Engagement Photos With Two Rings: How to Show Both Hands

The best hand poses for two engagement rings bring their ring hands close together at the same height, with the stones facing the camera. When both rings are on left hands, holding hands side by side hides one ring, so try stacking one left hand on the other instead. Another good pose is to stand face to face and rest each left hand on the other's shoulder. You can also lay both left hands flat on a table, fingertips pointing the same way. Keep the fingers relaxed with a small space between them, so the ring finger is not hidden behind the middle finger. Take the same pose a few times while turning the hands by small amounts, then choose the shot where both stones catch the light.

Yes, clean both engagement rings before the photo shoot, because a close-up shows every smudge on the stone and the metal. GIA says diamonds can be cleaned safely with lint-free cloths, commercial jewellery cleaning solutions and household detergents. At home, soak the rings in warm water with a drop of dish soap, brush gently with a soft toothbrush, and rinse them in a bowl. Dry them with a lint-free cloth and avoid touching the stones with your fingers afterwards. Do this the night before or on the morning of the shoot, so the rings stay clean. Have the settings checked about a week before the shoot, so a jeweller has time to fix any loose stone or worn prong before the day.

An ultrasonic cleaner is a risk to use at home before photos, because GIA says ultrasonic and steam cleaners can loosen gemstones in their settings. GIA adds that jewellery professionals check for loose stones before they use these machines, which is hard to do well at home. For sapphires, GIA says ultrasonic and steam cleaners are usually safe for untreated, heat-treated and lattice diffusion treated stones. It also says fracture-filled, cavity-filled and dyed sapphires should only be cleaned with a damp cloth. If you do not know whether your stone was treated, use warm soapy water, which GIA says is always safe for sapphire. Leave machine cleaning to a jeweller who can check the setting first, and ask what your stone can safely take.

Soft daylight is the best light for photographing engagement rings, either from a large window or from open shade outdoors. Soft light shows the sparkle of the stones without the hard shadows and bright white spots that direct sun can cause. Turn off the phone flash, because a flash flattens the metal and can hide the cut of the stone. If you shoot indoors, stand next to the window and turn off ceiling lights, so mixed light does not change the colour of the gold. Morning and late afternoon light is gentler than light at noon. Try one shot facing the window and one with the window at your side, then compare the two on a large screen before the real shoot.

To take a sharp ring close-up on an iPhone, wipe the lens, tap the stone on the screen to focus, and hold the phone still with both hands. Apple says supported iPhone models can focus as close as 2 centimetres and will automatically switch to the Ultra Wide camera for macro photos. If the image goes blurry, Apple says you can move back or tap .5x to switch to the Ultra Wide camera. You can control the automatic switch with Macro Control, found in Settings under Camera. Rest the phone on a stack of books if your hands shake. Take many shots, then view them on a computer or tablet screen and keep only the sharpest, since a phone screen hides small blur.

Plain linen, cotton and velvet look good under rings in close-up photos, because their soft texture does not pull attention from the stones. A single plain colour works best, since patterns compete with the rings for the eye. Beige or grey fabric suits yellow and rose gold, while dark blue or black fabric makes white gold and white diamonds stand out. Lay the two rings close together, touching or with one leaning on the other, to show they belong to one couple. A small fold in the cloth can hold a ring upright so the stone faces the camera. Iron or smooth the fabric first, since creases and loose threads show up clearly in a macro photo taken from a few centimetres away.

To photograph two rings in different metals, shoot them in the same soft, neutral light, so the yellow gold looks yellow and the white gold looks white. Strong coloured light, such as a red sunset or warm indoor bulbs, can make white gold look yellow and blur the difference between the two rings. Choose a background colour that suits both metals, such as light grey or beige, and keep it the same for every shot. Frame the shot tight around both hands, so the eye reads the two rings as one pair. Different designs and different metals still look connected when the hands touch. If the colours look wrong later, adjust the warmth setting in your phone's photo editor until the white gold looks white again.

Get your rings checked about one week before an engagement shoot, so there is time to fix anything a jeweller finds. GIA says a diamond that is loose in its setting can wear through a prong over time, and a close-up photo will show a bent or worn prong clearly. A week also gives time to resize a ring that has become loose or tight, if the work is small. Most gold, platinum and silver rings can be resized up to two sizes either way. Then do a final home cleaning the night before or the morning of the shoot. Bring a soft, lint-free cloth on the day to wipe off fingerprints and skin oil between poses and between locations.