- afternoon
- Castle
- Center Framed
- Courtyard
- full body
- mother bride
- Natural
- Natural Light
- off center
- Shade
- Soft Light
- Unposed
- Walking
- Wide
- wide shot
The story behind the image
When we saw our bride with her mom helping her as she walked towards the ceremony, we got ourselves into position and started shooting. Not only was this a beautiful moment between mother and daughter but it lends itself to a very good storytelling piece.
This shot tells the story of the bride moving from A to B – changing locations to the ceremony where the next part of our storytelling happens. Always keep your eyes open for even these small moments when it comes to your storytelling. Showing a transition from one location to the next just helps the end gallery flow much easier.
Composition
We chose to shoot this image wide as we wanted to give even more context to where our bride & mother were. We also stepped just to the side to allow them to walk right passed us as we kept shooting. Finally, having them in the center of the frame allowed them to take the full attention of the viewer before letting them explore the rest of the image.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Since our bride & mother were the main focus on the image, we simply moved our focus point over our bride and let it lock on. Also being a wide shot, we didn’t have a problem with bokeh causing the mom to be out of focus since, at this distance with a wide lens, the focal plane is much greater and more forgiving.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Brides face
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/800 @ f/2 ISO160 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
At this point of the day, the sun was out and was incredibly hot & harsh. Fortunately, just outside of where the bride was getting ready there was a courtyard with walls that gave us some shade. This allowed us to shoot more comfortably as we didn’t have to deal with such strong light.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Afternoon
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
The main challenge we had here was that the shaded area didn’t last the whole journey. We had to fast to get our shots while they were in the shade and prepared to adjust our exposure immediately as they moved into the harsh sunlight.
Solutions
We kept the camera up to our face and kept shooting until we got into the harsh light. We then quickly adjusted our exposure by increasing the shutter speed and paying attention to the exposure meter inside the viewfinder. We then had a quick peek at the back of the screen and refined the exposure.
Location
Location Name
Schloss Freudenstein
Location aDDRESS
Castel Freudenstein Str. Masaccio, 39057 Appiano sulla strada del vino BZ, Italy
Loation Type
Castle
Country
Italy
It’s very easy to deliver a bunch of photos to your couple at the end. But what’s a bit more challenging, and significantly more rewarding is delivering not just a bunch of images, but a story of images. Think of a story with a beginning (getting ready), events (ceremony), climaxes (Couple shoots & dancing), and an end (Send offs, etc…). Now, in the middle of these, there are movement. Movement between locations, between emotions, even between people. Do your best to see this and try and capture it. Absolutely go and find inspiration from photographers you admire by looking at their blogs and paying attention to what images they take, and when they take them.
