Image Focus

When I shoot a wedding, there is one overall motive, and that is to create a truly magical image. However, it can be hard to find a moment to play around and get creative when you have to spend a lot of the time following the couple, guests and events of the day. But as the day starts to calm down, I make sure that I find a genuine and relaxed moment with the couple to create something unique.

I took this photo at a country club in Santa Barbara in April 2022. I had been at the venue the day before, scouting the location and getting prepared for the wedding. I spotted the illuminated tree when I walked up a hill on the golf course. It was the perfect scene; the light at dusk and the twinkles in the tree. I knew this was my chance to marry my love for shooting portraits with my documentary style and take an extraordinary shot for the couple.

I took the shot with my Sony Alpha 1 and the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM. The scene was very dark, with little light in the sky and only the lights in the tree. To light the couple, I had my assistant walk alongside them with a flashgun mounted onto a pole to light them from above. The flash had a modelling light, meaning the couple were illuminated. Even with this minimal light, the autofocus of the Sony Alpha 1 could still track the couple as they walked through the scene. I was also happy to shoot at ISO 2000, knowing that the image quality of the Sony Alpha 1 is phenomenal.

I fell in love with the Sony Alpha 1 when it was released, and the 24-70mm GM offers me everything I need to be flexible when shooting a wedding without sacrificing image quality. I am currently using the Mk II version of the lens, which is even better in image quality, size and weight, which is so important when I am shooting a wedding for many hours.

I play around with exposure too, as there is a big difference between the brightness of the subject, particularly the white wedding dress, and the dark of the night. For this shot, my assistant, who was walking with the flash near the couple, almost completely disappeared into the darkness of the night. But thanks to my Alpha kit, when editing, I didn't have to do much other than small tweaks of the exposure.

One thing that I never do is show the couple a shot like this on the back of the camera while we are shooting. These shots are so important to the couple, and while I will let them in on the idea I have for the photograph and what I envision it to look like, I want the image to be absolutely perfect before the couple sees it. So, I will keep the shot to myself even if it only needs a little post-production.

I want it to be the best surprise and wedding day gift…and now the couple have printed the image so that it sits huge across their wall, so I must have got it right.