HOW i SHOT THiS

  • afternoon
  • hazy
  • Playful
  • Pick up
  • Natural Light
  • Movement
  • Mid range
  • Laughing
  • Funny
  • Bright
  • Fun
  • Field
  • Energetic
  • Center Framed
  • Carry on shoulders
  • Carry
  • broken rules
  • Soft Light

The story behind the image

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This image was taken during a mentor session a few summers back. I wanted to find a couple to model for us who weren’t afraid to be themselves in front of a couple of cameras- Lindsey and Rhett were perfect for the job! We ended up starting a lot later than we’d hoped when we found out the road to the mountain we were planning on driving up was closed, so we had to take a short walk up the hill instead just before the sun was gone. We spent the whole time laughing and I loved capturing their love.
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Directions

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

I asked Lindsey and Rhett if they felt comfortable with a little shoulder ride and they didn’t even hesitate. I had Lindsey hop on top of Rhett’s shoulders and asked him to walk around a bit. I had Lindsey airplane her arms around like she’s having the time of her life and the giggles that followed came naturally.

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What did you say?

Would you be able to climb up on his shoulders? Rhett, spin her around and walk a little and Lindsey, throw your head back and laugh, and wave your hands around like you’re having the best time ever if you feel balanced.

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Composition

I wanted to give a feeling of a really fun and carefree moment between the two because they were huge goofballs together, which I loved. So I chose to shoot slightly upward toward Lindsey but keep them in the middle of the frame to keep the focus on the moment.

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framing

Center Framed

Focusing

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

I used single point autofocus and manually adjusted it to focus on Lindsey’s chest. This is typically an easier place for the camera to focus on rather than their eyes but always gets their face in focus as well. I shot through the viewfinder since it’s easier to take a bunch of quick shots of a moving subject.

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Focus Mode

Single Shot Autofocus

Focus POints

Single Point

Focused on

The Girls face

Equipment &
Exif

Camera
Canon 5D Mark IV
Lens
Canon 35mm f/1.4 L
Flash
None
Filter
None
1/400 @ f/1.8 ISO400 WB-8300K

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

Since we started a little late this photo was taken during the “blue hour” phase of the sunset. I faced the subjects toward the little light source we had so that they were lit up as much as possible. I used Kelvin white balance and really ramped up the temperature in-camera to bring in as much warmth and color to the subjects’ skin tones.

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Light Type

Natural Light

Time of day

Afternoon

Editing Workflow

How did you edit this image?

I used my custom preset ANP 6 which is the warmest upon application. The image was still a little green in tint so I increased the purple tint by about +15 points. I added a little more saturation in the oranges to bring more warmth to the skin tones. Since there was a lot of red color pulling up in Rhett’s cheeks because of the way the shadows were hitting him. I used the brush tool to decrease the saturation and increase the exposure slightly just in the areas that needed

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Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic

Challenges

Lighting! We didn’t have a ton of time since getting to the location took longer than we thought so we had to work quickly with just a little time during blue hour.

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Solutions

Use Kelvin white balance and shoot warmer than normal to add color in-camera, face the light source.

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Location

Location Name

Albion Basin, Alta, UT

Location aDDRESS

Albion Basin, Alta, UT

Loation Type

Mountains

Country

United States

Try to use prompts and poses based on the couples’ personalities. Some people take a little bit to loosen up, some people are more reserved naturally and prefer specific posing, and some are fine being total goofballs and feel more natural with movement and interactive direction. Do your best to read their relationship and use that to create genuine emotional images!

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