HOW i SHOT THiS

  • Artificial Light
  • Dark
  • Directional Light
  • Energetic
  • Harsh Light
  • holding each other
  • intimate
  • Mid range
  • Minimalistic
  • Moody
  • negative space
  • night
  • off center
  • smoke

The story behind the image

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This was a moment that happened on the way to the ceremony where we crossed a pole with a light and I had this flash of inspiration. I wanted to create a minimal, intimate shot and so I scouted the location under the light. After looking at the spot, we decided to be brave and try it out. If I had to change something the next time, I’d have positioned them a bit more centrally.

We also had an Atmosphere spray with us and we decided to bring it out and play with it. Using it in the spot light made things look really great and mysterious.
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Directions

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

We asked them to position themselves next to the light of the pole and hug each other. But before that, we had the groom actually move in towards her so we can capture a more natural-looking hug. Not one that was feeling staged. The rest was totally up to them – she turned her face to him and he pressed his against hers.

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What did you say?

Let’s have you guys go in for a beautiful hug together – and really get into the moment. I want to see goosebumps. Go with the flow and just enjoy this beautiful moment.

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Composition

As we had only one light source in this image that created a spot of interest in the frame, we framed the couple with enough negative space around them to give the feeling that they were completely alone. This helped with the smoke too as it didn’t overwhelm the frame. We do think we could have framed them more centrally but we only realized this afterward. We still love the image though which is important.

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Focusing

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

Focusing in this image was pretty easy. I used autofocus and moved the focus point over their faces. The smoke did make it a little tricky to actually lock on with the focus but fortunately we were not rushed; we just kept trying to find the focus and eventually it locked.

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Focus Mode

Single Shot Autofocus

Focus POints

Single Point

Focused on

their face

Equipment &
Exif

Camera
Sony a7iii
Lens
Samyang 50mm f/1.4
Flash
None
Filter
None
1/250 @ f/1.4 ISO400 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

The only light source we had was from a pole on the way to the ceremony. It was just above our couple and the light was coming down in a small, little spot. This creates a perfect opportunity to have our couple stand in the light, be exposed for, and be isolated from the background. We did try different angles and experimented with the positioning of ourselves in relation to the light but ultimately chose this one as our favorite.

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Light Type

Artificial Light

Time of day

Night

Weather

Indoor

Editing Workflow

How did you edit this image?

We used the Dirtyboots Presets and adjusted the white balance and colors to make the skin a bit warmer without oversaturating. We kept the overall tones of the image to be darker, moodier and with a little bit of edge to bring out the smoke. We used quite a lot of adjustment brushes and gradients to really isolate the couple.

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Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Dirty boots 5

Challenges

The main challenge we had was focusing with the smoke from the atmosphere spray. It wasn’t the most difficult thing we’ve ever had to overcome but this image mostly was quite simple.

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Solutions

We just kept our cool, stayed patient and kept trying to find focus. It also helped that the couple was not in a very active, moving moment which allowed us this time to find the focus.

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Location

Location Name

Haras do morro

Location aDDRESS

Brasília - Haras do Morro

Loation Type

Garden / Field

Country

Brazil

Don’t be afraid to test and create what comes to your mind at that moment.

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