Into The Sun

[MichaelSewell]

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I do enjoy working at Eaves Hall, whether it's photographing their food, their rooms, or as in this case, a wedding. The venue allows a vast array of opportunities for the creative photographer.

The above image was late afternoon, during the bridal portrait session. We had glorious skies with interesting clouds, and I really wasn't going to let that kind of opportunity pass me by.

The first thing I needed to do, was carefully coach Andy with regards to the pose. After the first attempt, he was able to see how it looked on the back of the camera, and was then able to adjust his position accordingly.

Now, to the lighting.

Obviously, the sun was going to play a major role, and I wanted to deepen the blue of the sky for maximum effect. Using the E-M1 mkII, I have a maximum sync speed of 1/250th sec, which means I needed to rely on a low ISO of 64 and raise the aperture as high as feasible, which turned out to be f16.

A side effect of using a small aperture such as f16 is the fact you get a nice sunburst.

I placed an Elinchrom ELB400 frame left at a height of around six feet, and firing through an 18cm reflector at an output of 5.0.

Frame right, I placed another ELB400 at a height of six feet, and again firing through an 18cm reflector. This time, as it was further away from our couple, the output was set to 6.0 (full).

To my immediate right, I had a third ELB400 at a height of five feet, firing through an 80x80cm folding softbox at an output of 5.0.

Olympus E-M1 mkII 1/250th sec ISO64 12-40mm f16

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This is the obligatory behind the scenes image.

 

[steveadams]

Looks great and the sun flare works real nice with the photo.

 

[Underwater]

Love these posts- the only time I shoot with any kind of a flash (so far) is underwater, but your work has definitely given me a lot to think about.

 

[Clint]

Oh no! f/16 and all that diffraction!!! LOL

Very nice!

 

[MichaelSewell]

Oh no! f/16 and all that diffraction!!! LOL

Very nice!

Exactly

 

[Plumballs]

Hi Michael,
Great photo.
You must of angled them all carefully to stop the extra shadows appearing all over the grass, or is that just helped out by the low shooting position?
Phil

 

[MichaelSewell]

Hi Michael,
Great photo.
You must of angled them all carefully to stop the extra shadows appearing all over the grass, or is that just helped out by the low shooting position?
Phil

The low shooting position does help, but it's also mitigated by the sun filling in the shadow behind the couple.
You can see the effects of the multi-shadow in the BTS shot.

 

[dirtdevil]

Why not use a ND filter and shoot at F2.8 for example?

 

[MichaelSewell]

Why not use a ND filter and shoot at F2.8 for example?

Because I wouldn't get the starburst effect of the sun for a start. I also wanted the detail in the background.

 

[Holoholo55]

What a fantastic shot! And, you even got a contrail into it too!

 

[Repp]

Yay, a bts shot! Just a curiosity question, for these kinds is scenes do you generally prefer white light or do you sometimes gel? Or is it more of a speed/simplisty issue to deal with all the wedding craziness?

 

[MichaelSewell]

Yay, a bts shot! Just a curiosity question, for these kinds is scenes do you generally prefer white light or do you sometimes gel? Or is it more of a speed/simplisty issue to deal with all the wedding craziness?

Because I tend to do the portrait session between the wedding breakfast and the evening reception, I find I have more time than you may think.
Well, kinda.

Most work isn't gel'd at weddings, although there are a couple of scenarios such as a sunset, where I will gel to make the most of the colours.

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This image is actually incredibly simple in its lighting setup, and a full walk through can be found at The Sunset Portrait

It's surprising what you can get out of just speedlights when needs must, and all that.

 

[Steve Vansak]

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So many “wedding photographers” ignore lighting and shoot natural light only and never distinguish themselves and therefore struggle within the profession. I applaud you for showing off what can be done with off camera lighting. Great shots here!

I used an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra for 8 years until I switched over to the Profoto B1. I’m very pleased that both lighting companies now make dedicated Olympus triggers. I hope that is a trend that continues.