HOW i SHOT THiS

  • Dinner
  • Leading lines
  • Middle Thirds
  • Natural Light
  • Rule of thirds
  • Soft Light
  • Sunset
  • top down
  • Wide

The story behind the image

Show more
It was a beautiful summer day in Provence in France and we had the pleasure to capture a relaxed wedding in Castle Chateau Robernier. When I arrived and I saw the beautiful dinner setup, I was sure I was going to need a drone shot. I am not the best pilot and I was a bit afraid to fly over a place where so many people were sitting and eating. But, I found another solution ;) I went up to the top of the castle and asked a friendly waiter to open the door for me so I could get to the balcony. Since the sun was still quite high, I wasn’t too satisfied with the look of the picture and decide to come back when the sun dropped a bit more. I almost ended up missing this shot since I had to do the couple shoot, but I went right after the shoot to see what it looked like with the last light of the day and loved this mood even more.
Show more

Composition

For me, it was important that you can see the people who are there together eating & drinking and the beauty of the Patio together with the amazing landscape with the small path in the back. I wanted to create that intimate feeling inside this Patio, so I framed it to include the walls of the building, while also keeping it wide enough to show the romantic surroundings.

Show more

Focusing

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

I used Af focus mode with live view and focused on the People sitting down in the middle of the picture. Since the scene wasn’t involving a lot of movement, locking on to the tables was no problem. I kept my camera steady and allowed the camera to find its focus and fire away.

Show more
Focus Mode

Single Shot Autofocus

Focus POints

Single Point

Focused on

The crowd

Equipment &
Exif

Camera
Sony A9
Lens
Sigma Art 28mm f/1.4
Flash
None
Filter
None
1/320 @ f/3.2 ISO640 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

Since the light was almost gone completely (we were in the blue hour), I wanted to keep the details in the sky & in the string lights. So I underexposed slightly to avoid blowing out those details. It also just so happened that the view from the balcony meant I was shooting into where the sun had set, which gave a really beautiful glow to the scene.

Show more
Light Type

Natural Light

Time of day

Sunset

Editing Workflow

How did you edit this image?

I edited this picture with our kwp editing Presets Pack vol5 but warmed it a lot. I wanted to have the golden hour look and not the blue hour look. I used also the Gradient filter ( kwp background ) for the back to bring in a bit more details.

Show more
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic

Challenges

I am afraid of heights and so being up there on the balcony was definitely out of my comfort zone. I was also nervous to miss something that could have happened amongst the guests while I was all the way up.

Show more

Solutions

Sometimes it’s good to just force yourself, even if you’re afraid ;) It could end up being totally worth it. Secondly, if you are going to leave the area for a shot, it’s a good idea to speak to the planner or the couple and just let them know – that way they won’t start something without you.

Show more

Location

Location Name

Chateau de Robernier

Location aDDRESS

Robernier, 83570 Montfort-sur-Argens, France

Loation Type

Wedding / Event Venue

Country

France

For shots like this, I love using live view, because you can compose much better when you see the pictures directly on the screen of your camera and turn it in the right position. When I take pictures like this I make sure to shoot both horizontally and vertically since it allows me to be a bit more flexible with how we use the images later on.

Read More

Login to your account

Oh no :(

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:

Join the
family

Get access to everything on the site as well as a ton of perks & benefits.

Have an account?

Well then, let’s get you logged in and hide this annoying thingy-ma-jig.