- Blue Hour
- Center Framed
- Dancing
- Energetic
- Evening
- full body
- lower thirds
- minimal
- Minimalistic
- moon
- Natural Light
- Playful
- Soft Light
- Wide
The story behind the image
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I asked Hayley and Brad to walk up the hills to the top. Once they were there, I asked them to casually dance together and I instructed Hayley to make sure she really moved her dress to create extra movement in camera.
What did you say?
I am LOVING the moon right now so I want to create a silhouette of you two on the top of that hill. Once you are up there, I want you two to just start dancing. Brad, twirl her a few times and Hayley, make sure to really get your dress flowing. Just have fun with it!
Composition
I really wanted to give off a “dancing under the moon” vibe. To achieve that, I positioned them above myself by having them stand on a hill further in the distance. I also positioned them directly under the moon so that both elements were the center of attention. I did 1/3 of the photo being the shadow/ground and 2/3 of the photo being the sky. The purpose of this was to really show off the sunset and let the moon make a statement.
framing
Lower Thirds
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I used single point autofocus and positioned it on Brad because he was standing still as Hayley was twirling. I took the image through the viewfinder in order to really pay attention to my composition.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Guy
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/200 @ f/3.2 ISO640 WB-6100K
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
This shot was taken exactly 14 minutes after the official sunset time, so we had hardly any light left. We were 100% in “blue hour”. The last bit of light that was there was coming from the right.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Blue Hour
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
I used a version of a preset I had purchased years ago called LKO. The image was shot very “cool” due to being blue hour, so I warmed up the image significantly. In doing so, it brought back the pink colors of the last glimpse of sunset. I wanted the ground to be shadowed as much as possible, so I added vignetting. I did bright the orange saturation down while bringing the orange luminance up to help their skin look less orange and stand out more. Other than that, a simple exposure increase and added a little grain!
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
My main challenge was how little of light I had to work with. I did not want the image to turn out very grainy by upping my ISO too high.
Solutions
I knew I wanted them to be silhouetted, so I focused more on exposing for the sky/moon and not worrying about exposing for the couple. Being able to bring back detail in the couple’s faces was a huge bonus in editing.
Location
Location Name
Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest
Location aDDRESS
450 W 100 N, Valparaiso, IN 46385
Loation Type
Garden / Field
Country
United States
Don’t be afraid to act on your impulse ideas! I almost walked away from this shoot because we had no sunlight left. Challenging yourself to shoot in less ideal situations always creates the most unique images.
