Bridal magazines are filled with stunning images of larger than life engagement rings, and these same types of images frequently grace the pages of wedding photo album. Quite often, theses images are taken with a macro lens, which allows the photographer to get up close to an image and capture an image that magnifies the subject. The macro-capabilities of a macro lens don’t come out of the bag too often–once for the great ring shots, and maybe a few other times if there are some really great small details.

This has created a dilemma for me…If I’ve got a bag that can carry a certain number of lenses, is it really worth it to lug the extra weight when I’ll only need the macro lens for a shot or two? And is it worth it to spend over 500 bucks on a lens I’ll use maybe twice per wedding?

After some online researching, here are the solutions I’ve come up with. First, I can just use what I’ve got. If I use a regular lens, steady the camera while I shoot, and then increase the sharpness of the photo in post-processing, it’s likely that I’ll get a decent shot.  This is the photo posted above–nothing amazing and it could definitely use some more sharpness.  Second, according to the advice of Lawrence Kim,I can just use a point and shoot camera to get the rings shot.  Based on the pics on his blog, this seems to be a pretty darn good looking option.  While I don’t have his beast of a point-and-shoot, I do have a Canon powershot somewhere that could do the trick.  Maybe not…I dug up the point and shoot and it appears to have melted down and no longer focuses.  Oy.  Finally, DPS has an interesting option–take my 50 F/1.8 lens, reverse mount it, use a $9 adapter, and take some macro shots.  While the manual focusing could be a bit tricky, especially in a dimly lit room, this is a pretty inexpensive option and I usually bring along the nifty fifty lens as a back up anyways.  Since I no longer have a point and shoot, I’m ordering the adapter now and will keep you posted on how it turns out.

Update:  The Canon G9 was used for the above ring shot.  It picks up details nicely and unlike a heavy macro lens, is a cinch to carry around.