- Artificial Light
- calm
- Center Framed
- cliffs
- Concept
- Dark
- Evening
- full body
- lower thirds
- Moody
- Natural
- Neon
- Ocean
- Soft Light
- Walking
- Wide
The story behind the image
When interior designer Panos Zaverdinos (a friend of hers) saw the amazing cliff with rock statues, he was speechless. And then he said, “Well, this setting feels like it came out of a futuristic movie…like aliens are going to land here. At the same time, the minimal and wild Cycladic environment makes it even more interesting. What would you think of a LED installation…created by aliens?”
Instantly, the whole setup was created in Maria’s mind!!
Maria then called us up since we were in Greece, traveling the Cyclades in summer 2020. We checked the ferry schedule and sailed over to Santorini. When we arrived at the venue everyone was busy setting up things. We also met Panos who of course was there to see his vision coming to life.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
We asked the couple to walk together through the LED door whilst holding hands. We asked Ramon to guide and lead the way through the floor lighting installation. That way Ramon wouldn’t step on Irini’s dress and we can see the beautiful dress from the back.
What did you say?
Guys, would you walk together hand in hand through the door. Ramon, you are in front guiding Irini through the labyrinth towards the statues on the top.
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
We took the picture in portrait to cut out distracting textures like rocks and bushes. We shot from a slightly elevated angle in order to be able to capture the floor lighting nicely and frame the LED door visibly in front of a dark background. Also that way we got a nice view of the caldera and therefore a better feeling for the depth. We kept the couple in the center of the frame and made sure to not have any lines from the light installation etc. cutting their heads. Also, we wanted to picture the rock statues nice and clean without cutting the horizon line.
framing
Lower Thirds
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Our focus point was on Ramon’s white shirt because his head was too dark and almost the same color as the background. Both of them were almost on the same level so Irini would be in focus as well. We didn’t put the focus point on Irini because of the LED light which was in front of her so we would run the risk of focusing the LED accidentally.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
Ramon’s white shirt
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/200 @ f/1.8 ISO500 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
We’ve experienced a beautiful, typical Santorini sunset with a lot of mist over the horizon. This mist breaks the light beautifully and illuminates our couple like a huge softbox. The sun had set already, but the sky was still shining as you can see. Also, we have the LED lighting however at that point, it didn’t really illuminate our couple. The darker it turned, the more we were using the LED lights as our lighting source.
Light Type
Artificial Light
Time of day
Evening
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
Since the light was kind of flat, we didn’t need a lot of adjustments. We used our CxR Preset to give the pic the color look we love. We moved the controller for the lights all the way to the left and that of the shadows all the way to the right to see more details, both in the bright and in the dark tones. We then used Photoshop to remove the cables in the background on the gras.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
When we heard about the LED light concept, we knew that the biggest challenge would be to capture the light installation properly (lighting-wise), together with the couple and environment.
Also, since it was not our idea, we had the pressure to understand the idea behind it and visualize it in a way that meets everybody’s expectations.
Solutions
It was clear that we would have to wait until dusk to have the LED lights popping out so we’d be able to picture them. Also we shot from a slightly elevated position to frame the LED’s in front of a dark background.
Location
Location Name
Eden Villa of Canaves Oia
Location aDDRESS
Eden Villas Santorini Imerovigli 847 00, Griechenland
Loation Type
Cliffs
Country
Greece
Dusk is the ideal time when working with LED installations. You can picture the LEDs plus still have some natural light on your couple and the landscape around. Once it gets darker the LED lights will probably not be strong enough to illuminate your couple properly. We recommend bringing a flash or a video light to experiment around a little bit. We’ve had LED installations on weddings several times and loved using a flash in those. And last but not least: Have fun creating!!
