Image Focus

For me, photography must inspire people to dream. Every image should have a story to tell and as a wedding photographer, I want to capture and create memorable stories.

This image was taken for a pre-wedding shoot. Following the pandemic, the couple had been waiting three years for the photoshoot and a subsequent trip to Morocco. So, while it wasn’t their real wedding, I knew I had to do my best to create an iconic, memorable photograph for them.

It was sunrise at the Scarabeo Camp, a resort nestled in Agafay outside of Marrakech. We had initially planned for the bride to wear a different outfit but, after seeing the sky’s hue from the morning sunrise, I knew it would complement her actual wedding dress perfectly. So, we agreed to change focus, and tried a few shots with this new vision in mind.

Like 99% of my images, I used the Sony Alpha 7 IV. For me, this camera is the perfect match for my wedding photography as its lightweight, portable and boasts a ton of features – all of which help me to produce quality images every time. I took the shot at ISO 1000 as it not only offers great dynamic range and captures detail well, but also produces an image quality akin to shooting on film.

I also used my favourite Sony lens, the incredibly sharp FE 50mm f/1.2 GM. It records details so perfectly and never misses focus. On the other hand, when you want to produce something a little more dream-like and soft, it allows the depth of field to shift from the sharpest point of the image to the creamy, smooth background. This works so well for the type of wedding photographs that I love to take.

For this shot, I was standing quite far from the couple, but the focus of the Alpha 7 IV caught the face of the bride perfectly, even when shooting into the bright sunrise. This allowed me to concentrate solely on the composition hence the image you see is straight from the camera - there was no cropping involved.

In terms of colour and contrast, there’s not too much difference between the highlights and the shadows, but there remains a little contrast in the face of the bride. Again, thanks to the camera's dynamic range, I was able to capture all the details from the highlights of the sky and dress whilst also emphasising the detail in their faces without needing to use a reflector. There is a sense of mystery to the image, as it could be either sunrise or sunset. The Alpha 7 IV captured all of these nuances.

When shooting this kind of image, I love that I can be free and create shots that tell stories like fairytales, all with the help of my Sony Alpha. I never aim to give everything away in a photograph; something should be left for the viewer to work out with their imagination.