Through our months of social media, showing you all tips, tricks, and beautiful photos as inspiration for your wedding day, there has been one photo that got an overwhelming amount of feedback. It was a photo that all of you absolutely loved. And along with the many likes, there were also many comments, most of which read, "How do you do this??"
With brides and photographers wanting to know how they can make this photo happen, I reached out to an amazing photographer who is a pro at taking this one very specific type of photo.
And that is the sparkler photo.
You know, the nighttime photos of the bride and groom with beautiful sparkling lights dancing around them, or the word "love" written in fire.
Today, we are going to learn how you can do this on your wedding day from the amazing,Jessica Layburn Photography!
And without further ado, here is Jessica...
Timmy and Joan were married on Friday May 9, 2014. When I asked if they would be interested in modeling for this photo, Joan was ecstatic! First, I want to thank my right hand man, Anthony Robinson, for all of his help capturing this photo. If you have an assistant, or a friend help with the image, it will go much more smoothly.
Before we dragged the couple away from their celebration for a few minutes for a great picture we checked our settings. You need to make sure your lens is on Manual and not on AUTO because it will try to focus on everything when you light your sparklers.
After that you will play with your settings, this is the time for trial and error. This type of image is all about controlling your aperture, which means how much light you let in. The longer your exposure, the more light you let in, which is how you create the awesome sparkler picture. The only thing that I recommend is doing this shot somewhere that is COMPLETELY dark. This venue was pretty well lit inside and out, so complete darkness was not happening.
Because you are exposing your photo longer, you NEED a tripod for this and I also recommend a wireless remote. The less you have to touch your camera during this, the better, because you want the camera to be as still as possible. With that said, you also want your subject to be as still as possible (within reason). Then, you have your assistant run around them with sparklers, writing words, or making hearts.
And that's all there is to it!
Drum roll please...
How amazing is that shot!! Thank you Jessica for sharing your expertise with all of us. And a special thank you to Timmy and Joan for allowing us to use you for the shot!
If you are a bride and have no idea what any of this means, just forward this article to your photographer! And if you would like more information on how you can capture this photo on your wedding day, Jessica would love to help you out!
