Here’s another image from Saturday’s wedding. It was obviously done later in the day near the end of the reception. Again, it’s not your typical wedding photo. It might seem a little gimmicky to some people, but I think the bride and groom liked it.
I think part of the appeal of this image is the way the bride and groom are looking at each other. You can certainly see the “love” in the picture. I also like that it features the bride’s four brothers and sisters spelling out the word.
The setup for the picture is pretty straightforward. The camera is on a tripod and I held the shutter open for five seconds. That allowed the flashlights to trace out the letters. At the end of the exposure, my wife triggered the off-camera flash she was holding, and that flash of light illuminated the people and froze them in time.
This was the first time I’d done this shot, so I learned a few things along the way. It was easier than I expected to show the folks how to make their letters, but I forgot to let them know that they would be visible in the final image. I also whish I had placed a second flash out of the frame to camera-left and slightly behind them to outline their shadow sides.
Keep checking back for more samples from the wedding. If you want to see some extreme examples of painting with flashlights, check out the Sprint commercial on YouTube featuring a group of artists who’ve taken the idea to a whole new level.
