Carpe diem
Lovely couple captured with the brenizer method
Lovely couple captured with the brenizer method
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Feb, 2014Views
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Lucky 3 Award
Peer Award
Superb Composition
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Behind The Lens
Location
This picture was taken at Pizzey Park on the Gold Coast, one of the favourite place of many photographers I believe! it was from this beautiful couple's engagement session, Denyka and Ryan, who had fun as well just watching me lying down very low to make a great image of their special time.Time
In order to get the best natural light and also a colorful sunset for a nice background we decided to go to the park toward the end of the day. It was a Sunday, in February 2014. I like to plan in advance the type of images I take in a session and although you can get great results sometimes from unplanned moments this picture was one that was very much prepared in my mind. Denyka and Ryan knew exactly what beautiful effect I wanted to create because I told them about that new method I've just learned and I was so excited about!Lighting
This place is so beautiful that all you can see is the light making its way between the trees. So it was not difficult to find a very nice spot with a warm light waiting to put my couple in the focus of the image i was going to create. The only small problem was because it was getting late and the sun was pretty low the light was moving now faster in the wood. Because the sunlight was on the front left hand side of the couple my preference was to separate their dark hair from the dark trees with a speedlite that I placed behind them fitted with a light CTO filter and a flash trigger. I only activated it for a few pics that was making the final one.Equipment
I like to use mostly my Canon 7D for this type of pictures but on that day I used my Canon 5DIII with my Canon lens 70-200mm F2.8L II set at 120mm f2.8. A flash Canon 580EXII was used with a CTO filter and a Yongnuo 622 flash trigger to separate my subjects from the background. Because I was lying down on my belly I could not use my manfrotto tripod which does not go that low so it was a bit daring to take this type of picture by hand only.Inspiration
I just can't stop reading about photography and great names in the photography industry, this is my favourite past time :) Not long before this photoshoot I read about wedding photographer Ryan Brenizer who developed a method to get incredible depth of field and big size images that normally only medium format cameras can produce. He has so much expertise and created so many fantastic images that people gave this method his name. I had to give it a try. By taking several pictures this method increases the sensor size of the camera and by using a fast lens wide open you can create an amazing bokeh effect.Editing
I generally use only Lightroom 5 to process my raw images. The rare time I use photoshop is when I want to do composite with special HDR background ( another thing I am learning from Joel Grimes's work ) or to put Bum to Baby pics together for maternity time-lapse canvas. For this image I took about 60 pictures all in full manual mode then I processed only the white balance to make sure it was the same everywhere and I exported them from lightroom into a specific folder so that I could stitch them all together in another program to get the final image that I processed again with Lightroom 5 ( best for stitching are CS3, Hugin or autopano and you can find some free stitching programs on internet )In my camera bag
A bag is not enough for me, I am unfortunately addicted to buying photography equipment, lol. If I go for a portrait, a fashion or fitness photoshoot then it is the bag with the Canon 5DIII, with the lenses canon 70-200mm L f2.8, canon 24-105mm L f4, canon 50 f1.4 and sigma 85mm f1.4. I will use only one or two lenses ( mostly prime 85mm f1.4 for portrait ) but I like to have more lenses with me just in case. I also have another smaller bag with 4 speedlights and flash triggers. In case of special events like wedding or party I would have a bigger bag on wheels with light stands and a few light modifiers in it. Otherwise I also love to use my 7D for faster or closer actions but nowadays it is mostly used as a backup. If I go for landscape my favourite lens at the moment is a old Canon 20-35mm L f2.8 and the sigma 8-16mm on the 7D.Feedback
I would say plan in advance what you would like to do, go and find the special place you feel attracted for the specific type of pictures you want to do. Observe the light and its effect on the surroundings ( I went a week before to the place I made that picture and observe the light until there was no sun anymore taking some shots with my mobile phone to review again ) and practice until you feel confident with your results. I am learning everyday and I want to be better everyday because good is ok but good is not enough for me, I want a wow factor with my pictures and I know I still have a lot to learn to get there. Best way to learn the Brenizer method is to simply visit Ryan Brenizer's website as he is the specialist of this method! I need to mention you can achieve this type of images with cheap lens like Canon 50mm f1.8, no need for expensive ones as long as you know how to use it. Personally I like to use any lens around 100mm and close to f2.8 but I had fantastic results also using the 50mm f1.4 set at f2. Wishing you great fun with your camera, all the best, Bertrand Schmitt, Gold Coast, Australia.
