When it comes to creative portraits, sometimes the simplest things can make or break your vision. Likewise, there are times when small details in a scene can give your portraits that little something special.
I recently shared a YouTube video where I showed a big handful of BTS video clips and then the images resulting from the setup. So, for this article, I wanted to break down just one of those setups in greater detail. The image I chose is from a set of couple portraits from a wedding in Northwest Arkansas. The couple had their wedding on the peak of a hill overlooking Beaver Lake. This peak is one of the highest points on the lake, offering amazing panoramic views of the lake and wilderness below.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the day of the wedding had a massive amount of fog roll in. Normally, when it gets foggy in this area, it happens in the morning and then everything burns off by late morning. But on this day, the fog rolled in and stuck around all day and into the night. Because of this, we totally lost our grand views and sweeping panoramas. But what we did get was a little bit of that something special that can make a scene or background a little more intriguing.
For the majority of our time at the venue, we simply had to lean into the weather. As wedding photographers, we don't have the luxury of rescheduling days or even making adjustments to the timing of the day. Things have been planned and set for months—sometimes years. So, for the times of the day when we need to adjust and work with our surroundings (times like the ceremony), we simply need to use what we have available.
But when it comes to the parts of the day where we have a little more control (like portrait time), we can do things like strategically place our subject in order to maximize the scene and lighting we’ve been given.
We also have the ability to do things like add our own lighting through the use of off-camera flash. And this is where the magic in this portrait setup comes to life. One thing I love to do when trying to come up with portrait ideas that involve off-camera flash is to look at my surroundings and remember other times in my life when I had seen something interesting in similar situations. This allows me to use my scene to motivate my light while also being able to pull creative ideas from my surroundings rather than having to memorize a giant list of options. For this setup, we have the scene below.
When it comes to fog, my mind instantly goes to times when I have been driving around at night and can see that ethereal glow from some street lamps mixed with the glow from oncoming cars. With that in mind, I set up a Godox AD200 off-camera flash behind the couple with a Magmod full CTO gel (color temperature orange) behind the couple to sort of mimic that glow from a car's headlights. From here, in order to mimic that glow from some street lamps, I ran a Godox AD600 off into the woods with a CTB gel (color temperature blue). Then I set the exposure of my camera so that the ambient light was underexposed a good amount in order to give me that nighttime feel: ISO 100, f/4.5, and 1/250 second.
At this point, it would be very easy to pack up the bags, head inside, and call it a success. But anytime I go through the time and effort to set up lights, I always look for ways to maximize the setup. In my opinion, if you have already gone through the effort to set up lights—especially multiple lights—you might as well use them in as many different ways as possible. Sometimes what that looks like is simply turning one of the lights off. So, turning off the light that was back in the woods, we can get an image that has a different feeling.
When it comes to the light in the woods, the current position of the camera doesn't allow us to really use that light much since it's not actually contributing any light to the couple. But if we leave the couple where they are, reposition the camera, and then have the couple rotate to match our new camera angle, we can now get an entirely different image and composition with very little effort.
All in all, the three highlight portraits above took just a few minutes to set up and then another few minutes to photograph. And this is important because, for most wedding days, I only have about 15 minutes for couples portraits. While the couple and the wedding party normally enjoy taking photos, they also don't want to spend a ton of time away from the party as well as the rest of their family and friends. So, couples portraits need to be done quickly, and the group photos need to be done fast as well. But even so, you might as well take a few minutes to grab some creative images from the group portraits. Similar to the portraits above—where I might as well grab a few variations of a setup since I went through the time to set them up—setting up a group of people can take even longer sometimes. So, while they are set up, I can grab some variations if I have an idea or a part of the scene I want to incorporate. For the image below, I wanted to incorporate the same fog idea into this group photo of the groomsmen smoking cigars. So, I placed a single AD200 just below the peak of the hill they were standing on, aiming toward the camera.
I also like to look for opportunities during the reception where the couple is taking a break from dancing and heads outside for some after-dark portraits. On this particular day, I had a little projector that I was looking to try out for a portrait, and because the fog was still around (mixed with a bit of rain), I figured this would be a great night to give it a go. So, while the couple was dancing, I got everything set and ready to go for when they were free. For this setup, I have the little pico projector shining a set of random shapes and colors as well as a Godox AD200 with a full CTO gel attached.
Hopefully, you found this breakdown useful and entertaining. Also, if you watched the full BTS video above, I'd love to know if there is another image in that set that you might want a similar breakdown of. And if you are interested in the way I edit, you might also be interested in checking out the 5 Tips You Need To Know To Be an Editing Master.
