- black & white
- holding bride
- Soft Light
- Shade
- Playful
- Natural Light
- Natural
- Movement
- Mid range
- lifting
- Laughing
- Laugh
- games
- black and white
- Funny
- Forest
- Energetic
- Directional Light
- clear sky
- Center Framed
- carrying bride
- Carry
- broken rules
- Blur
- Unposed
The story behind the image
That day we experienced pure joy and this is what we wanted to capture in our photo session. We wanted honest, unforced, and intense emotions. It wasn’t difficult because everything happened naturally.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Most of the session was unposed. We like to give our couples little tips or tasks, trying to capture their natural energy. Our couple had a lot of spontaneity and sensitivity that affected all the photos that we took that day. We wanted the Groom to take his wife in his arms and turn around with her several times. It always brings a lot of sincere joy. When a lot is going on during the session, we try to be more energetic. We speak louder, with obvious excitement. Quick, simple, and easy commands work best.
What did you say?
Fine, now take her in your arms and spin a few times!
Composition
We chose the landscape orientation to fill the entire frame with people. We took the photo from a lower perspective to catch the bokeh and bring out the couple from the dark background. Bright spots contrast with hair and darker faces. We managed to capture the bride’s full silhouette, along with her bare feet. The frame itself is slightly skewed, which makes the whole scene even more dynamic. This works great with blurry subjects.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
The couple was on the move all the time – it was a difficult task for the autofocus. We set the camera to a servo mode and aimed at the Bride. Next, we used a short exposure time, so we left ourselves a margin of error. We wanted a blur effect, but being completely out of focus was out of the question. It’s important, that the emotions on the faces are immediately recognizable.
Focus Mode
Continuous Autofocus
Focus POints
Multi Point
Focused on
Bride's face.
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/125 @ f/2.2 ISO800 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
We photographed this part of the session in a very open forest. The sky was cloudless, so it was difficult to find a shaded place. We wanted to avoid the problem with overexposed or too dark areas, so we were looking for a clearing with diffused light. We found a piece of forest that was denser than the rest of it. As a result, our couple was evenly lit, and bright spots showed through the treetops, creating beautiful bokeh.
Light Type
Natural Light
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
We used our own black and white preset. When we started processing this photo, we immediately decided on black and white. The colors distracted us and diverted the attention from the faces. We wanted to bring out the couple, so we lightened the skin and darkened the background. We also brightened up the bokeh to keep it from blending in with the silhouettes. Finally, we added noise to make the photo more analogous. The original frame looked a bit different. The head of the Bride was closer to the edge of the frame, and the hairline was almost beyond it. We added a few centimeters to the left side by using “Fill” and “Stamp” in Photoshop.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Custom Preset
Challenges
There were a few challenges with this photo. We wanted to capture sincere emotions, so we avoided repetitions. We focused on spontaneity and surprise, and this works best on the first try. The second problem was the blurring of the photo at the shooting stage. We couldn’t blur it too much not to make the photo look grotesque. We wanted to accentuate the movement, not to photograph the forest abstraction.
Solutions
We often use this effect, so we knew how to set the cameras so that the picture came out the first time. As a team of two, one person can always stop actively shooting and prepare for the next idea. Thanks to this, we avoid too many repetitions and we are able to involve our couples during the whole active sessions. One of us always has a moment to think about the next step.
Location
Location Name
The forest near the Woświn lake.
Location aDDRESS
Woswin, Poland
Loation Type
Forest
Country
Poland
The couple sessions are one of our favorites. The important and often stressful moments are over. The couples we work with are relaxed and full of emotions. It’s easy to steer them because you don’t have to build the atmosphere from scratch. We do such sessions at every wedding. We love cinema, which is a great inspiration for us. One of our tricks that adds cinematic character to our photos is to use motion.
If we had any advice, we would certainly encourage you to introduce movement and simple tasks into your sessions. Even if we choose simple and calm poses, we always try to ensure that our couples never freeze. Even gentle stroking, rocking to the rhythm of the music, or kisses make people stop focusing on what they look like. As a result, they are more natural, and our photos only benefit from it.
