”Desert Princess”

”Desert Princess”
©David A. Ziser

I thought since we’re talking about coming to Sedona for a workshop I’d re-post and image I did last year in the Valley of Fire.  Hope you enjoy it for a second time.

Here is one of the last shots I captured at  Valley of Fire. It’s a great location for "people photography" with so much variety of locations. By the time I captured this photograph, the sun had dropped below the mountain horizon. That meant it was still kind of bright since a mountain horizon is much higher than a sea level horizon. Even though the sun is blocked by the mountains, it's higher position in the sky means higher ambient light for shooting.

The background was completely shadowed offering a wonderful collection of desert colors. I positioned Elizabeth between the vertical lines of the rocks in the background which framed her nicely. I adjusted the exposure to under expose the ambient just slightly so that she "popped" from the scene. Additional directional lighting was provided from my off camera flash.

The off-camera illumination was supplied by my Quantum T5d-r firing directly at my bride at 1/4 power approximately 10 feet away from my subject. I love the unique location along with the elegant, classic positioning of the bride. This is an image you can sit back and enjoy just on the merits of the lighting and composition. It's a portrait study in the truest sense of the word. I hope you enjoy it too.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 100mm, F6.3 @ 1/30 second, ISO 640. Enjoy! -David