Today we go behind the scenes to take a look at how we captured this image at Nicole and Heath's Jamieson wedding.
Photography is all about choice and compromise. In this particular image I wanted to exposure for the background and the couple. With the sun behind the couple if I expose for the background the couple would be in shadow. To ensure both the background and couple are exposed correctly we introduced an artificial light source.
On most occasions a flash would suffice however in order to overpower the sun a much stronger light source was required.
We used the Quadra Ranger (a portable battery powered light) with a single head at almost full power.
You can see from the position of my assistant, Lauren, I have her up to her waist in reeds at the side of the jetty so that the light was angled in towards the couple.
The camera settings were as follows:
Canon 5DMIII
Canon 16-35mm f4
ISO - 200
f-stop - f18
shutter speed - 1/160th
focal length 16mm
Shooting a f18 allows you to achieve a 'sun burst' which adds to the drama of the image with the wide angle lens bringing more of the environment into the image.