HOW i SHOT THiS

  • Blue Hour
  • Center Framed
  • Creative
  • Directional Light
  • full body
  • holding each other
  • Leading lines
  • Motion Blur
  • Movement
  • Natural
  • Rule of thirds
  • Soft Light
  • Sunset
  • Unposed
  • Walking
  • Wide

The story behind the image

Show more
I am — like the most of us – self-employed and nobody besides myself takes responsibility for my education. So I decided to dedicate my November to workshops, content retreats, networking events or whatever comes to my mind, which would drive my business forward. In 2021 I participated at a content retreat on Tenerife called ›Ephemeral‹.

On the last day we shot a Hollywood inspired wedding with Indie and Berty as bride and groom. They are originally from Paris, got married in Thailand and re-lived their wedding day at Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora. Since their wedding day, they have been in front of photographers lenses multiple times but rarely shoot the whole day reportages. They told me that the vibe on Tenerife was really close to their “original” wedding, which made this shooting day very special to them.

When I captured this shot, Indie and Berty have just exchanged their vows in front of a gorgeous sunset. They were on their way to the evening reception finishing the day with champagne, cake and us.
Show more

Composition

I loved how the wind was moving the palm trees and how Indie was moving her dress so I gained some distance to the couple. Placing them in the middle of the shot to allow the dress to swing in all directions while leaving headspace to ensure capturing the palm trees and sky. On the right side of the path were multiple sun chairs which is why I tried to shoot a bit from the right angle to crop them out of the picture. Since it is a shot in between sceneries I wanted the path to be seen as well telling the story of location change. Other then that it is a really classic composition choice having the main subject in the center center.

Show more
framing

Center Framed

Focusing

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

This picture wasn’t meant to be sharp in a certain area which means I wasn’t too worried about an exact focus point. I simply wanted the couple to be more in focus than the background. Focusing on moving subjects can be tricky so I decided to shoot on autofocus guaranteeing to keep up with the couples pace. I was also moving the camera to enhance the movement in the shot whilst trying to create a consciously moved picture not a shaky shot. Since it is though to foresee where everything is moving I used continuous shooting mode to pick the perfect moment out of a walking series.

Show more
Focus Mode

Continuous Autofocus

Focus POints

Single Point

Focused on

The brides dress

Equipment &
Exif

Camera
Canon 5D Mark IV
Lens
Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4
Flash
None
Filter
None
1/13 @ f/16 ISO250 WB-Auto

The way the EXIF is written out follows the common photographic method (with the inclusion of White Balance at the end). Here it is broken down:

Shutter Speed @ Aperture ISO White Balance.

Light & Weather

The sun had just set only minutes before the picture was taken. Leaving us with a really soft light in the blue hour. This is a brilliant light situation for moving shots since the slow shutter doesn’t overexpose the picture. I always feel like shooting in this particular light is easy since it softens the skin and erases all unwanted shadows. There is enough going on in this picture already so I didn’t need shadows to make it any more complex.

Show more
Light Type

Natural Light

Time of day

Blue Hour

Weather

Cloudy

Editing Workflow

How did you edit this image?

I bought a black and white preset of Julia + Gils classic collection back in 2017. Since then I tweaked it here and there so 5 years later it is not 100% their preset anymore but they are the base.

Moving shots have such a reportage character to me that I always see them in black and white. The bw-look I am after is a little more contrasty then my color style and I wanted to highlight the contrast of dress and palm trees which was another reason for me to go black and white. I liked how all shapes were kind of organic so I removed one lantern on the floor since it was the only straight object in the frame. I used the healing brush to remove the lantern and add another swoosh of the dress instead. Lastly I used the subject mask to lighten up the couple for a tiny bit to make them shine a bit brighter.

Show more
Editing Software
Preset Used

Challenges

One challenge was that I wasn’t the only photographer taking this shot. It was a combination of getting the angle I wanted without ruining someones shot or being in someones way. Besides shooting with multiple photographers often resolves in similar pictures, which is unnecessary.

Show more

Solutions

This is only possible if everyone acts respectful and shoots from a distance. Content retreats give you the freedom to experiment and get unique pictures since there is no client expectation in the end.

Show more

Location

Location Name

Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora

Location aDDRESS

Av. De los Océanos, s/n, 38686 Alcalá, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spanien

Loation Type

Hotel

Country

Spain

Many times I am going for the crisp sharp picture but Ioving this pictures reminds me of leaving my 1/200 shutter comfort zone. I would definitely go for this shot again even trying to lower the shutter speed a little more to see what it does to the end result.

Read More

Login to your account

Oh no :(

This content has been marked as Premium and requires an active subscription in order to access it. We’re so sorry about that. But hey, here’s what you can do:

Join the
family

Get access to everything on the site as well as a ton of perks & benefits.

Have an account?

Well then, let’s get you logged in and hide this annoying thingy-ma-jig.