View more natural light portraits at matthewsaville.com…
Today had more than its fair share of embarrassing moments, that’s for sure. You know, one of those days where you wish you could just take a mulligan and do the whole thing over, or better yet, just hit the “skip” button and get tomorrow started already. Fortunately though, it wrapped up beautifully and I’m glad I made it through the day.
I just love those last 15 minutes before the sun goes down, when it actually makes a good direct light source. Those who have shot portraits with me in the past will know, I live for harsh light. I don’t bat an eye when a bride and groom need to take their portraits at noon. With the right methodology, harsh light equals dramatic light. But deep down I do have a soft spot for, well, soft light. Those last 15 minutes of sunlight are awesome because you can actually use the sun as your main light source, shining directly at your subjects. When most people think “sunset”, they point their camera in the direction of the sun. While I love a silhouette (or massive amounts of flash) just as much as the next guy, I find that my favorite shots almost always happen when pointing my camera in the opposite direction. The sun casts a beautiful warm glow on subjects, while the background is a deeper, cooler hue. Lock down your white balance in the near vicinity of “sunny”, (this shot was taken at 5000K) …and you’re GOLDEN! Literally.
Normally, I’m a quiet kind of guy who really appreciates the secluded, subtle beauty of nature. But at moments like this I just wish there was a PA system blasting U2’s “Beautiful Day” to the whole world…
This image is SOOC by the way, no editing other than in-camera contrast and saturation. The original capture was RAW of course, ‘cause I don’t mess around when light, setting and subjects come together in such an epic way… The JPG was picked and outputted quickly via Nikon’s View NX, which is like Photomechanic for Nikon users. :-)
Take care,
=Matt=
by Matthew Saville
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