I was lucky enough to have graduated with a BFA in theatrical production before my breakthrough into photojournalism. My instructors in college challenged me to think dynamically when evaluating an ordinary scene. One of the methods of emphasising a powerful movement or action on stage was to utilize a lighting effect to add strength to the moment by incorporating a back light, down light or a color sequence that emphasized the mood or energy of the upcoming scene.

I think we have all chased our own shadow at some point in life. Shadows echo or symbolize another dynamic layer that can act as a giant or supernatural force which provokes our imagination.

I have seen this technique used before in many applications but it seems as if the impact is strongest when applied during a sequence in time that comes and goes with the blink of an eye!

In my example, this bride & groom are sharing their first dance. I decided that the wall in the background was the right distance away to paint the perfect shadow of the moment as they did their shuffle steps. This technique layers the scene and to me, is WAY more interesting than a typical flash lit shot. Sure, the typical flash lit shot has its place but does it have “flavor”?

For this moment, the off camera flash was set to 1/16 power and zoomed to 85 with a throw of about 15 feet. We didn’t really care about ambient exposure as the primary concern was a deep rich shadow and also preserving detail on the brides face. I also made a compositional decision to isolate the bride and groom against a the darker background that provides a PUNCH so they stand off the page, a theatrical lighting and layering choice!

Folks, I would like you to understand that this technique can get old if you use it at EVERY single wedding… if it shows up in your portfolio every other second, you may get a labeled “cliche”… trust me, it has happened and you don’t want to be cliche. Stick with original ideas….so try and use this technique cleverly…

Here is another example where we decided to make a photograph to tell the story with a shadow instead of shooting the SAME OL same ol shot of the bride and groom eating the cake. We have all shot this sequence and every time I do it, I am always trying to do something different…. Our client chose this image for the album vs the (safe one) that we also shot

be creative…. chase shadows…. make fun pictures

Cheers!
matt

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Photographers, Matt Adcock. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.