I created this photo as an entry for the Ernie Ball creative photography contest 2012, and I won. Here’s a behind the scenes look at what went into the making of it.

I used a red gel filter with the protective paper still on it as the backdrop, and backlit the sculpture through it.

Setup for the <3 strings photo. I used an LED flashlight to light paint in the front details of the heart sculpture.

The sculpture for this shot was created with a heart shaped foam “stress ball,” and some Ernie Ball guitar strings clipped into various lengths and pushed into it.