I positioned the two just far out enough on the cliff that they were undoubtedly safe, but still visible from the far away lookout point I was shooting from in order to get the full view. I told them to simply face each other and talk, hold hands, or whatever else came naturally. Once I was at the vantage point they were too far away to give any more direction so I let them interact with each other naturally.
Stand right here you guys and face each other. I’m going to go back over there and get this shot wide. Do your thing and be all cute and cuddly
Calm
The main focus of this image was to show off the grandeur of the 3500 ft cliff by capturing it from as far away as I could and contrasting it with the tiny frames of the couple. I chose to frame the cliff in the lower two thirds and the sky/couple in the upper so that it highlighted both.
Center Framed
Since it was a super-wide shot I didn’t need to focus on anything too specific. I tried to focus as closely to the couple as possible to make sure they were in clear as the cliff.
Single Shot Autofocus
Single Point
The Couple
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.
This was the very end of our session. We caught that very last amount of colorful sunlight after the bright orange glow had died down and the sky was a soft pink and blue. I love this lighting, especially with this location, because it creates so many layers in the mountain backdrop and more of a contrast with the image of the couple.
Natural Light
Sunset
I added my custom preset, then brought down the temperature. My presets are on the warm side when first applied so I wanted to cool it down to make the blues in the backdrop more prominent. I increased the contrast just a tad and voila!
I didn’t have much control over the couples posing or other random people walking in and out of the frame since it’s a popular spot.
Just be patient and wait for people to move out of the way if needed! Take lots of photos to make sure you get the frame you want.
Taft Point, Yosemite National Park, CA
Taft Point Trailhead, Yosemite, United states of America
Mountains
United States
Try different lenses! I shot this same image on multiple lenses and in different orientations to find what I liked best. Each gave a different effect.
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