Rings form a heart-shaped shadow on a bible
I’ve made a new friend. About two weeks ago, I was preparing my thoughts for how I was going to shoot a wedding when a thought popped into my head: the bride and groom will be getting ready at a hotel. Hotels frequently have bibles in their rooms. Put rings just so on an open book and light it just right, and you can make a heart-shaped shadow. Works like a charm and now I’ve got a new favorite image to shoot while I’m waiting for my clients to get ready in their hotel rooms!
I have to come clean and admit that the image you see here is not the one from that wedding a few weeks ago. The bride’s ring in that wedding was so thin, it wouldn’t stand on it’s own in the crease of the bible very well, so only the groom’s ring was really used. The image you see here is my second attempt at this. These rings were thick enough to stand well on their own, though I couldn’t light the rings quite right to get the diamonds in the front ring to be lit, so they’re a little dark. Also, in that very first attempt, I just opened the bible to any spot and plopped the rings down. I realized later that the right chapter to use is the Song of Solomon, with all those wonderful references to love and all. That’s what you see here.
The trick in this kind of shot is to open the bible to a chapter that’s reasonably near the center of the book. Too many pages on one side will cause the curves of the heart shadow to be asymmetrical. Fortunately, in the King James version, the Song of Solomon is pretty near the middle of the book. To get the shadow just right, you need to play around with the height of the flash to get the length of the heart shadow just right. Too high and the heart will be too short, too low means too long. Also, the flash should be just about the only light hitting the bible. Too much ambient light and the shadow will be too faint to non-existent.
Taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 135mm f/2 lens. Exposure was 1/200th sec @ f/16, ISO 100. The flash used was a Canon 580ex II. Pocket wizards were used to trigger the flash. All settings were on manual on both flash and camera.
I’m looking forward to the day when my clients are a huge groom and a petite bride. I think a large groom’s ring would make a heart shape wide enough that a small bride’s ring would fit laying down inside the heart shadow. So, all you engaged and soon-to-be-engaged football players and/or weight lifters out there: call me: (804) 564-1765!