- Bride running
- Mountains
- valley
- Stormy
- Scotland
- running
- Outdoor
- Movement
- Moody
- Center Framed
- Looking Back
- Leading lines
- Holding Dress
- Flowing
- Dark
- Cloudy
- Wind
The story behind the image
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I took a few different variations of the bride standing in the one spot (positioned sideways, facing the camera and facing the mountains as pictured) and I usually do this to give more flexibility when selecting photos in the culling process. I wanted to capture some movement in the photo and I noticed that the bride was already lifting her dress so I asked her to keep doing it for a minute. I probably took 50-or-so photos and this turned out to be the best one.
What did you say?
Ok could we try facing the mountains now and if you could look at the mountains and then to each side and then back to the camera that would be awesome. (Bride starts lifting her dress) actually if you could keep doing that for 1 minute that would be amazing!
Composition
When shooting in landscapes I’m always looking for leading lines. The valley of Glencoe with it’s lines that lead the eye straight towards the subject was the obvious choice of backdrop in this situation
90% of the time for the ‘hero shots’ such as this one I position the subject in the middle of the frame. I just personally find that the shot is much more powerful this way as the viewer’s eye automatically lands in the middle of the shot on the subject and then moves around. The subject’s head usually always lands on the ‘rule of thirds’ top horizontal line.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Single point continuous autofocus with the top middle focus point was used with the viewfinder, I focused on the bride’s head/face.
Focus Mode
Single Shot
Focus POints
Single Focus Point
Focused on
The Brides face
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/2000 @ f/1.8 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
The position of the sun at the end of the valley couldn’t have worked out more perfectly! I shot directly into the sun and as a result the bride has a slight outline around her body and dress which add a bit of three dimensionality and separates her from the background.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Sunrise
Weather
Cloudy
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
Edited with The Kitcheners ‘Emotive’ color preset. Preset base was applied and I then raised the exposure a little bit and used various brushes on the bride to bring out some more detail on her body. I then used the saturation brush to make her hair slightly more saturated as I wanted the viewers eye to catch the attention of the bride first. Lastly the white balance was corrected to make the image warmer and giving it more life.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
The biggest challenge was time. It was the evening time and the sun was setting behind the so I had to work quickly.
Solutions
I was able to work quickly to get what I needed using two camera bodies with a different focal length on each one (35mm and 85mm). This simply meant that I could capture more variety of different photos (both wide and close up) in a short amount of time without having to switch lenses or move from my position too much.
Location
Location Name
Glencoe
Location aDDRESS
A82, Ballachulish PH49 4HX, United Kingdom
Loation Type
Mountains
Country
United Kingdom
Watch and communicate with your coupes during the photo shoot. If they start doing something that looks great tell them and ask them to keep doing it! Some of the best natural ‘poses’ I’ve captured were actually initiated by the couple without my direction.
