- blue sky
- Bright
- calm
- Front Lit
- full body
- Harsh Light
- holding each other
- Leading lines
- Morning
- natural frames
- Natural Light
- off center
- Posed
- Rule of thirds
- sunny
- Wide
The story behind the image
We stopped here and the sun at this point was super harsh and I’ll never forget how quickly the desert temperature and light changes. I initially started out as a photographer who was scared of “missing” softer light around sunset. I nearly always shot in direct light, so seeing this structure and the bright morning sun really pushed me back to my roots. I think most everyone wasn’t super into the lighting and was ready to head back for breakfast, but this 5 minute stop quickly became a highlight of the retreat for me.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I encouraged them to stand in the doorway and get close together while facing us. Leslie & Ian had such a beautiful connection and just naturally kept their movements flowing. I saw a split second where the symmetry of the shadows & lines really spoke to me.
The sunlight was illuminating them as a couple while also pushing unique shadows through the various openings of the structure. It worked well because there were a lot of uneven slants and shapes; but the sun added dimension to everything it touched. I personally love that Leslie’s body is in the center of a clean shadow line and you can see that sliver of green behind them. That helped their features not get lost. Honestly, it was a special moment and there’s nothing I’d change.
What did you say?
Hey, so I’d love for you two to bask in the sunlight together and take in this moment. Go ahead and move to the doorway and face each other. Do what feels natural. I’m going to back away and get a wider shot of you all embracing and moving the direction of your heads slowly.
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
Framing the image like this just made sense to me. Personally, I tend to enjoy placing subjects near center in my work. Especially when the background adds to the story. I like harshness because if you expose it right, there’s so much detail to be seen. I guess you could say I broke the rule of finding softer light.
When we all first arrived to this location, we started out inside the structure playing with shadows. The two archways at the front really created a unique setting with both color and light. Encapsulating the entire structure.
Ultimately, I wanted to capture the depth of our surroundings. This was my first time in the Joshua Tree desert and there was so much to discover. I love that we stopped here and took 5 minutes.
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Since the subject and structure were in alignment, I set my camera to focus on both. I’m tall so I personally enjoy live view mode so I can stand up straighter. I utilized autofocus and that’s simply my go to when it’s bright out.
Focus Mode
Live View Continuous
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The couple
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/2500 @ f/3.2 ISO100 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
It was 8:34am and the sun had risen probably an hour before that. It was in full view with no cloud cover or diffusion to the right of me. I found it to feel pretty intuitive because I just felt so inspired with all the elements in front of me. Honestly, I felt pretty open minded about what the results would be. I had gotten super cold in the desert at sunrise and make the mistake of clicking the JPEG file format (big oof). I centered myself at this stop and realized what I had done, so I switched it back to RAW and took this shot.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Morning
Weather
Sunny
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
For a while I had been using Dawn Photo Campfire presets, but have built my own personal ones that I utilized here. I typically go for a balance of warm and cool.
I enjoy teal blues, pastel-inspired tones and muted greens. I wanted the shadows to have warmth while not losing the blue sky/green wall. For HSL, I essentially expose in camera for how I want to edit. I lifted the shadows and brought the highlights down a smidge in Lightroom. Other than applying my preset and adjusting those two things, I didn’t do anything else.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Personal
Challenges
The biggest challenge I faced was time. The higher the sun got, the more shadows it would potentially cast on their faces & the group of photographers was ready to head back to Palm Springs. Ultimately it lined up well, but I had to get something I felt good about and head on out.
Solutions
I saw what I wanted and worked efficiently to get er done.
Location
Location Name
Near the Desert View Conservation Area
Location aDDRESS
near Desert View Conservation Area
Loation Type
Desert
Country
United States
I learned to sink into my beginnings and to do things that speak to me. I’d encourage photographers to not view old work as bad, but as a stepping stone to where they are now. If I had rejected my older work, I wouldn’t continue to experiment heavily with light and maybe even stopped to capture this.
