How To Take The Perfect Engagement Ring Photo For Instagram

The day you get engaged can be the most exciting day of your life. Nowadays, people spend months planning the perfect proposal because you remember it forever. According to Wedding Ideas Mag, Central Park in New York is the most popular place in the world for a proposal, closely followed by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Whether you decide to get engaged at the place you first met or an exotic foreign location, it is the beginning of creating a life together.

Now you finally have a ring on "that" finger that you cannot wait to show off. In the past, you would probably meet up with your loved ones as soon as it happened, but modern life scatters people all over the world, so it can be hard to show your beautiful ring in person. This is when you turn to social media. 

Here Comes The Guide says announcing your engagement on social media is "the modern-day equivalent of publishing an announcement in the newspaper." According to Brides, posting a picture of your engagement ring on Instagram is a "modern-day engagement announcement." And for that, you need the perfect picture of your perfect ring. Now let's find out how to take the perfect ring selfie because did the engagement even really happen if you don't post it (wink!)?

According to Brides, "Lighting is the most important factor if you want your ring to sparkle," and wedding photographer Jonathan Perkins shared, "A gem/diamond has many facets (cuts), which are all facing different directions." Unless you choose a round stone, you need light to surround your rock to really capture its beauty in its entirety. You will get the best picture of your engagement ring in natural light, whether indoors or outdoors. The Knot guarantees that "you want natural sunlight" to avoid unnecessary shadows that can damper the true sparkle. 

You don't need the sunniest day of the year for the proper lighting either. Kaysha Van Der Heyden of Kaysha Weiner Photographer recommends "overcast skies, shade, or window light without harsh shadows," according to Martha Stewart, "these are always very flattering forms of light." If you don't want to run around outside, you can also capture gorgeous ring selfies by holding your hand out near the window during the day.

You want your special ring to be the focus of attention, but you don't just want to hold your hand up anywhere for the magical moment, whether it is the Grand Canyon or the dinner table. When you are posting the picture on Instagram, play around with different backgrounds to see which makes it stand out the most without overshadowing the ring. James Berglie of Be Photography told Martha Stewart, "Select a background that is uniform and not distracting," because you want people to notice the ring without getting overwhelmed by the chaos around it. You want the background to be "simple and pretty" whether you choose an "Instagram-worthy skyline, latte or patterned pillow to serve as the backdrop of your ring selfie," according to The Knot, the surroundings complement your ring rather than take the attention away from it. 

Your fiancé could be the perfect backdrop for the ring, too, if you want to include them in the picture. According to Brides, it might not be a bad idea to include them and choose to have "your partner to be in the background smiling at the camera," and if you want the focus to be on the ring, just use your phone settings to focus on the ring and slightly blur their face.

If there is ever a time to get a manicure, it is for your engagement ring selfie. If you are someone who keeps up with regular manicures, you should be all set, but if it was a surprise proposal and you didn't get a chance to get your nails done — you can always wait to take the picture after you get a picture-perfect manicure. Of course, if you don't want to get a manicure, you don't have to because you can also get amazing pictures with your bare nails.

Deborah Lippman, the co-founder of her namesake brand, told The Zoe Report, "The perfect engagement mani is one that is kept simple and clean ... something that highlights the beauty of your engagement ring." There are no rules here, but the most common engagement nails are "soft neutral or blush pink," and if you love a little bling, don't shy away from a little glitter but just remember, "you don't want it to steal focus." If you are impatient and can't wait to share the news but don't have freshly painted nails, The Knot has a genius idea where you can prep your hands by moisturizing them first (because you don't want flaky skin showing) and "hold hands with your fiancé, frame your nails out of the shot." Make sure to take tons of pictures in different lighting with various backgrounds so you can pick the best of the best ring selfie for Instagram.