- Center Framed
- Close up
- Cloudy
- intimate
- kissing
- lesbian
- long lens
- Moody
- Natural
- Outdoor
- Same Sex
- Soft Light
- windy
- windy hair
The story behind the image
The place is calm and unique.
Before we agreed for a session with A&S, I knew that I’d love to go and shoot there. After we met with the couple we started exploring the area and I noticed how comfortable they felt in front of my camera and weren’t shy about showing their feelings. Lucky me!
That evening there was a strong wind and I saw that they started to get really cold. I immediately saw how their hair was blowing in the wind and this inspired me for an intimate close-up shot. I love windy, messy hair. So I asked them to kiss, and waited for the perfect “windy” moment. To get the soft look I used an 85mm lens. The main thing I learned from this shoot was to be patient and wait for the right moments. Between the couple and with the wind.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I simply asked them to go in for a kiss. I knew they were not camera-shy so the shot I was expecting to get happened exactly the way I had hoped for. Before the shoot, I always tell my couples that they don’t need to freeze in one pose and that they can always move, and feel the moments as they happen. When they were kissing, I tried not to say anything that would distract them from this intimate moment.
What did you say?
Can you kiss please?
Composition
Although when I shoot, I often don’t really think about things like composition and rather rely on intuition and feeling, I wanted to capture an intimate moment between these two. I filled the image with them which brings the viewer into a real intimate moment with the couple. Being right up close. I wanted the kiss to take the attention so I had it centered in the frame.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I normally focus using the liveview function of my camera and in this particular case, I moved the focus box over their eyes. Since the kiss was being obstructed by the blowing hair, the eyes were the easiest and safest to focus on.
Focus Mode
Live View Single Shot
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
eyes
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/1250 @ f/2,5 ISO100 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 session was in the beginning of July in Iceland when the daylight is very long. We planned to shoot in the evening to increase our chances of having softer and prettier light to work with. Even though we didn’t manage to shoot at the actual sunset time, we had a lot of clouds which softened the light and also made the image feel a bit moodier. The sun was still out behind the clouds which meant we had plenty of light to work with. It’s my favourite light :)
Light Type
Natural Light
Weather
Cloudy
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
I edited this with my own personal preset. My goal was to create a soft warm “film” type of feeling to the image so adjusted the white balance and exposure settings to get the overall tones I was after. I didn’t need to do anything fancy with the healing, cloning or local adjustments. It was a very straightforward edit.
Editing Software
Preset Used
custom preset
Challenges
The biggest challenge I had was dealing with the freezing cold wind.
Solutions
I had to be fast with taking photos so my couple didn’t freeze and get too uncomfortable.
Location
Location Name
lake Kleifarvatn
Location aDDRESS
Kleifarvatn lake
Loation Type
Lake
Country
Iceland
Sometimes it is worth waiting a little bit to take the perfect photo at the perfect moment. I noticed that photographers often use the 10shots/sec option, and me too. But we also need to learn to be patient.
