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kgillespie

Samantha

Crop of original Canon 5D MkIV photo

Crop of original Canon 5D MkIV photo
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iPhone

Alexandria, Virginia, US

upload_date

Sep, 2019

Views

945

Likes

+85

Awards

Contest Finalist in Model Moments Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in Flash Masters Photo Contest

Peer Award

+26

Absolute Masterpiece

Superb Composition

Magnificent Capture

All Star

Outstanding Creativity

Top Choice

Genius

Emotions

Impressed

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Behind The Lens

Location

The photo was taken behind the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia during golden hour on a cool November day. It was one of my first photoshoots with my now best friend, Samantha; and one of many awarded photos from that day. Golden hour, November 8th at 4:02PM. It is my favorite time to shoot. We had an aggressive shooting plan, so Samantha and I probably looked very frantic as we jetted from location to location to capture some amazing backlit photos. Thankfully her boyfriend, was able to help and handled the reflector and occasional Profit A10 flash.

Time

Golden hour, November 8th at 4:02PM. It is my favorite time to shoot. We had an aggressive shooting plan, so Samantha and I probably looked very frantic as we jetted from location to location to capture some amazing backlit photos. Thankfully her boyfriend, was able to help and handled the reflector and occasional Profit A10 flash. Sam has very fine and beautiful blond hair, so my goal was to get the setting sun to backlight her hair - as if she had halo, while hopefully throwing plenty of light on her with a simple gold reflector. Since it was fall, and we wanted to have fall leaves in our photos as well. The backlighting turned out better than planned, and we have these amazing photos with such a beautiful color palette: the leaves, her hair, her clothes, ... her skin, all perfectly matched! As if we planned it - LOL.

Lighting

Sam has very fine and beautiful blond hair, so my goal was to get the setting sun to backlight her hair - as if she had halo, while hopefully throwing plenty of light on her with a simple gold reflector. Since it was fall, and we wanted to have fall leaves in our photos as well. The backlighting turned out better than planned, and we have these amazing photos with such a beautiful color palette: the leaves, her hair, her clothes, ... her skin, all perfectly matched! As if we planned it - LOL.

Equipment

We shot with my, then exactly one year, old Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, using one of my favorite lenses, the Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, at 1/160sec, f/2.8 and ISO100. I believe we only used a gold reflector was used to light her. (PS my all time favorite lens is the Canon EF85mm f/1.2L II USM, though I wished it was also IS - image stabilization.) Fall! It was my late wife's, and still is Samantha's, favorite season. We wanted to capture some beautiful photo for the season, in and around my neighborhood of Old Town Alexandria, which was founded in 1749. Old Town is very picturesque and the many photos Sam and I captured, along the tree one cobble stoned roads, some in front of 300 year of homes, are now cherished memories of our first days working together.

Inspiration

Fall! It was my late wife's, and still is Samantha's, favorite season. We wanted to capture some beautiful photo for the season, in and around my neighborhood of Old Town Alexandria, which was founded in 1749. Old Town is very picturesque and the many photos Sam and I captured, along the tree one cobble stoned roads, some in front of 300 year of homes, are now cherished memories of our first days working together.

Editing

This photo, as with the others of that day, have little to no post-processing, besides perhaps an edit her or there to Samatha's near flawless skin. Plus, at the time, and even now I try not to edit, and if I do edit a photo, I want its o look like it has not been edited ... and that takes a lot of work. So, we're back to most all my photos have little to no editing. I'm a photographer before I'm an editor ... (honestly, I really don't like editing, at all.)

In my camera bag

I have just returned from an amazing and long photoshoot in Barcelona, Spain, so this is what is still in my camera bag: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, Canon EF85mm f/1.2L II USM, and the Canon EF24-105 f/4L IS II USM. Additionally a DJI OSMO Pocket, a GoPro Hero 11, a DJI Magic 2 Pro drone, the ProFoto A10, and lots of lots of batteries, cables, a few filters, and a mini iPhone tripod for behind the scenes movies ... some Beats Flex earphones, and normally my MacBook Pro laptop (but I'm typing with it now)

Feedback

I don't see many photographers shooting into the sun, especially at sunset and/or golden hour. Honestly, for me it is my favorite time of day and type of photo. (I'll even arrange studio lights in a near similar manner.) So, my recommendation is: Try It! The unintended flares, halos, highlighted silhouettes of your subjects, and general scattering of light never seems to disappoint.

See more amazing photos, follow kgillespie

kgillespie

kgillespie

Samantha

Crop of original Canon 5D MkIV photo

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow kgillespie

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