How we go the shot - behind the scenes wedding photography

Today we go behind the scenes to take a look at how we captured this image at Nicole and Heath's Jamieson wedding.

Photography is all about choice and compromise.  In this particular image I wanted to exposure for the background and the couple.  With the sun behind the couple if I expose for the background the couple would be in shadow.  To ensure both the background and couple are exposed correctly we introduced an artificial light source.

On most occasions a flash would suffice however in order to overpower the sun a much stronger light source was required.

We used the Quadra Ranger (a portable battery powered light) with a single head at almost full power.

You can see from the position of my assistant, Lauren, I have her up to her waist in reeds at the side of the jetty so that the light was angled in towards the couple.

The camera settings were as follows:

Canon 5DMIII

Canon 16-35mm f4

ISO - 200

f-stop - f18

shutter speed - 1/160th

focal length 16mm

Shooting a f18 allows you to achieve a 'sun burst' which adds to the drama of the image with the wide angle lens bringing more of the environment into the image.