- afternoon
- Mid range
- sunflare
- Sun flare
- sun
- Soft Light
- Rim Light
- relaxed pose
- Relaxed
- Quiet
- Natural Light
- Mountain Top
- models
- intimate
- almost kiss
- Interracial
- heads together
- gentle
- Evening
- clear sky
- chilled pose
- Center Framed
- calm
- broken rules
- ball of fire
- Backlit
- Back lit
- Sunset
The story behind the image
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I asked the couple to fully enjoy the moment for themself, feel the warm sun on their body and be close to each other. I asked Madga and Brendon to put their foreheads together and keep their eyes closed.
What did you say?
Take a breath, close your eyes, enjoy the moment, lean your heads together, and hold eachother with your arms. And feel your partner.
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
I shot this picture with my 50mm f1.4 Sigma Art lense, to have a closer but not too close framing of the couple. I made sure that the heads are placed in the upper 1/3 of the picture, to create it along with the common rules of composition.
My main goal was to keep the couple centered in the picture, this creates a cozy and intimate moment in the photo. I also kept moving around the couple to take a few shots from different angles and found a spot where we had the sun shining just behind the groom as I wanted the sun to form an element in the image.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I focused through live view – to get a “real-time” picture of how the sun flare would look like in the image. I chose to work with a single focus point which I moved over the bride’s face.
Focus Mode
Live View Single Shot
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
Brides face
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/500 @ f/1.8 ISO125 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
We had a perfect and warm sunset where the sun was shining directly behind the couple. the challenge here is to shoot the faces not so dark, so you can lighten them up later in Lightroom. And as well to not over-expose the sun, so you don’t risk any white spots in the picture. With the light coming from behind the couple, it also became an element in the overall image. Secondly, it added a nice little rim light which helped to separate the couple from the background.
Light Type
Natural Light
Time of day
Sunset
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
When I start editing I always use my NeonWeddings Preset to reduce colors and make the picture flatter. Afterward, I start shifting the contrasts up and also the white balance to warm the overall image. Working with a radial filter on the faces to light them up. then adding another radial filter again on the faces but invert it, so I can make the atmosphere warmer. Afterward, I made some small color corrections with the HSL Sliders to make the skins more natural and the sun warmer.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
NeonWeddings
Challenges
The biggest challenge was to find the perfect position to place the couple, to have a photo without any people in the background. The second challenge was to position the sun flair nicely behind Brendon, and not to overexpose him.
Solutions
To solve the first one its always good to have a bridal couple with you :D people are always more open to moving or cooperative when they see a beautiful bride. So I could convince a group of people to leave their spot, so we can shoot there.
The second challenge is a little bit of try and error, what I mostly do, is shooting in live view to directly see what happens with the flair. And move a lot around the couple to find the perfect position.
Location
Location Name
Burgruine Wolfstein
Location aDDRESS
Burgruine Wolfstein
Loation Type
Cliffs
Country
Germany
Always bring in a “catchy” element like a sun flair, to make the picture more dramatic.
