When wedding photographers want to capture the movement in a scene, they drag the shutter. Instead of letting the program on their cameras choose the speed based on available light, they manually choose a much slower shutter speed (from a 30th of a second to full second or more) to intentionally blur the moving images. For this month’s contest on life in motion we chose 10 extraordinary examples of slow shutter speed photos from our gallery to give you a look at how top photographers enhance moments by letting them move and flow.

In the first three photos in our collection, the photographer had their main subject stay still while allowing the rest of the people in the scene to move through it. All of these photos were captured with natural light and excellent timing. 

In the next two photographs, again the artists used natural light and kept the couple still while letting the car and the waves move past them. We love how introducing motion gives the viewer a deeper sense of these moments.

For the following photo, the photographers introduced an off-camera flash to light the couple, then left the shutter open to capture the fireworks as they lit up the sky to create a brilliant backdrop.

Turning on its head the idea of keeping the subject keeping still, the photographers who captured the next two shots chose static backgrounds and let their subject move to create a surreal looking depiction of the groom and caterers going about their busy days.

And finally, for our last two award winners, the artists left the shutter drag through the whole scene to capture the chaos of the party and the windy beach with the couple holding hands. 

Give these techniques a try with your own camera and see how fun it is to create something truly interesting and unique! 

On World’s Best Wedding Photos we promote wedding photographers who do much more than point and shoot. Everyone we recommend has over 3 years of full-time experience, solid skills and unique talent that make their work stand out from the crowd. To learn more about the art of wedding photography check out our blog posts on the subject and dive into our hand-picked directory when you're ready to choose the best photographer for your wedding day.

When wedding photographers want to capture the movement in a scene, they drag the shutter. Instead of letting the program on their cameras choose the speed based on available light, they manually choose a much slower shutter speed (from a 30th of a second to full second or more) to intentionally blur the moving images. For this month’s contest on life in motion we chose 10 extraordinary examples of slow shutter speed photos from our gallery to give you a look at how top photographers enhance moments by letting them move and flow.