Best of 2010 Behind the Scenes: Row Boat Engagement Part 1/2
This was one of my favorite engagement shoots of the year.
Adrienne and Mark met at Berkeley while in graduate school. When they came out to Washington for the Summer, we set up an engagement shoot at one of my favorite places, the Washington Park Arboretum.
We rented an aluminum rowboat and rowed across lake Washington into the arboretum at the golden hour. I think it was about 2 hours from sunset.
My idea for this shoot was to capture the magic of a warm summer day, with the classic romanticism associated with riverboats, rowboats, and old French movies. Climbing to the very end of the bow, I was far enough away to create environmental portraits of Adrienne and Mark, while not being so far away that the portrait would lack intimacy (like standing on the river bank and shooting with a long lens.)
As we maneuvered the boat to a specific area of the arboretum, I made sure to keep the setting sun behind Adrienne and Mark allowing for a golden rim-light. I exposed for the shadows and the result was exactly what I was hoping for: Beautiful skin tones, great rim-light, gorgeous background colors, and most importantly a directed but natural moment of real romance.
For the pixel peepers out there:
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, shot at f2
No flash or reflectors. I prefer natural light.
In the next part I will show a different photo from the engagement shot on medium format film with my Contax 645. It has a completely different feel.
To see the rest of the photos from this set click here.
January 10, 2011 2:18 am
Comment :
This picture works very well. I bet they must be very happy with it!
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January 13, 2011 4:13 pm
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[...] the second part of Behind the Scenes: Row Boat Engagement, I want to talk about the power of shooting with film. And [...]
March 31, 2012 6:28 pm
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