Making of photoshoot:
This photoshoot actually ended up being taken after photoshoot 2 because of weather conditions. It was a bit risky to wait longer, not even being sure if the weather would be suitable the weekend I took them in. However, in the end it was worth the wait. The weather was on my side and the sun shined the entirety of the day. I had time to go take photos in the park at around 5pm, and also photos at the hill top later, at around 7pm and until the golden hour finished.
After my 2nd photoshoot though, I had my camera with me, and Ale and I did a few trials for this photoshoot. This was planned as I was also dressed up in the red dress I was going to wear. We took some photos in trees, in front of trees, and from low-angles. With pink, white, and yellow-flowered trees in the background, separately. I did not like any of them. The background was too crowded, there were too many branches that just made the dress get lost and not be the main focus. After many trials and errors, I finally decided that the idea had to be changed. Looking over more pinterest boards, I saw another thing that caught my eye. Low angle photos with only the sky visible. This was perfect as for this there is a small hill next to my house on which I can go take photos from at golden hour. Unfortunately we couldn’t try it out and see if these would turn out good cause there were too many trees to get a photo of just the models and the clear sky.
process of getting in the tree:
trials:
I liked the white trees, but when taking the pictures, so that the buildings behind wouldn’t appear in the photo, I had to stand on the back of a bench, which wasn’t very stable. In addition to this, it looked more like a winter cover than a spring one, or at least in my perspective. For the other trees the flowers were very high and I couldn’t climb until there, so there were rather branches in the photos.
Photoshoot day:
Saturday morning, I made sure to charge my camera so I would have enough battery to shoot. I also charged my phone in case I wanted to take photos with it as well (or just for behind the scenes), it has a good camera. Later that day I went out with the girls, and on the way back I stopped to buy a bouquet of red flower’s bouquet and then by Jon’s house, from which we went to my house, near where we would be taking the pictures. At 5pm we were at the park, and began taking photos on the grass, from a high-angle, like some of the inspo pics I’ve chosen.
Then at 7pm I was about to do something entirely different than I’d planned (except for the outfit). We walked up to the spot, which was full of dried plants, so those were something to avoid having in the background. I had certain poses in mind, like back half-turned, or from waist up, and squatting low looking into the distance. I really enjoyed guiding Jon on how to use the camera, where to take the photos from, and making him stay in all kinds of weird positions to get the best angles — like a true photographer. At first he would catch houses and electrical wires in the background, but then he began understanding exactly what I wanted. (I owe him lots of thanks cause he got bitten by insects while taking the shots). Naturally, I selected the ISO, shutter speed and aperture of my camera, and decided to take the photos using a flash as they looked brighter. The sun’s natural light was beautiful alone so that was a huge advantage.
No flash
vs
Flash
Favourites:
We also decided on taking some photos with the phone, so here are the results of those:
I found it very interesting how completely different the shades of the sky can be even though the photos were taken minutes apart. The first three are using my phone and last two are with his phone.
Behind the scenes:
I felt great after this photoshoot, at first worries took over of “what if it doesn’t turn out good?” “what if I won’t have a cover photo?”. The initial plan not working out was not part of the risk assessment. But, in the end, the photos actually turned out much better than I had imagined. They just need editing.
If I were to do this again, I would have a trial of the initial idea, just to see whether I’m happy or not with the results. Another thing would be doing the photoshoot earlier, that way any changes would be made easier, however I depended on the sun a whole lot, and the weather isn’t something controllable.