The secret sauce behind the viral Royal Wedding photograph

tech2 News StaffMay 22, 2018 11:48:19 IST

While most of us were obsessed with every bit of the Royal Wedding, there is one moment from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s big day, that was liked a little more by the Tweeps.

Image credit: Yui Mok, staff photographer for Press Association UK

A shot of the Royal Couple inside the Ascot Landau Carriage during their wedding procession at the Windsor Castle, has stolen more hearts than any other of the thousands of pictures that were shot at the event.

First shared on Twitter by user @LostNRealityTV, the aerial shot of the couple in carriage became one of the most liked pictures of the Royal Wedding. Since it was posted, at the time of writing, the tweet has over 92,000 likes, 273 comments, and over 16,000 retweets.

I don't know who took this picture, but it's exquisite #RoyalWedding pic.twitter.com/yR60JWCdd1

— . . d r e . . (@LostNRealityTV) May 19, 2018

When the image first went viral on Twitter, people were still unsure who clicked the image, and a lot of them tweeted asking who was the photographer being the “exquisite” photograph. People were curious as to how the image was even taken.

Exquisite is the word for this one...I will share it, but would like to give photo credit. — KLO1 (@KayOrton) May 19, 2018

I wish I knew to whom to credit the photo! It must be drone footage, so it might be an official royal photog or from a major network ‍♀️

— . . d r e . . (@LostNRealityTV) May 19, 2018

I don't know who took this picture, but I'd really like to know how he or she got the shot. #aerialweddingphotography #RoyalWedding — Darcie Kinsey (@DarcieKinsey) May 20, 2018

Completely love this photo. Great job who ever took this one.

— Babyface_ohyeah (@Babyfac86800814) May 20, 2018

The man behind the shot, Yui Mok, soon spotted that his image has gone viral and replied on it saying that he is a staff photographer for Press Association based in the UK. He revealed that he was positioned on the roof of George IV Gateway of Windsor Castle, and they passed directly beneath me during their carriage procession.

Thanks, glad you like the photo. It was taken by myself, and I'm a staff photographer for @PA based in the UK. I was positioned on the roof of George IV Gateway of Windsor Castle, and they passed directly beneath me during their carriage procession. https://t.co/hkzViNhSbb — Yui Mok (@YuiMok) May 19, 2018

But like a true team player, Mok shared the credits for the image with his agency’s picture desk team, and shared with the Tweeps how the process of image clicking, edits and cropping actually take place during large scale events like the Royal Wedding.

I should also add a big thanks to the @PA picture desk, who crop and tidy up the raw images that we send to them directly from our cameras on big jobs like this, before they are issued to the wider world. They tend to be unsung, whilst photographers end up grabbing all the glory.

— Yui Mok (@YuiMok) May 19, 2018

Mok also shared the specifics of the camera he used for this viral shot. He said he used a Canon 1Dx Mk2 camera and a 70-200mm lens. He also used Canon 600mm F4 for some other shots he took at the wedding. Since drones are a big no at the wedding, Mok says he had to handhold the camera for this shot.

While this picture from the wedding went totally viral, is there any other image from the event you think was incredible but went unnoticed? Share with us in comments below.