- calm
- Intimate Framing
- Unposed
- Rim Light
- Natural
- Moody
- low key
- jewellery
- Indoor
- Center Framed
- Hand movements
- Getting ready
- Earrings
- Directional Light
- Dark
- Close up
- Window Light
The story behind the image
Since we avoid shooting with the room lights turned on, we chose to embrace the darkness of the room. In fact, we really wanted to try our hand at capturing a very lowkey image. When it came time for our bride to put on her last details (earrings, necklace, etc…), we simply asked if she would be able to do all of that but at this specific spot we found (and tested earlier).
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
We asked our bride to stand in a specific spot at a specific angle (we had tested it before) and asked her to put on her jewellery and last touches here. We reminded her to completely forget about us and to not try and “stage” anything. To do what she has to do, 100% the way she would.
What did you say?
We have this awesome spot right here which will light just a small part of you, and so when you stand here can you face towards the window while you put on your earrings and necklace. And don’t worry about us, you do you and we’ll just shoot from a distance. Don’t try and “Force anything”, just put it on as you would.
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
We originally shot this image a little wider than the final result, but that’s purely because after editing it and realizing how much of the light we had to work with, we were better able to find a composition that took that into account. Since the light on our bride forms part of the composition. If you pay close attention, you can see a “Triangle” formed by the light that leads from her chest upwards. This naturally guides the eyes towards her actions.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Since the main point of interest here was her hands putting on her earrings, we made sure to focus on them. We wanted this to be the first point of interest for the viewer. We simply moved our single focus point over her hands, let it lock, and fired away.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Fingers
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/250 @ f/2.2 ISO1000 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 only light source we had in the room that we wanted to use as a window just off to the left side of the image. Our bride stood about 1.5 meters away from the light and turned slightly towards it. Our positioning was crucial as we wanted to find the angle where we had more shadows than highlights.
Light Type
Natural Light
Weather
Indoor
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
Editing this image played a big role as the original shot didn’t quite bring out the drama that we wanted. We first applied our protea preset and then dropped the exposure way down, and slowly increased the highlights and whites to pump up the highlights once more. We then tweaked the white balance, vibrance, saturation and other basic adjustments to get the tones we liked. Finally, we added a radial adjustment to darken more of the scene and only leave the arms & face lit.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
The biggest challenge was finding the angle with the most light. Since the room was dark, but not pitch black, we had to really figure out what that angle was in order for this to work the way we had hoped.
Solutions
We made sure to do test shots before asking our bride to stand in that spot. Since we always work as a team, finding someone to stand in place was easy.
Location
Location Name
SASAKWA LODGE
Location aDDRESS
Grumeti Game Reserve, Tanzania
Loation Type
Hotel
Country
Tanzania
Even if you don’t normally shoot a certain way, sometimes its totally worth going out of your comfort zone and trying something new. Even if it means the shot may not work out as great as you had hoped – at least you tried and you have something to look back on and figure out where you went wrong and why.
