Typically on a wedding day, whatever the bride wants, she gets. So when the bride at this Slovenian wedding asked photographer Anže Mulec to take a group photo of her new husband, all of their guests and the sparkler sticks that were handed out during the reception, her wish was granted.

The first part of the puzzle—finding a space to take the photo—was a no-brainer, Mulec recalls. The wedding venue, the Štatenberg mansion, has a large and beautiful staircase, “so I knew I wanted to include it as an architectural element” in the photo, he says. The challenge came when Mulec had to create the composition, making sure the bride and groom were front and center while all the guests were visible at the same time. Mulec used a 14mm lens, which also allowed him to fit everyone into the frame.

The second challenge was lighting the scene. Mulec took advantage of the ambient light from the lamps around the venue, and then used two Nikon SB-910 Speedlights with the Phottix Odin II system on RF triggers to light the statues. A third Speedlight was placed in the corridor behind the newlyweds, and fortunately, the sparklers emitted a natural cloud of smoke that caught the light beautifully. Lastly, since Mulec only had three radio receivers, he used an Aputure AL-H198C LED light in his left hand (while holding his camera in his right) to “slightly lighten them up and to remove hard shadows.”

(Captured using a Nikon D600 with a NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8 lens.)

© Anže Mulec

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