We told the couple our intentions about the mirrors and the second the mirrors were correctly positioned, we told them to put all their passion into this one kiss. Of course, the position of the hands changed due to the kissing but we did not want to intrude on this passionate moment. This worked quite well but you do not have many tries, because the natural-looking kiss might only happen once. Another kissing round might be too artificial.
So let´s take some more artsy photos. We would love each of you to hold the mirror in your hand and try to reflect the other one`s face in the mirror. It would be great if you could hold the mirror in this position. But it´s no big deal, if not. So really don´t care too much about it because we have a nice task for you to do: Put all the passion you feel for each other into this one kiss. 3-2-1-go!
Calm
As a rule of aesthetics, our eyes always try to spot the brightest area of a photo at first. In our case, the brightest area was the neon sign. Therefore the main point of interest in the photo should be framed by the brightest area to be looked at first. To us, the passionate kiss was the main point of interest in the picture and the second one was the reflection in the mirror. Due to the bright color reflected in the mirror, this is where the eyes go next. So we were quite happy with the composition.
We tried to emphasize the horizontal lines by holding the mirrors at the same height. Horizontal lines seem calm, vertical lines accelerate the view. The goal was to make the kiss look even more intimate so the horizontal lines looked the best to us. We kind of broke the one rule of composition – the golden cut. But as there is more than one point of interest, breaking the golden cut did not bother us too much.
Center Framed
We focused on the bride’s eyes and therefore her lashes which worked out quite well despite the dim light. If it had not worked we would have switched into manual focus.
Single Shot Autofocus
Single Point
the bride's eyes
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.
The photo session took place in a barely lit vaulted cellar so the light was not natural. The ceiling was in a reddish tone and the ground brown. The neon sign was really bright and in a cold light color. Right across from the neon sign we installed an artificial light which we didn’t want to be too bright to maintain the authenticity of the photo. Maintaining authenticity was a great challenge. The subjects stood in between the two lights. The photographer stood in front of the artificial light source. It was so much fun to face this kind of challenge!
Artificial Light
Indoor
We used our own preset (Feather and Moon Presets). This preset creates a warmer look and the shadows appear not too dark. Due to the artificial light in addition to the reddish ceiling, the skin tones looked too red. So we adjusted the saturation of the reds and oranges.
A few local adjustments were made (brush to smooth the skin and to remove the deep red of the groom’s ear by using complementary colors and desaturation) and the reflections in the mirrors were brightened up. In addition, we used the radial brush to lighten up the bride’s skin a little bit as we adjusted the exposure to his skin tone. The whole picture was edited in Adobe Lightroom.
The main challenge was handling the light. The harsh neon sign from the back darkens the foreground too much. In addition, the bride’s darker skin reflected the light differently than the groom’s brighter one.
To solve this problem we used an artificial light and used the radial filter in the post production to lighten up her face a little bit.
Vaulted cellar
Neu-Ulm, Germany
Industrial
Germany
Sometimes you need to face challenges to get the photo you imagined. We’ve learned that it is always worth thinking about lighting. You will learn something out of every photo you take – whether you succeed or fail. So you have nothing to lose. Beyond the technical stuff try to add a more artsy touch to your photo. Be brave, creative, and have fun!
Where are we going?
Account
need help
This content has been marked as Premium and requires an active subscription in order to access it. We’re so sorry about that. But hey, here’s what you can do:
Get access to everything on the site as well as a ton of perks & benefits.
Well then, let’s get you logged in and hide this annoying thingy-ma-jig.