Sophia_1254_2
Canon EOS 70D
Aperture f/4.5 ISO 400 Shutter 1/500 Focal Length 70/1 
Ermelo, Mpumalanga, ZA
Apr, 2020Views
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Awards
Spring 21 Award
2020 Choice Award
Peer Award
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
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Impressed
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on a farm about 15km from town. It is an incredible setting with so many different little corners to use as a setting. Ruin of a house that date back to about 1900. Lots of trees with beautiful large fallen trees, stone used for perimeter walls with grass and ploughed fields. And specifically this photo was taken with a prickly pear bush as the backdrop. Really a magic little nature studio.Time
This was about 16:20 on a summer's day. January in the Southern hemisphere. From 16:00 - 18:00 is my favorite time for taking photos. But with a beautiful lady like Sophia in this setting, you make any time work.Lighting
I like to use natural light but 99.99% of the time use fill flash to brighten the eyes and soften harsh shadows - I used fill-in flash with this image.Equipment
This was taken with Canon EOS 70D, Tamron 24-70 F2.8 lens and Canon Speedlight.Inspiration
With Sophia one cannot not be inspired to take a photo, anywhere, anytime. But Sophia, the red dress, dark prickly pear bush backdrop and sun creating beautiful golden sidelight on her hair, this was the moment....Editing
In this image I only darkened the image by about half a stop and added very limited vignetting on the bottom third to keep the focus on Sophia's face.In my camera bag
I always have my EOS 70D & 60D, Tamron 24-70mm F2.8, Canon 70-200mm F2.8, Tamron 10-24mm and Canon Speedlight with a Gary Fong Dome where I go for a shoot.Feedback
Through the year I learned that talking the image a close to perfect as I can for what I want is the best way to go. That way you do not need much post processing, only the add processing to enhance your photo and not to correct it. I always shoot manual - I want to be in control of my settings, to use what I want when needed. My light reading is always more on the bright part of the subject as I most sensors do better with dynamic range in the darker area than bright washed out area. So for portraits a take a spot meter reading on the forehead skin tone and work from there. I found that works for me.
