It's been awhile since my last installment of a Behind the Image post. So photographers, here you go! All the info you could possibly want about one single image is coming your way.
I love this image. It has so many fun components that make it unique and one of a kind. It was shot at Seth & Bethy's wedding in Phoenix in September of this year. Near the end of the reception, Seth surprised Bethy with a 4 foot alligator cake that he had custom made and flown in from Mike's Amazing Cakes in Washington. The alligator was in honor of the Florida Gators - their favorite team - and Seth & Bethy's little dogs Sophie and Ella were included in the masterpiece as well. It was UNBELIEVABLY detailed. And it was quite the feat for Seth to pull off surprising Bethy. This was the moment after she had taken it all in and was thanking him with a kiss. The thing that sends this image over the top for me is Bethy's mom's reaction. She was walking towards the cake at the time in total awe of how amazing it turned out. Priceless.
As you can see, I incorporated my off-camera flash into the composition of the image. I like to do this and do it often at receptions. I love the starburst effect that the bare-bulb flash produces and I feel like it works well with the festive party atmosphere inherent in receptions.
In Camera:
This image was shot in RAW with my Canon 5D Mark II, on manual, with a Canon 24mm 1.4 lens, at f8, 1/100 of a second & ISO 500. I used two Canon 580EX speedlights - one on camera on ETTL for fill and one off camera on the light stand you can see in the background. The off-camera flash was set on manual at 1/128 power. I set it so low because it had to be placed very close to the reception action because of the set-up of the ballroom. For even more information on my off-camera set-up and how I work with flash, check out these handy links:
Off-camera flash
Using shutter speed
Low-light focus trick
Flash Compensation Tutorial
Using my 24mm 1.4, I was very close to the action when I took this shot. I knew what was happening before the cake was brought out so I was very focused on capturing Bethy's reaction. I purposely focused on the cake in the foreground but had a wide enough aperture to get the reaction going on behind it in focus as well. I love how the three subjects - the cake, the couple and Bethy's mom - create a triangle that makes for an interesting composition.
This is the image straight out of the camera:
I love this image. It has so many fun components that make it unique and one of a kind. It was shot at Seth & Bethy's wedding in Phoenix in September of this year. Near the end of the reception, Seth surprised Bethy with a 4 foot alligator cake that he had custom made and flown in from Mike's Amazing Cakes in Washington. The alligator was in honor of the Florida Gators - their favorite team - and Seth & Bethy's little dogs Sophie and Ella were included in the masterpiece as well. It was UNBELIEVABLY detailed. And it was quite the feat for Seth to pull off surprising Bethy. This was the moment after she had taken it all in and was thanking him with a kiss. The thing that sends this image over the top for me is Bethy's mom's reaction. She was walking towards the cake at the time in total awe of how amazing it turned out. Priceless.
As you can see, I incorporated my off-camera flash into the composition of the image. I like to do this and do it often at receptions. I love the starburst effect that the bare-bulb flash produces and I feel like it works well with the festive party atmosphere inherent in receptions.
In Camera:
This image was shot in RAW with my Canon 5D Mark II, on manual, with a Canon 24mm 1.4 lens, at f8, 1/100 of a second & ISO 500. I used two Canon 580EX speedlights - one on camera on ETTL for fill and one off camera on the light stand you can see in the background. The off-camera flash was set on manual at 1/128 power. I set it so low because it had to be placed very close to the reception action because of the set-up of the ballroom. For even more information on my off-camera set-up and how I work with flash, check out these handy links:
Off-camera flash
Using shutter speed
Low-light focus trick
Flash Compensation Tutorial
Using my 24mm 1.4, I was very close to the action when I took this shot. I knew what was happening before the cake was brought out so I was very focused on capturing Bethy's reaction. I purposely focused on the cake in the foreground but had a wide enough aperture to get the reaction going on behind it in focus as well. I love how the three subjects - the cake, the couple and Bethy's mom - create a triangle that makes for an interesting composition.
This is the image straight out of the camera:
Post Production:
All I did in Camera RAW is crop the image slightly, increase the brightness a tad and lower the temperature slightly. Here's the shot right before processing it to a .jpg:
All I did in Camera RAW is crop the image slightly, increase the brightness a tad and lower the temperature slightly. Here's the shot right before processing it to a .jpg:
I batch processed this photo along with the rest of my color corrected RAW images from the wedding into jpgs. When I do this, I always run a Kevin Kubota action -- X-Process Combo -- customized to around 18% on all of my color files. It just adds a little pop:
Once the file was converted to a jpg, I used the clone tool to get rid of the green flare across Bethy's face and arm and WA-LA! This is the final result:
Let me know if you guys have any questions or if there is anything I didn't cover! And if you're interested, you can find out about other resources I offer photographers by clicking here!
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