"Don't move...do not even breath for the next 30 seconds!"

Another of my favourite captures as I share the story behind the shot. This was a twilight wedding for Morgen & James on the 19th October 2023 at the splendid venue of The Orchard, Maidstone in Kent. As with all my weddings I will always visit the venue ahead of time to find the best positions and the lighting, to do you proud with all your wedding photos.

The challenge on this occasion being a twilight wedding, meant I needed to visit both during the day and during the night. In truth, there is a nearby lake that I had also prepared in advance to do some night time reflection photos off the water, but on the day the rain was just too heavy and the area surrounding the lake was too muddy.

So, onto this shot. The bandstand for me was the perfect place to take my posed couple with the colours of Morgen in her stunning classy red dress against James in his deep blue of Army service uniform. The BIG problem being, there was no lighting. I mean, not a shred of light coming from anywhere. So, here comes the preparation.

My set up. I placed two Andoer W140RGB lights on either side of the couple on the bandstand bannister using trusty blue tac, each set on a low light at 5500 Kelvin. I set my Canon R5 camera using my trusty EF24 to 70mm workhorse set wide to 24mm on a tripod about 30 feet away from the bandstand. With no flash, I set my shutter to 0"6 (6 seconds), ISO was 1250, and f5 aperture. And that was it. With James and Morgen in place and comfortable the instruction was clear..."DON'T MOVE...DO NOT EVEN BREATH" having pressed the shutter, I then used the torch from my phone to light paint the foreground, the and the tree. Boom and there was the shot. Another of my absolute favourites.

What do you think?