The duo sunset shoot - technical aspects (Patreon)

Sunset shoots are absolutely amazing, because of how beautiful the light is, especially by the sea and especially in November but they do present a series of challenges, not least because the light is constantly changing and the speed with which the sun goes down can be frustrating!  You can’t really spend ages planning the perfect composition because before you know it the sun is down and you have missed it!

On this occasion I had the additional challenge of having two models for some of the pics and my usual technique of shooting in portrait mode that gives a f2.8 and shallow depth of field would mean that one of the models would be out of focus.  Fortunately my Canon 6D mark II has a second portrait mode, with several people, which chooses a higher F-stop and provides a greater depth of field.  It was probably the second time I was using that I believe - I did have another duo sunset shoot a month earlier with Tania and Nicola. The camera was choosing an f-stop of 8, a shutter speed of 125 at an ISO of 3200, all of which I felt was ok - the beauty of Cyprus light, try doing that in the UK in November …

I didn’t under-expose on this occasion, although I often do, especially when a model has fair skin complexion.

I did use the Canon EF85mm-USM lens, which I love, but I could and probably should have used the Canon EF50mm f1.4 lens for easier framing.  I had to go back too much and the pebbles aren’t easy to walk on plus by being too far from my models and with the noise of the sea, communication with them was challenging.

If you keep changing lenses during a sunset, you waste time.  The whole shoot lasted 25 minutes. So I stuck to the 85mm, although next time I’ll probably use the 50mm.