Bride at Sunset
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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/11, ISO 320 — map & image datanearby photos
Sunset Bridal Photo Op
Shogunzuka Overlook, Kyoto Japan

I happened to walk up to the Shogunzuka Overlook in eastern Kyoto this afternoon with Paul Barr, enjoying quite the dynamic late-afternoon sun.

The sunset itself was nothing close to what I've been hoping for since the most amazing sunset I've ever seen, but it was still nicer than I've seen in a while, and certainly much nicer than a week ago.

But it became infinitely nicer when a young couple and their fun and boisterous entourage showed up for a pre-wedding photo shoot. Of course, Paul and I had to add to the shutter-click count, and as a bonus, I got to pose the bride for a shot I envisioned would be really nice. More on all that another day.... the shot above is just one that I snapped from the sidelines before getting involved. At the time, the pro photographer was just out of camera to the right.

Continued here...


All 7 comments so far, oldest first...

I’ll bet his shot wasn’t half as awesome as that one. Well done!

— comment by Mark Sirota on November 16th, 2011 at 12:54am JST (12 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

Jeffrey, this is an astoundingly awesome shot..

— comment by james miller on November 16th, 2011 at 4:39am JST (12 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

This is one of my favorite photos you have done.

-Marty

— comment by Marty on November 16th, 2011 at 7:03am JST (12 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

That’s a really great photo, Jeffrey. Are you going to send it to them?

I don’t doubt that the pro there got as nice a photo (someone with a Galaxy Tab got one that was just as nice), but they have my email so I’m sure I’ll send them some shots if they contact me. —Jeffrey

— comment by Nils on November 16th, 2011 at 10:15am JST (12 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

Exquisite! Your photography is great, but this one really “shines”!

— comment by DaveB on November 17th, 2011 at 11:40am JST (12 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

Jeffrey this shot may be one of your best; ever. I’m not sure how much time you spent on this post, but this shot should be framed and put in a living room or a gallery.

No Alien Skin Effects needed.

Did you notice the very Maxfield Parrish-esque clouds at the top of the photo? Please please please remember your techniques and settings for this shot and try to keep exploring down this road. While you have said you’re not an artist, all of my art teachers would be telling you to dig deeper in this creative vein that you’ve tapped into. Some people might give you been there, done that grief about sunsets and weddings but they would be wrong. This photo has a stylized Asian romanticism to it that is not easy to achieve without a canvas and paintbrushes. I’d like to see the non-silhouette components lightened up just a little to really make the woman, branches, grass-stalks and foreground pop, but I’m not complaining. And those painterly clouds if done enough and without getting too contrived could have other photographers saying, “I tried to make this photo in the Jeffrey Friedl style…”

Thanks for the kind words, but I did almost nothing in post. I cropped it and used “recovery” to tame the brightest part of the sun a bit, but that’s about it. —Jeffrey

— comment by Ron Evans on November 18th, 2011 at 5:45am JST (12 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink

Amazing picture, really great!

— comment by Gianluca on November 18th, 2011 at 11:33pm JST (12 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink
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