While shooting this wedding in Cancun, where there are many hotels that are twenty stories high or more, sunset and golden hour become impossible to take advantage of.
The sea is lit by the setting sun, while the beach, and subsequently the people you are there to photograph, are in the shade of said buildings.
You obviously can overcome this by using a flash to balance the exposure over the sea with the exposure on the beach, adding the "missing" light. While this seems quite simple, sppedlights are not the strongest lights out there and the sun here at the tropics can be overwhelming, even during golden hour.
My solution was to use a single flash and fire it multiple times to light various parts of my image.
This photo was inspired by one I saw on the MagMod community page. It is actually a composite of four photos, done in quick succession.
I tried to stand a still as possible during the four different exposures, the aperture, shutter, ISO or flash power did not vary. My skilled assistant moved the one flash I used (with a MagMod snoot attached to it) from one groomsman, to the groom, to the other groomsman and then the other. It was relatively straightforward combining the four photos in photoshop, as I only really had to superimpose the flash exposed part of my subjects from each of their flash lit photos to the base exposure, where only the fellow on the far right of the frame was lit.
The most difficult part was getting the flash aimed at the proper area in the heat of the moment and getting the four men to stand as still as possible.
Canon 5d Mark III
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art
Canon 600EX-RT
ISO: 200
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/1000
