We asked our couple to walk up the hill holding hands and to have our bride lead the way. While doing so, we encouraged the bride to look back towards the groom as she would do so naturally.
Alrighty, you see the top of the hill just here? I want you guys to walk up there and let’s have [Bride] up front and leading the way. Hold your hands and look back at [Groom] whenever you can.
Calm
Since we were slightly lower than our couple as they climbed the hill, we had to find a spot that allowed us to see them through the grass. We found an angle that gave us a nice balance of grass in the foreground (taking about 1/3 of the frame), our subjects in the middle, and enough breathing room around them. We also fine-tuned our crop while editing to keep the grid intersection closer to our bride’s face (as based on the rule of thirds, this helps to balance points of interest).
Center Framed
Focusing. This is the wrong image to talk about focusing since we “missed” our goal. But it’s a perfect chance to share that even a reliable method like “single point” focussing does have its challenges. You are in control of where that point lands and if you aren’t able to track your subjects accurately, you stand the chance of missing the focus entirely; and you may not be as “lucky” to have an accidentally good shoot.
Single Shot Autofocus
Single Point
The cloud behind
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.
This was taken somewhere around the mid-to-late part of the blue hour which meant the light we got to work with was incredibly beautiful. There was a gorgeous play of color in the sky between the sunset tones and the cool blues of the oncoming evening. We still aimed to have our couple be in a position where their front would catch whatever light remained, so when walking up the hill, we found a spot that allowed them to walk towards where the sun had set.
Natural Light
Evening
When editing this shot, we applied our Protea presets as a base and cropped the image to straighten the horizon as well as have our bride on the intersection of the rule-of-thirds grid. We then adjusted the exposure, highlights, shadows, blacks & whites as well as the vibrance & saturation just to bring out those colors in the sky. Finally, we added a simple gradient filter to further enhance the sky.
The challenge here was definitely nailing the focus on these shots since the light was pretty low, and our subjects were moving which made things that much harder.
The only solution we found was to switch between live view & shooting through the viewfinder to find what method worked best. For this particular shot, we were shooting through the viewfinder and it just so happened that we missed the focus entirely.
Sankt Peter-Ording
Sankt Peter-Ording, Germany
Beach / Coastal
Germany
We all make mistakes. We all come back with images that we never ever want anyone to see. It doesn’t matter how successful or famous or rich or poor we are. The truth is, no one comes back from a shoot with a card full of absolutely perfect, unique images. But amongst these imperfect shots, you may find one that speaks to you. If you ever find yourself looking at a shot that you know is not technically perfect, but for some reason, it still tugs at your heartstrings – why not throw it into the cull. You could always discard it later after editing if you change your mind.
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.