This is just one of several great shots I got in doing an engagement shoot with a couple friends. We were at Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, which might just be the single biggest wedding-and-portrait-photographer-magnet in all of the Twin Cities. Unfortunately, the only time we were able to meet was late morning, and the sun was shining full force. We did a few basic shots in the open shade and then venture atop the bridge and I struggled with mitigating all the harsh shadows that go with midday sun.

For this shot, I zoomed a single SB-900 in tight on Molly and Sam’s faces, turned it up to full power, dropped my ISO as low as it would go and stopped down my 14-24 all the way to f/22. I got what I was after: a darkened scene with Molly and Sam lit brightly by my flash. (In retrospect I wouldn’t have zoomed the flash quite as tightly, which would have lost me some brightness but gotten me a bit more density in their bodies and legs.) I don’t really recommend trying this with Speedlights if you have studio lights handy; the SB-900 overheated after not all that many shots at full power, but luckily I got what I wanted within the first few frames.

Another thing I don’t recommend: shooting at f/22 without doing a thorough sensor cleaning beforehand. Gross.

Tags: Stone Arch Bridge

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 at 1:27 am and is filed under Lighting & Studio, Wedding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.