- afternoon
- Highlights Shadows
- topless
- Rule of thirds
- rainbow
- Playful
- nude
- Natural
- Mid range
- lesbian
- Laughing
- Harsh Light
- breasts
- gay
- Funny
- Fun
- Energetic
- Directional Light
- Contrasty
- cloudy sky
- Cloudy
- Center Framed
- Unposed
The story behind the image
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
These two were a hoot and were having the time of their lives, so it made my job easy. When I turned around and saw the rainbow, we all freaked out. I told them, “Run to the rainbow! Go! Be gay!” After getting some shots from further away, I told them to drunk run towards me (not particularly hard in the sand!) and embrace five feet in front of my camera while screaming the name of a certain biological male body part.
What did you say?
Run towards me! When you’re about five feet in front of me, embrace and scream ‘penis’ as loud as you can! They need to hear you say that word over in LA! I need to suffer from hearing damage! Aaaaaand go!
Composition
Composing and cropping this shot was difficult due to the angle of the rainbow and how far away it was, as well as distracting elements in the background. I wanted to make sure all of the rainbow’s leading line led to the couple, but I was worried it’d look like one of them would be shooting a rainbow out of their head. In the end, I opted to center the couple and make Noah’s facial expression the clear focus.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I used my R5’s eye-detect autofocus in servo mode to zero in on Noah’s closest eye for this image. Servo eye-detect is my go-to for shooting couples, especially when movement is involved.
Focus Mode
Continuous Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
Brown-haired model's eye
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/8000 @ f/2 ISO100 WB-5000K
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
This was shot with harsh direct sunlight at the end of golden hour. Without a cloud in the sky, lighting proved a struggle for composition in such a stark environment – I wanted the rainbow and couple to be centered, but this meant the blonde model’s face would need to be in shadow. Luckily, the sand here was white and reflected light to fill in her shadow somewhat. If I had to do this shoot again, I would have sucked it up and taken a picture of them with the light on both of their faces, a picture of the rainbow out of focus, and composited them in photoshop.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Afternoon
Weather
Cloudy
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
It was pretty hot this day in the desert, and I wanted my edit to reflect that heat and the harshness of the surrounding area. I used my own personal harsh lighting preset, brought the highlights down, and tweaked the hue and saturation sliders slightly for orange and blue, slightly denaturing the oranges and giving the blues in the background a little more oompf. To top it all off, I applied a saturation brush to the rainbow. I considered brushing in some exposure to the blonde model’s face, but I felt this was a situation where doing that could leave the image feeling fake or overedited.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Own personal Presets
Challenges
This was shot at a wind farm. As you might imagine, it was incredibly windy. Shooting the couple backlit meant having their hair fly towards me and covering their faces like Cousin It from The Addams Family, so between this and the placement of the rainbow, shooting them facing towards the sun was the only option.
Solutions
In the end, it worked out even though the lighting wasn’t optimal for how I wanted to compose my image. The blonde model’s face is in shadow, but it serves to accentuate the joy and laughter in her partner’s face. At the end of the day, making people feel something is more important than a perfectly crafted image.
Location
Location Name
Palm Springs
Location aDDRESS
5400N N Indian Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92262
Loation Type
Desert
Country
United States
This shot helped me conquer my fear of harsh lighting, and reminded me how important emotion is to a photograph.
