- afternoon
- calm
- Dancing
- full body
- Garden
- holding each other
- Landscape
- Leading lines
- lower thirds
- Maze
- Mountains
- Natural Light
- Outdoor
- Rule of thirds
- Soft Light
- Wide
The story behind the image
Amber & Farhad are genuine souls through and through, and as soon as you meet them it is so evident that they are deeply in love. Amber is a New York Times bestseller, speaker, and a creative at heart so their guest list was full of incredible and accomplished musicians, actors, entrepreneurs and the list goes on. All this to say that, as soon as the weekend started A&F’s qualities and character was truly reflected by their friends and family, which really set the tone for the weekend.
Usually, when covering weddings I have my own accommodation, but A&F were super kind to ensure I had a room at Kasbah Bab Ourika for the weekend, that very much meant that I was immersed in the vibe of the weekend from the first second.
This frame was taken a few hours after settling-in in the Ourika Valley. A&F was welcoming their guests who were trickling in from all corners of the world before a welcome dinner. The blue hour was upon us and this is one of my favorite types of light to play in as tones really show off in a beautiful. Itching to get started capturing some portraits of the day this was the first and only portrait shot of that day and I am so glad I was there to capture this beaut.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Having scouted the venue extensively I knew this spot was the focal point of the weekend, after all, this was the ceremony spot and it being such a geometrical shape it just made sense. A few moments later we were golden!
What did you say?
At this stage everyone was elated at arriving at the Ourika Valley, seeing how amazing it is, (seriously I’m going back with my wife Zion just to experience it all again) guests congratulating A&F for the weekend that was about to happen and slightly in an intrusive way – these are the times that the couple is having a blast, but you know that there’s something extra special worth exploring somewhere else, so what do you do? – I suggested to A&F that “the valley and the Atlas mountains are looking incredible and we should capture a few frames of the two of you in front of them inside that circle”. They placed themselves inside the circle but they faced me, so I told them as a first lesson of my world “Unless I tell you so, whenever I capture portraits of the two of you, face each other and feel free to interact and love on each other”.
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
This frame was truly given to me by the venue. I guess what helped it was scouting the venue thoroughly beforehand as I haven’t seen this perspective with a couple before at Ourika Valley, but once you see it, you can’t unseen it and I had to place A&F bang in the middle of that structure.
framing
Lower Thirds
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I shot this in live view mode as I had to lift my camera and stretch as high as possible to get that perspective with one hand and tap-shot with the other hand.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Dress
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/200 @ f/1.4 ISO2000 WB-Cloudy
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 thing about shooting in blue hour is that most light is gone and you are left with the remnants of light. Those remnants are gold for beautiful tones! It truly is one of my favorite types of light, but it doesn’t last for long at all, and depending on where you are in the world that will affect the results significantly.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Afternoon
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
This was an easy one! Knowing what I wanted, and this is how I shoot most of my images, I slightly underexposed the image, or better said, I shot for the highlights with +0.60 being added to the exposure in the edit.
Once again, the clarity is up significantly to bring those details to light (+0.60) and the highlights are down (-0.90)to make sure the last layer of the mountains is prominently visible. That was an important one for this edit.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Custom Presets
Challenges
I was in my element during this perfect welcome vibing day, so the only challenge was to disrupt the vibe and direct the couple to something that was worth capturing outside of their schedule.
Solutions
Whilst I disrupted the evening a bit by taking A&F aside for a few minutes, I’m sure they are incredibly grateful about this image as it is one of their favourites. Sometimes your best images are on the other side of fear.
Location
Location Name
Kasbah Bab Ourika
Location aDDRESS
Ourika, Morocco
Loation Type
Garden / Field
Country
Morocco
Presets are ace, incredible locations are ace but establishing trust with your clients is paramount to creating work that moves you and them!
