Shooting it: Married in Kobe

Another engagement shoot article, this time I will be writing about 2 shots of a night photoshoot I did in Kobe recently! I am shooting in the night, and as a location I decided to choose a spot where it is not that crowded, basically there was nobody else around, and still we had some nice view of Kobe. Since it was a night in November, it was quite chilly outside, so we had to shoot quickly! My main idea here was to get the couple silhouettes on the background of the Kobe symbolic night view! I have 2 different variants one of them is really a silhouette, and the other shot has also a light on the couple as well! 

STROBIST INFO & GEAR:

The lighting is very simple, and to be honest I’m not using any modifiers here, just bare flashes to lit the subjects from the back, in front on one of the shots! First, the complete silhouette shot, as you can see in the description below, I am using a Nikon SB-26 flash set up just behind the couple. The reason I have it there is to have a little bit of separation between them and the background, and the flash being set up there was giving me the rim light I wanted! I’m shooting at wide open aperture F/2 with the 135/2 lens, and I am exposing the picture at 1/40 sec shutter speed (it is hand-held) and ISO-800, which has pretty good quality with the Canon 5DMII.

So as you can see the settings are absolutely the same for both of the photographs, and the only thing I have changed is the front light, which is added to the second shot! I had already finished the silhouette shot at that time, and had the base of the shot, I just needed to figure out where to put the second flash, and what power to use. The second flash I was using is this time the Canon 580EXII, and as I mentioned I am using it without any modifier. I decided to set it on the right side, and the simple reason to do that is because I wanted to have the bride lit, and I didn’t mind having the groom a bit hard lit, and in a shadow! Well, and I can say that when I’m shooting weddings, one of the main principles I have is to “make the bride happy” lol Here is the lighting setup for the shots:

And here are some more technical details about the gear I’m using. The flash is triggered by Pocket Wizard II Plus, which is attached to both of the flashes – Nikon SB-26 and Canon 580EXII, and since I had already broken the hot shoe mounts of my PWs, I’m using a Photix Atlas trigger on the camera body to trigger both of the flashes!

I am using Canon 5DMII for the session, which is my main camera! And the lens I’m using is Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L USM, which is maybe the one I’m using most often! I love it for the way it compress the background, and the beautiful bokeh it creates! I will write an article only for that lens and my experience with it soon, but until then you can see some of the works I have with 135/F2 in my Flickr album dedicated to the lens – CLICK HERE!

FINAL RESULT

Here is the silhouette shot first, I’m close to them, and have an assistant to lit them with an iPhone Flashlight so I can focus in the dark, then I am shooting a series of about 5-10 shots, to get this result:

And the second – front lit shot, I moved back a little for it, so I can get a bit bigger part of the background! In the back you can see the bight vies of the Meriken Park in Kobe, with the Kobe Tower:

ライティング解説の記事は基本的に英語で書いてるけど、今回からは一言日本語でも書きます！今回の撮影はブライダルの前撮りで、神戸の夜景で撮影しています！私が夜景での撮影がすごく好きなので、近いうちにそういうテーマの記事も作るので、楽しみにしてください！この撮影ではモディファイヤーは使ってなくて、ストロボだけで撮影しています！写真1はシルエットで撮りたかったので、後ろから1個で、写真2は前からもストロボ入れてます！

もしもっと日本語で記事がほしい人がいれば、ぜひコメントかメッセージを入れてください！時間があるときに作るかもしれないです！

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