It’s been a while since I’ve put up a Field Lighting post, and Junction kept me from posting anything too extensive, so I have a little catching up to do. In regards to the last Field Lighting post, nick b pretty much nailed it beyond naming the exact light source behind the model to camera right. Click here for the full explanation and an image of the setup.

If you’ve been around this site enough, you’ll know that I don’t necessarily market myself as a wedding photographer, or a photographer for anything near-related to that industry. There are several well-established image makers in my area that do a superb job of fulfilling that role, such as Kristin Bednarz, Lissa Anglin, Cris Duncan, Brittany Strebeck, and a host of other great shooters, some of which have been through my classes (they all grow up so fast, ha)! However, every now and then, I get a call for a wedding or engagement/couples shoot (I didn’t say I didn’t like it, I just focus mostly elsewhere), and I couldn’t pass up on the most recent opportunity.

One of my good friends called me a few months back talking about some shots he saw of mine in Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, and wanted to know if I wouldn’t mind shooting he and his fiance. Bryan knew I don’t do much of this type of work, but after hearing how and where he proposed, I instantly had a shot in my mind that I wanted to get. So, we booked a date, and it just so happened to be a day that my wife, Amanda, was free to assist (free?), and we booked it three hours to the shoot!

Bryan proposed at a hitching post he built on top of a hill on a ranch near Seymour, Texas, which is justifiably named cowboy country. After a leisurely ride one day with his then girlfriend, Sarah, he proposed to her on top of the hill after they tied up their horses. He described how the setting looked to me, and when we were there, the weather held out over the month between engagement and shoot enough to pretty much replicate what I had in mind: green cacti, small yellow and white flowers, green, Spring grass (pretty much the Garden of Eden environmental circumstances for said country).

Now on to the lighting. By the time we got to the post, the sun was on the horizon, and the light was diffuse enough to delineate some of the contrast on the land, but not so much that it was flat. Tying a horse up at the post, I had Bryan and Sarah stand about 25 feet away, and using a focal length of 47mm, framed the shot up like you see it. What we needed was a little more light to pop the couple off the background. This is a great place to have the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra lights around, and one simple light with the 39″ Rotalux softbox, powered down all the way on the B-channel (the lowest it will go). One little pop, that’s it. Nothing over the top compared to the ambient. No 2-stop difference between artificial and natural light sources (not that I’m opposed to that, just not in this case). Just enough light to make it work. This is exactly what I had in mind for this shot, and the meaning in their faces and their posture could not have been better. Ultimately, the cherry on top of this layered image is Bryan’s hat. The little things make me happy in the image: light, hat, expressions, small flowers…

Again, a quick post, but to be totally honest, when you conceptualize the image beforehand, particularly one that you know you want to get, then it’s not necessarily a drawn out process! Thanks to Bryan and Sarah for a great shoot, and good luck in the future!