- Africa
- Mid range
- Stormy
- Soft Light
- Sitting
- Safari
- Overcast
- Open dress
- Natural Light
- Natural
- Looking out
- Back
- holding hands
- Free
- Directional Light
- Center Framed
- Car
- calm
- broken rules
- back of dress
- Back lit
- Sunset
The story behind the image
In this case, while one of us was shooting our couple from the front, the other slipped to the side and wanted to capture the back of the dress of our bride. The whole composition turned out great and we loved the way the couple were “not” paying attention to us in this photo at all.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
We asked our groom to sit on the bonnet of the jeep while his bride stood next to him. They really wanted to have a shot like this, and while the other one of us was photographing from the front; the other slipped behind to get this frame.
What did you say?
(Groom) Take a seat on the bonnet and totally relax. Keep your legs up and sit like you’re chilling. (Bride) Hang out at the front there and lean against the bars. Hold hands and look out in X direction
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
Framing this shot in portrait and at a slightly higher angle meant we had a very flattering look on our brides’ shoulders. We wanted the first attention to go straight to the design of her dress and then follow their hands up to the rest of the image and what was happening.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
When focusing with a single point, sometimes you’ll have bad luck if you’re putting it over an even part of skin or a flat surface. The easiest way to solve this is to simply move it to a contrasty part of the subject, such as where the dress meets the skin.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The back of the bride
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/320 @ f/2.2 ISO125 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
The sun was covered by the storm clouds while we were taking these photos; and even while the light was soft, we still had some directional light coming. When shooting this image, we tried to hide the sun as it was still quite a bright spot in the sky and we felt it didn’t add to the image that we were going for.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Sunset
Weather
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
The edits are made to be warmer with a big focus on skin tones and light play with shadows and highlights. A few minor local adjustments were made (Gradient and Brush) as well as finishing off with a fine layer of grain. The whites are not blown out nor are the blacks 100% crunched.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
Our challenge here was actually finding a composition that worked nicely. It was a good play between going to far to an angle and too little.
Solutions
When we switched to live view, we found that this helped us see just how far we needed to position ourselves to get a composition that felt balanced and right.
Location
Location Name
Sasakwa Lodge
Location aDDRESS
Grumeti Game Reserve, Tanzania
Loation Type
Safari
Country
Tanzania
If you’re working with a second shooter, try have one of you move around your couple while the other is being the main photographer. Sometimes you find really beautiful angles and moments simply from seeing it from a different side.
Just be careful when moving around your couple when someone else is photographing – you need to have a good communication and to let the main photographer know when you may be crossing their line-of-sight.
