We had our group line up with the bride & her best friend interlocked by the arms, and the guys to hang out just not he side. We asked them to walk towards us and to “fake laugh” while looking at each other. What happens there is that it generally brings out real laughter once they realize just how ridiculous they sound.
“Okay guys, walk towards us and look at each other. Awesome now completely fake laugh at each other! Louder!”
We wanted the sun to play a role in this image as it was just peeking through the treetop and creating a really nice little flare, so we rotated our camera to portrait, positioned our group in the lower two thirds, and made sure that we kept enough of the sun to have that flare.
Lower Thirds
Since our group was on the same line, focusing wasn’t a challenge, even at a wide-open aperture. We positioned our single point over our bride to stop the camera from getting confused and focusing on the background. It also helps when you are shooting into the light as sometimes the camera can struggle to get focus.
Single Shot Autofocus
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.
We purposely decided to photograph into the light as we wanted to capture the flare that was being created by the sun peeking through the trees. As it was still pretty high up, it was a great solution since the light was behind our group which then meant their faces were in the shade (even & soft lighting). Another reason we chose to do this was that it creates a beautiful rim light around the group (look at their outline). This helps to separate them from the background.
Natural Light
Afternoon
Sunny
We applied our Protea Presets as a base and then shifted the white balance, exposure, shadows, highlights, and clarity to where we wanted it. A bit more on the edgy and warm side. We also used a simple radial filter over the sun to enhance the flare (with a decrease in dehaze and an increase in exposure and white balance).
If we got into a position where the sun was not being covered by the trees as much, our frame was then blasted with light and we couldn’t get a decent focus and exposure.
We found the “maximum” distance our group could go during their walk and asked them to stop once they got there. We found this spot simply by testing it on ourselves before we called people for the group photos.
Balthasar Neumann Pavillon
Balthasar Neumann Pavillon, Würzburger Str. 14, 97236 Randersacker, Germany
Garden / Field
Germany
If you’re fortunate enough to still be shooting some weddings at the moment, don’t forget that your couple could have gone through some pretty hard times to get the whole thing organized and happening. So, be sensitive about it.
When the sun is still pretty high and you don’t exactly want to go somewhere completely different, what you can do is shoot into the light. What this does is that it creates shade across the faces of your subjects (so long as their back is towards the light). Why is shade good? Well, it’s soft, even lighting. You may not get the full dynamic range of Highlights & Shadows in your shot, but you’ll very likely get beautiful skin tones.
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