Lovers
Apr, 2020Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This aerial shot was taken as part of a series of pictures that went with an interview of a renowned landscape designer / gardener from Buenos Aires, carried out for a local monthly magazine in 2016. It was quite a challenge because due to the time circumstances I only had 5 minutes to set up my equipment and do the shot. The shooting location was one of those Home & Deco houses where everything is always flawless, on the shores of a green lagoon.Time
Well, it was one of those afternoon when I was chilling at home doing other things and the phone suddenly rang: it was a colleague friend of mine who was desperately asking me if I could go and take an aerial picture of the scene with models they were setting up. He needed me to be in the place to shoot in about an hour to be able to use the last moments of light. The fact was that as the location wasn't so close to me, I wouldn't have enough time to charge my drone batteries before being there (because for their longest useful life it is recommended to always have them discharged and charge them before flying). Although I had only one of them hardly charged, I felt myself confident to solve the shot in few minutes, so I didn't hesitate to accept the job, because a picture like this would represent a challenge for me in aesthetic and artistic matters. When I arrived, by when the sun was already down but the light was good enough to reflect the sky on the water, they told me "Joaco, we need a zenith picture". I would have to act effectively because I barely had a single battery with 40% charge. I quickly raised the drone, and in an instant I leveled the parameters, gave some indications to the models, framed and gave my best shot.Lighting
As I said, maybe one of the things that make this picture interesting despite the romantic story that tells and its aesthetic with some unusual objects as a boat full of roses, is the sky reflected on the lagoon. The fact of working in zenith mode with no direct light of the sun over the water that could overexpose the shot with hard reflections, it gave me, in this case, the chance of doing a good and quick balance of the exposure by the short time I had. If the picture is well balanced, then the post-processing will be easier.Equipment
This pic was shot with a DJI Phantom 3 4K with a FOV 94° 20 mm (35 mm format equivalent) f/2.8 lens.Inspiration
The plot that the client gave me in this case was inspirational itself. When you have a scene like this, created by a designer, I think that the work of the photographer at this point is to get the art of the image with the purpose of telling a story.Editing
I always do post-processing of my pictures. I consider that all parts of the process are important, since the shooting to the digital treatment with the RAW files. A good photographer must have several skills, from knowing how to frame the shot, how to set up a good balance at shadows and curves, and technical settings of the camera, to give the last touch at the editing by doing color correction, and correcting details that "make prettier what it is already beautiful". Personally, I love working with sharpness, shadows, contrasts, gradients and warm vibrant colors in my pics, and this shot wasn't the exception: you can see the saturation and tones of the green lagoon and the perfect contrast that makes with the red flowers.In my camera bag
I have varied equipment. As a travel photographer, I always try to cover all the focal range, from wide to telephoto, to be able to work at any distance. I have a Canon 5D Mark III body and I use a Canon 24-70mm 2.8ii for portraits and landscapes and a Canon 70-300mm 4-5.6 for wildlife, to be there when I’m not close enough and get a great shot. Nowadays, having a drone is a plus to have a different point of view, so I control a DJI Mavic Pro for aerial shots. Finally, and to be an all-terrain photographer, I have a GO PRO Hero 7. Up to this point, these are my essencials. But in other hand, I like to experiment with other kind of photography like macro, and I work with architecture too. For the first one, I have a macrotubes that I connect with a Canon 50mm STM 1.8 prime, and for the second one I use a Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 to be more wide.Feedback
What I can tell about this shot in particular is that you always have to be self confident and ready to work under pressure and give the best of you, in spite of the circumstances, and you can get that with lot of practice and being active. Imagine a story and get a pic capable of telling it as it is, and avoid shooting this kind of scenes with hard light as midday. Take your time to tune the shot in post-processing to get the result you want. But my advice as photographer in general, for any situation, is to be always curious and never stop exploring and discovering ways or technics to open your knowledge. Photography is an infinite world and is full of edges. Just discover the one you like most and specialize as much as you can in it.
