"An Evening Kissed By The Sun"

"An Evening Kissed By The Sun"
©David A. Ziser

I captured this image at Saturday's wedding. This was the first time I photographed in this location, Lake Lindsay, in Hamilton, Ohio.  I see now why the bride and groom selected this fabulous location.  One of Carla's priorities was that I do my best to capture a great sunset for the both of them on their wedding day. With a little luck and Mother Nature’s help, the sun cooperated completely!

Not only did we have a perfect sunset but, we also had beautiful cloud structure in the sky that really added to the very dramatic feel of this image. The secret to creating an image like this is to be sure that you have the exposure of the sunset perfectly exposed. The best way to do this is with the camera in manual mode. That way I can adjust the shutter speed to give me the exact sky density I want for my photograph.

DAZNOTE: The “live view” feature of the new DSLR cameras also give you decent visual feedback for your best exposure to create that perfect sunset for your clients. Don't overlook using it when setting up for a beautiful sunset composition.

I was using my brand-new Canon 600 TX – RT speedlights for this photograph. In the heat of the shoot I was challenged to get the backlighting exactly the way I wanted. With the speedlights in ETTL mode I wasn't quite getting the bright backlight that I prefer. Quickly switching the speedlights to manual mode gave me the full blast of light I wanted for this particular image.

We got a great set of images for Carla and Harry and I can’t wait for them to see the rest of the images!

Camera specs:  Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Sigma 12–24mm wide-angle lens at 12mm, F7.1 @1/400th second (HSFS), ISO 800.  Enjoy! – David