- Bride
- Landscape
- Wedding Dress
- Wedding
- Walking
- Sunset
- Soft Light
- Prime Lens
- Outdoor
- Norway
- Natural Light
- Movement
- Mountains
- Melli & Shayne
- Laughter
- Horizon Line
- Canon
- holding hands
- Harsh Light
- Groom
- Golden hour
- Funny
- full body
- Free
- Energetic
- Elopement
- Directional Light
- Couple Shoot
- Couple
- Center Framed
- Wide
The story behind the image
When I got to Tromso, Norway – I had a few days in total and part of these days was one where I was to location scout. The night before, Melli & I looked on Google Maps for some interesting spots around the area and we ended up finding this little coastal town called Hillesoy. I drove there the next morning (about an hour or so drive) and explored the whole area. I climbed up the hill/mountain to see if it was worth it with the couple (it wasn’t quite), walked along the coast, went through marshes – basically, got completely dirty.
I found this spot on the coast that offered not only spots for them to read their vows in silence, but paths to use, beaches to explore, and hillsides overlooking the arctic ocean. One thing I did note though was the wind being quite chilly, and also the sunset. It just didn’t set. It was a constant ‘golden hour’. Needless to say, it was a darn dream to photograph this.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Making them laugh and smile is key here. Throw in jokes and make them feel comfortable about it. Have them walk towards you (or by you) while keeping their faces towards the light source. Encourage them the whole time and don’t be afraid if you sound silly! The more laughs, the better!
What did you say?
Put your hands down! You look crazy walking with your hands in the air! Walk towards me… and look out to your right (towards the sun)
Composition
My aim in composing this image was to show the environment and their full bodies. This brings the viewer’s attention to multiple places of interest as they are shown where they are, who they are, and how they are dressed. Keeping them center framed also brought the first attention to them while leaving the eyes to wander around after.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Focusing was fairly straightforward for this shot as we had our single point directly over our couple. As the couple was walking towards me, I had to keep refocusing with each picture (easy to do as I Just release the shutter, and fully press it again) as I, at the time, was not a fan of the Servo focusing mode of the camera.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Grooms Body
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/500 @ f/2.0 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
Using directional light (Light coming from an angle) during sunset can create an incredibly dimensional image by showcasing highlights and shadows. I had them walk towards me while looking out towards the sun. This meant their faces were lit most of the time and we could really play with the shadows that fell off on the other side.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Sunset
Weather
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
To edit this shot, we used an experimental preset that we’re developing which aims to keep things nice and warm without going overboard. We wanted the whites of the dress to stay pure, but the skin tones to have that warm, silky feel to them. We adjusted all our exposure sliders to get the look we were after and then spent a bit of time in the HSL panel tweaking the hues & saturations to get the skin tones we were after. We then added a few radial filters in the image to enhance the sunlight as well as create a manual vigentte. Finally, we finished off with some grain to add some texture to the image.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
The biggest challenge I had here was the sheer cold temperatures and wind that came from the coast. We had to be fairly quick with our shots as the couple got super cold really quickly.
Solutions
In between the shots I made sure they dressed up warm again and got their body temperatures back up. It’s so important to look after your couple and make sure they are having a good time.
Location
Location Name
Hillesoy
Location aDDRESS
Hillesoy 9110 Sommarøy, Norway
Loation Type
Beach / Coastal
Country
Norway
Make sure to pack warm with boots and bring something for your couple to help them out too. The parking is quite central on the island and you would have to walk/hike to get to the coasts. It’s easy though.
