My Creative Process - Foreground Bokeh
>> Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A frame that I took last week at Tanya and Ryan's wedding has had a more than a few photographers ask how I did it. Most of the photographers probably know my general dislike of all things Photoshop when it comes to effects in my images too, ruling that out. The truth is, an image like this is easier to shoot than you'd think; although I found a way to make it complicated. For the record, had I know this post was coming, I would have taken a setup shot--something for me to think about in the future.
For reference, here the image in question:
When I came to this location, I knew this is the shot that I wanted to get because I had taken a very similiar shot just a few months prior in the exact same location. The only difference this time was that it was near dusk; months earlier when I tried it was around 1pm. That was the wrench in my plans that complicated things. Now let's go for a walk in a few past images to see how I got here.
I've taken lots of images like the one above, we all have. While the bride and groom share a romantic kiss, the sun is backlighting them through the trees and a shallow depth of field brings the viewers eyes right to the couple. For todays discussion, the important thing is whats going on in the background, and more to the point the trees. Because I have thrown the background out of focus, the specular highlights have taken on the shape of the lens. This is commonly referred to as bokeh, that dreamy blur that wedding photographers love so much.
The image above shows another step in my creative mind. Sure its just another reception photo of a toast, nothing special going on here - but look at the lights. In this frame, the maid of honor is standing in front of a glass window. Just outside of that window are strings of white christmas lights decorating trees. Notice again how the specular highlights are rendered when out of focus on a wide open lens? This is very close to what I did in the photo in question.
Hopefully by now you're starting to see the only missing piece to this puzzle. So far we've seen what happens to out of focus highlights in the background of the image. What I really wanted to do was put those specular highlights between my camera and the subject. Enter model shoot.
A few months back I created the image above while on a model shoot (coincidently with the same photographer who was the bride in the first image). For this image, we worked with a fountain that was backlit by the sun. There was also a slight breeze this day that helped spread the spray from the fountain a bit. I had Rose our model stand on one side of the fountain while I was on the opposite side shooting through the spray. The sun was fairly high in the sky (it's lighting up the models hair) and backlighting everything. Suddenly the water drops sucked up the sun light and became out of focus specular highlights, but now they are in the foreground. In order to complete the image, I added a bit of light from camera left only on the model to make her pop.
So fast forward to last weekend, in the exact same location, only the time was different. This time, instead of having backlit sun, I worked in even shade during dusk. I put the couple in the same place I had previously put the model and expected the same results. They stood on one side of the fountain while I stood on the opposite side shooting right through the water spray. What I got was blah - a photo of a beautiful couple obscured by a gray sheet of water. The magic was gone. The light was gone. I ran to my bag, grabbed some light and went to work.
Going from my previous experience, I knew I needed to backlight the water. I put one flash on the ground (camera right) aimed right at the water spray of the fountain, but made sure it would not be aimed at my lens. I snapped a frame and suddenly I had the water looking great, but I couldn't see the couple. I quickly setup a flagged softbox camera left to light the couple. As a side note, I generally use some variant of a CTO gel on people to add a little warmth into their lives and here it works perfectly. I used a full CTO gel in the softbox.
In this frame it's a bit easier to tell that I am working with a fountain because the spray is uneven on its side. All of the elements that I wanted are there; the couple is lit with soft light, the water drops are lit and out of focus. When using the CTO gel, I white balance my camera for tungsten to make the water droplets go blue. One other major difference between this attempt and my model shoot version is the lack of ambient light. In this version, I created all of the light in the frame, in the models shoot version I used the ambient. This version is dark, and dare I say romantic. If you try this on your own, I encourage you to snap plenty of frames as the water movement is a bit unpredictable. I love it.
So as you can see, I am always looking for new ways to grow and learn from my photography. Experiment and try new things and develop your own style. For me, this shot is really the result of asking "What if I did...?" I promise as I move forward to take setup shots of photos like this to help everyone out.
As a side note, I was recently contact by a photographer who was sent hate mail because of his use of model shoots. He posted his results from a recent model shoot on his blog (which was already filled with outstanding work) and made it very clear that it was in fact a model. The hater complained that anyone can do anything on a model shoot and that it doesn't apply to real world weddings because there is no stress. As you can see, I completely disagree. Model shoots are a place for us photographers to work out new idea and try new things - to build and grow. Besides, one of my most stressful shoots ever was when I hired a model out of my pocket at the cost of a few hundred dollars for the hour, not really knowing if any of my ideas would work out.
Was this helpful for you? Did this answer any questions, or just create new ones? Should I continue to write up details into my shoots? Leave me a comment!
In the end, the shoot was far more difficult that I imagined but incredibly rewarding. Being able to work in such a beautiful and unique location with such a cultural significance was amazing. At one point I almost felt like turing the camera off and simply staring into the cave in awestruck stupor. If you ever find yourself in the Yuactan, you really owe it to yourself to check out a cenote such as Chaaktun. I love my job.
Thanks again to everyone involved for your hard work!
