We had our couple lie in the grass opposite to each other (from their heads). We got them as close as we could without it looking like they were on top of each other and we simply asked them to tuck one of their hands under their head to form a pillow and to close their eyes. Just to breathe, take in the sounds, the feelings, and the moments.
Guys, we got this cool idea. If you [Guy] lie down here and tuck your hand under your head, and you [Girl], lie next to his head like this with your hand tucked too. Perfect. Now, just close your eyes. Take in the moment. Forget about us, and just imagine you were here with each other relaxing.
Calm
Since it was a pretty interesting way to pose a couple, we decided to keep it simple. We shot directly top-down over the couple and framed them equally in the picture. We also had to be careful to shoot too wide as that would have meant our legs would have been in the shoot too.
Center Framed
The focusing of this shot was very easy. We moved the focus box to the Bride and let it lock on. Since both of them were on the exact same level, we just needed to pick one of them to focus on as the other would 100% be focused too.
Live View Single Shot
Single Point
The Brides face
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.
Since we had found this spot in the shade, the light was really soft. But literally 2 meters away the sun was scorching bright and way too harsh. We had our couple lie in the shaded area to help us create these beautifully soft and smooth skin tones while also keeping a little play of highlights and shadows.
Natural Light
To edit this shot, we applied our Protea preset and adjusted the exposure, white balance and colour saturations to get the overall tones that we wanted. We then added a manual vignette by inserting a radial filter and darkening the edges. We finally ended off by adding in some gentle dodging and burning to help make our couple pop a little more.
The biggest challenge was getting our couple comfortable in this position as any sign of discomfort became quite visible.
We reminded our couple to get as comfortable as they could, and to just relax. We kept shooting for a little while; long enough to have them get themselves into the ‘zone’.
Geroldsee
Geroldsee, Germany
Garden / Field
Germany
If you end up having plenty of time to kill while waiting for better light, try out new ideas with your couple and don’t be afraid to tell them that you’re actually experimenting. Tell them that you’re just trying something out and it may or may not work – most of the time they’d totally be keen but by mentioning that it “may not work” means they won’t necessarily ask about those shots if they aren’t delivered.
Where are we going?
Account
need help
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:
Get access to everything on the site as well as a ton of perks & benefits.
Well then, let’s get you logged in and hide this annoying thingy-ma-jig.