I'm guessing that many of you received fancy new cameras for Christmas (I'm jealous of you lucky girls who were blessed with a dSLR this year), and unless you have previous photography experience you are probably shooting all your pictures on the automatic setting. This ring shot tutorial of mine should help you attempt to turn your camera off of the automatic setting and start exploring things like aperture, shutter speed and ISO (I promise I'll explain those really confusing terms soon). Even though it can be kind of scary, shooting on manual not only makes you a better photographer but with enough practice you will find that you can take better pictures than the camera can!
If you don't have a dSLR don't worry! I don't. I have the Canon G9 (which Mr. Avo thinks is exactly the same as an SLR but I disagree!), which I love because it can be used in so many different ways. If you can find it, consult your manual camera to see which settings you can manipulate. Remember you are looking for terms like macro, ISO, aperture, exposure, manual focus, and shutter speed. Manipulating any combination of these settings can make a huge difference in the ring shots you take!
You are going to need a set-up that looks something like this (a system I learned about through Mrs. Eggplants awesome blog!) A frosted plastic bin (I think mine is clear and I want to switch to frosted for the light diffusion it provides), 2 lamps, a piece of white poster board, and a tripod. Read the exact setup instructions on the make blog.
I got my tripod for $5 off of ebay. It's a piece of junk but it makes a huge difference in the sharpness of my photos. Now for a quick explanation of the settings you will want to manipulate. Consult your camera user manual to learn what to push and pull to change these settings. If you lost your manual, you might be able to find an online version here!
Macro: Anne Ruthmann encouraged you to use the macro setting in her post. It looks like a little flower or tulip. It's the only way to get really clear ring shots (the other automatic focus setting is landscape and it looks like a mountain)
Manual Focus: My g9 has a manual focus setting (find the button that says MF) and when I seleft manual focus I turn the scroll wheel and a little box apppears in the middle of my screen showing me a closeup of my subject. If you are using MF take a lot of shots at different zoom levels because it's really tough to judge the perfect focus on that tiny screen.
I'm not going to give you a really technical description of the following terms (they are still really difficult for me to understand), I'll just explain what changing them will do to your pictures.
ISO: The higher the ISO number, the more grainy your photo will be. So 1600 ISO will be really grainy, whereas 200 ISO will be very clear and sharp. If your picture is really dark, you can make it lighter by changing the ISO to a higher number (this gives you more light and more grain).
Shutter speed: The shutter is the thing in your camera that goes "click!" when you take a picture. The longer the shutter is open, the more light enters the camera. The numbers on your shutter speed setting range from fractions (like 1/60) to whole numbers (like 2"). A higher number (my camera has a setting for 15 seconds!) will give your photo more light. A lower number (like 1/60) will give your camera less light. The lower the number is, the less blurry your photos will be.
Aperture: Aperture is REALLY hard for me. I didn't understand it until I read this post on Pioneer Woman. Aperture is what gives your photos depth. You know those really cool photos where one small thing is in focus in the foreground, and everything else is blurry in the background? That's called depth. Manipulating the aperture will you a range of numbers with a decimal (mine ranges from 2.8 to 8.0) A lower number (like 2.8) will have LESS in focus. A high number (like 8.0) will have MORE in focus. Since you want the focus to be on your ring, I reccomend setting your camera to a lower number.
Exposure: You also might be able to manipulate the exposure of your photos. A very high exposure setting will give your photos a "blown out" look, where the whites will be overly bright. A low exposure can look a little bit dull. Exposure is also easily manipulated in Photoshop or other photo editing programs.
The last thing you want to think about is white balance. I change my white balance by choosing settings like "daylight", "cloudy" or "tungsten" on my camera. Consult your manual to find out how you can make your whites as white as possible in your photos.
I hope I didn't lose you in all of those explanations. Maybe the best route to take would be to choose one or two of those options and play around with them until you understand how they work.
Below are some ring shots I took, straight out of camera (I usually photoshop the heck out of my photos but I wanted to show you what you can accomplish by changing the settings on your camera). I've included the information about the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture for each photo, which might help you when you take your own photos.
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/15
Aperture: 2.8
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/50
Aperture: 2.8
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/25
Aperture: 2.8
The bears below are the first gift I ever received from Mr. Avocado. He and a friend teamed up to give me these salt and pepper shakers when they went on vacation. Mr. Avo later told me that he gave me the one with the heart on the chest on purpose (we weren't dating at the time!).
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/15
Aperture: 2.8
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/25
Aperture: 3.2
I'd really love it if you would come back and share your results with me if you use my advice!
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