- After sunset
- Laughing
- Sunset
- Soft Light
- Portrait
- Natural Light
- Movement
- Middle Thirds
- Jokes
- calm
- Italy
- holding hands
- Golden hour
- full body
- Cloudy
- Center Framed
- Walking
The story behind the image
One thing that didn’t help the already short-time slot we had for the couple shoot was that we actually got a bit lost trying to navigate our way back out of a protected area of a tiny Italian city where the ceremony was held – which meant we got to the reception location a bit later than we had hoped. Needless to say, we were pretty stressed as we were losing sunlight with every minute, and we obviously didn’t want our couple to panic about where we were.
Fortunately, our couple was incredibly cool, and we took advantage of the last 30 minutes of light before it simply became a bit too dark to shoot. We didn’t venture too far from the reception location and did the most we could, and ended up having such a great time together.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
So what are you guys gonna do when you get to the party? [bride], you’re gonna drink, aren’t you? You’re going straight to the bar! [Groom], you know what we’re talking about, don’t you?
What did you say?
As we were closing up the shoot, we simply asked our couple to walk hand in hand with our groom taking lead. We encouraged our bride to look towards her groom and we threw in some lighthearted jokes to get them smiling & giggling.
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
As we were on a driveway, we wanted to hide the fact that there were the guest’s parked cars just on the other side so we chose to frame this in portrait. We kept our subjects in the mid & lower sections of the image to give them more presence than the sky.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
We find that using our live view to focus on our couple while we’re doing walking shots is quite a bit easier than the conventional “through the viewfinder” approach. It helps us to see the composition more easily while also keeping our eyes open for our surroundings (to not trip for example). Once we’ve got our focus locked, we try and keep the same distance as much as possible. If we change, we refocus.
Focus Mode
Live View Single Shot
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Grooms face
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/500 @ f/2.2 ISO250 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
This was taken just after the sun had dropped below the horizon. It still gave off enough directional light but it wasn’t nearly as harsh as it would have been if it was above the horizon. The sun set just behind our couple and it worked to our advantage as it allowed us to backlight them as we walked back to the party. This backlight helps separate the two from the background.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Sunset
Weather
Cloudy
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
We applied our Kilimanjaro preset, shifted the orange hues to the yellows slightly and added our grain & vignette edits. We also focused in and used quite a bit of local adjustments such as the radial filter to enhance the sun while also creating a more controlled vignette in certain areas.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
The biggest challenge we had was not keeping our couple away from the party for too long. It’s so easy to get carried away but we always have to remember this day isn’t just about us and our portfolio – it’s entirely about our couple and while it’s fun to couple shoot, it’s also fun to hang out with friends & family and enjoy a party.
Solutions
It helps to always keep an eye on the time and to make decisions based on whether something is 1) worth it, and 2) going to take a lot of time or not. If we noticed that a certain pose or shot wasn’t working – we didn’t linger on it for too long. We moved on to the next thing.
Location
Location Name
Private Home
Location aDDRESS
Via Turrita, 06081 Sterpeto PG, Italy
Loation Type
Private Home / AirBnB / Apartment
Country
Italy
There are a ton of stories behind a photo – even your most favorite wedding photographer out there could tell you a good tale or two. That’s the beauty of a photograph. It holds much more than just digital pixels & fancy colors.
If it ever happens that you end up being late somewhere, the first thing you need to do is try and reach your couple and let them know. Do whatever it takes, and try your absolute hardest to get there on time (but also safely – no use in a photographer who can’t shoot anymore).
During short couple shoots, don’t be afraid to move on from a certain shot or pose. It’s totally okay to change to something else if you think it’s just not working out for your couple.
