HOW i SHOT THiS

  • Blue Hour
  • looking towards the sun
  • Walking
  • Sunset
  • Soft Light
  • Natural
  • Moody
  • lower thirds
  • Lazy Olive
  • calm
  • Italy
  • holding hands
  • full body
  • Free
  • Directional Light
  • Center Framed
  • Walking towards Camera

The story behind the image

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When we went out with our couple for the shoot, we tried to find a spot where we could capture a lot of the valley and scenery that this venue in Tuscany had to offer. We always do our location scouts in advance but sometimes we realize the spots we found earlier don’t look as good as we hoped.

In this case, we didn’t plan on sending our couple down amongst the dry grass. We saw this during the couple shoot and how the sun was setting. As it happened near the end, we asked our couple if we could quickly go down and get a few shots there – to which they were super keen on.

location scouting is incredibly important beforehand, but it can always happen that you find another spot during the shoot that is even better than the one you found earlier. Just keep your eyes open the whole time and don’t be afraid to try something. If it doesn’t work, admit it, and then move on.
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Directions

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

We asked our couple to hold hands while they walked out from the grass towards us. While walking, we encouraged our bride to take lead and have both of them look over their left shoulder towards where the sun had set. We didn’t interact much more as we wanted them to be as natural as possible.

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What did you say?

Alright guys, make your way back out towards us. While walking, just hold your hands and [bride], maybe you can walk ahead and lead. Great, and keep looking towards that awesome sunset

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Tone of Directions

Calm

Composition

For this composition, we chose to keep our couple int he lower 2/3rds of the frame since we did want to include a bit of the sky and the distant valley behind them. The couple was also walking up a slight hill towards us (which meant we were higher than them) which allowed us to use this angle. Notice how our couple’s faces are in the center block; this naturally helps bring attention to their faces first.

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framing

Lower Thirds

Focusing

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

Since we wanted to hold our camera away from our eye to help find an interesting composition, we switched to Live view. This allowed us to see our composition but also use a contrast based focusing method to help get the image in focus with the low amount of light we had.

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Focus Mode

Live View Single Shot

Focus POints

Single Point

Focused on

The Brides face

Equipment &
Exif

Camera
Canon 5D Mark IV
Lens
Canon 35mm f/1.4 L II
Flash
None
Filter
None
1/200 @ f/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 at the very end of the couple shoot and was literally on the way back to the reception. At this time, the sun had already sent and we were left with the gorgeous blue hour. While our couple walked out towards us, we asked them to look towards where the sun had set since light still came from this direction. This way, we lit up their face while creating more dimensions to them. A beautiful gentle play between highlights & shadows.

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Light Type

Natural Light

Time of day

Sunset

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.

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Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic

Challenges

Our biggest challenge we faced was the light disappearing very fast. During the blue hour, you really don’t have much time and so we had to work really fast in order to have a chance of coming back with a cool shot.

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Solutions

It always helps to just keep shooting. Even when directing or speaking to your couple – keep shooting. Since we had our camera in live view mode, we were even able to hold the camera below our eye level which allowed us to photograph them while talking.

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Location

Location Name

The Lazy Olive

Location aDDRESS

The Lazy Olive, Loc. Finerri, 7, 53041 Asciano SI, Italy

Loation Type

Garden / Field

Country

Italy

As beautiful as the blue hour is, it definitely is a challenge and goes by incredibly fast. If you don’t come home with a groundbreaking blue hour shot – don’t beat yourself up. It happens to all of us and there are so many factors that are at play.

Always keep shooting. That’s one of the best pieces of advice we were given. Even when you’re directing your couple, have your camera ready and snap at the moments you see. Sometimes the very best images happen when no one is even ready.

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