Experimenting After Dark [Rf Photo of the Day]

January 18, 2017

By Conor Risch

Photo © Matthew Stallone

Photo © Matthew Stallone

Second time was a charm for photographer Matthew Stallone, who captured this newlywed portrait at the Anthony Wayne House in Paoli, Pennsylvania.

Stallone initially took several nighttime photos of the couple next to the tree pictured above, however, “I didn’t really push myself as much as I wanted,” he recalls. “I was hating myself for a couple of minutes afterwards and was debating whether or not to retake the photos, which I really don’t like to do.” Ultimately, he decided that giving another go at a nighttime portrait would be the right thing to do. “My couples put so much trust into my work. I owe it to them to go above and beyond for every single second of their day.”

To elevate the second round of photos, Stallone’s wife held a wireless flash behind the couple while he set up the shot through a bush in the distance. “I did three multiple exposures with some lights in a bush. I also held up a prism to add a subtle streak to the lights on the tree.” Unfortunately, the wireless trigger was just out of range, so it took a few adjustments before he nailed the shot (shown above). “Mission accomplished! Now the couple had the rest of the night to rock out and I felt great about pushing myself to never settle for ‘just a good shot.'”

(Shot using a Canon 5D Mark IV with an 85mm lens and the Mark II with a 50mm lens for the multiple exposure bokeh effect.)

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