"It's A Sure Bet On Our Future"

"It's A Sure Bet On Our Future"
© David A. Ziser

So how often do you get a chance to shoot wedding images at one of the nicest resorts in Las Vegas?  We headed back from the church a little early on Monday because I knew I had some great shooting opportunities back at the Mandalay Bay.

This image was made at the entrance to the main convention area of Mandalay Bay. The arch you see in the foreground opens into the very expansive convention space you see in the background.  With all the columns, the chandeliers, and architectural details in the entire space, I thought it offered a dramatic setting for my backlit photograph of the bride and groom.

The photograph was easy to set up.  My main concern was to position the couple on the other side of the arch so that I would guarantee decent shadow structure throughout the image. 

My assistant was holding my Quantum flash on 1/4 power about 12 feet behind the couple.  The flash head was 4 feet off the floor pointing at their shoulder blades - that keeps most of the bright light from the flash just rimming out the couple and not blowing out the background.

I set the shutter speed to underexpose the background just a bit so that the couple really "popped" from the scene.  The lines, colors, shadows, rim lighting, and dramatic setting made for a very exciting image.

Camera specs:  Canon 5D Mark II Fitted with Sigma 12-24 mm wide angle lens at 17mm F5.0 @ 1/25 second, ISO 1600  Enjoy!  -David