Sunset in Hawaii. Top secret beach recommended by a local. Perfect skies, waves crashing, magic hour, beautiful couple...and a wedding crasher. It was perfectio...
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Sunset in Hawaii. Top secret beach recommended by a local. Perfect skies, waves crashing, magic hour, beautiful couple...and a wedding crasher. It was perfection.
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Awards
Contender in the Photography Awards
Contest Finalist in Wildlife Wanderlust Photo Contest
Top Shot Award 22
Honorable Mention in Creative Compositions Photo Contest Vol12
Contest Finalist in Beach Vibes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Capture Wedding Moments Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in A Big Thank You Photo Contest
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
Superb Composition
Genius
Virtuoso
Superior Skill
All Star
Top Ranks
Categories
jackiegoodwin
November 20, 2019
Stunning - thank you for entering your lovely photo into my challenge "animals of any kind" - best of luck
JenniferWhitePhotography
January 11, 2020
Hands down, one of the best wedding shots ever! Well done!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This couple and I had agreed to go to "the beach" for a sunset shoot after the wedding, but hadn't really picked which beach. Luckily for us, inside the three ring binder in an AirBNB we had, there were directions to a "secret locals only" beach not too far from downtown Kailua-Kona, HI. Hawaii, much like Mexico, doesn't have private beaches, but access points are sometimes well hidden from visitors. This was one of those cases. We felt so...furtive going down a strange path between condos, and walking up over a seawall, but there it was. The ideal spot - with waves crashing on blackened lava, palm trees, and a small stretch of sand. The beach, according to the binder, regularly has sea turtles hanging out. This was the only guy there that afternoon, catching the last of the rays, and we were SO very lucky he was there!Time
Sunset! Hawaii has amazing sunsets, every day, without question. And being on the west coast of the Big Island meant we had plenty of time to soak up all of magic hour. We were at this beach and on these rocks for about two hours, we stayed until the sun slipped beneath the waves. The afternoon light has a way of lingering there, which makes it a dream for a photo nerd like me.Lighting
I. Got. Lucky. The afternoon light was perfect, the turtle was in plenty of sun so I didn't need any fill to highlight him, and my second favorite thing was that there were clouds in the scene. The clouds really allowed the afternoon colors to help liven things up. I mean, I was in the right place at the right time on purpose, but the warm sunset, the colors in the sky, the colors of their leis, the long blueish shadows - it was just a dream to photograph!Equipment
This was a Nikon D850 and the Sigma 50mm ART lens. I had all Sigma lenses with me for this shoot, but the 50 was the right focal length to allow me to capture the turtle in focus without being too close to him, and to have the couple fully in the shot without them being too close to the turtle, either. As much as he was featured in this photo, he was a living animal, not a prop, and didn't deserve to be pestered - so we had to give him space. No fill or tripod - I was running around the rocks and such as the light changed, so a tripod would have been too fussy. I did use a reflector in many of my shots that afternoon, but not for this image.Inspiration
This couple is stunning and so fun loving - and they're always goofing around and swinging her around and just being photogenic and perfect - I cannot count the times I told her "I want to shoot you someday," and then they got engaged, and I got my chance. We knew the wedding itself would be too hectic to get to the beach, so we made sure to set aside time to make some images on the beach at sunset - because it was a destination wedding in Hawaii and we really wanted some portraits that drove that home. When we found the beach I was already over the moon with the crashing waves and lava rocks, but when we spotted this turtle I knew we need This Photo.Editing
I had to try to even out some highlights and shadows - it was a pretty broad scene with a lot of dynamics to consider. At the time I was shooting, composition and my histogram were of paramount importance - I didn't want to lose detail on either end, but knew I could soften the contrast in post. The goal was to have the right composition, the right pose on the couple as they were twirling, and to let me fix anything else later. SOOC it is a pretty contrasty image, but this is what it was like in person - it was so, so magical.In my camera bag
If I travel somewhere and have to travel light, I have my iPhone, and I am always sure to have at least a D800 with a 50mm 1.4 lens. The Sigma ART series is really fantastic - and a good body and a great lens tend to cover my bases. I always make sure I have spare, charged batteries, and lots of memory. A lens cleaning cloth and a snack of some sort for sure. If I'm going whole-hog, there will also be a Nikon 80-400, a Sigma 24mm ART, an ND filter and a CPL, a tripod, and my underwater housing and spare silicon gel.Feedback
Plan ahead! We got super lucky that there was a sea turtle on the beach, but we had still found a spot to shoot, had a time and lighting window, I had four lenses to pick from, any lighting I could have needed (off camera flash and a reflector), basically I had the tools handy and the right spot and time - the turtle was luck. But you do sometimes make your own luck. You have to be ready for anything! If I had only had a long lens with me I couldn't have been on the sand to include the turtle easily with the couple framed the way I wanted. If I had only had an ultrawide, I would have had to have been closer to the turtle which is a no-no. I came prepared for anything, was there at the right time, and was rewarded by mother nature with a light show AND a wild animal.