Thursday, July 05, 2012

"Making A Forth Of July Exit"

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"Making A Forth Of July Exit"
© David A. Ziser

This image is one of the last images I made during this past weekend's wedding. Just like her brother's wedding a little over year at ago, the bride decided to make the grand exit with her groom with sparklers a-blazing. Everybody was holding the extra long, giant size variety which  would assure that the sparklers would stay lit for the entire exit.

This can be a tricky photograph to set up. The reason for that is twofold. First, I want to be sure that I record the sparklers adequately.  Next, I always like to add the back-lighting to the scene which just adds a greater sense of the dramatic to the scene.

I had my assistant, LaDawn in this case, hold my Quantum strobe which was set at 1/4 power. Next I figured that I could get by with a higher ISO and chose 6400 ISO. I figured that high ISO would easily capture the sparklers for my exit photograph. In retrospect I'm thinking maybe the power setting on my backlighting was a little harsh but, I went with it anyway and this is a photograph that we got.

I think it captures the spirit of the event perfectly – the bride and groom full of excitement heading off on their honeymoon. The sparklers also echoed the upcoming Fourth of July holiday which was only a few days away. All in all, I think it makes a great wrap up photograph for a terrific wedding coverage.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Sigma 12–24 mm lens at 12 mm, F6.3 @ 1/80 second, ISO 6400. Enjoy! – David

6 comments:

  1. Agreed, backlight dominated the entire scene but you still managed to capture the best shot for the moment. Curious, does your Quantum flash work as E-TTL on Canon cam? I know you shoot mostly in M to have full control but there are times when you need quick shot and particularly when you need more lights and shallow DOF, high-speed flash sync has become great tool for me.

    Phil

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  2. Great shot David. What was the light source for the bride and groom's face?

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  3. too flashy... rear curtain sync with a dragged shutter would have really captured the moment: sparklers would have been full, a little pop of light to see the expressions.

    I only see a nuclear blast burning the backs of their heads. On the dance floor, this light setup is awesome. With fireworks, not so much for me.

    delete this if not appropriate.

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  4. Chris, he already yanked up 6400 ISO. I guess since he was shooting w/ slow lens, ~f/4-5.6, the background was still dark. If he had used a faster lens at f/2.2-2.8, he would gain 2+ EV which could resulted in a better ambient light.

    Phil

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  5. Agreed with 'rear curtain sync' option too :)

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  6. Very nice, i really like your decision to use backlight!!

    Erwin

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