaking until we get it right. Again, couldn’t have done this if not for Putri’s determination. It is wonderful when you can get great talents in front of the camera.