Sunset wedding portraits – these are quite possibly my favourite thing of all when it comes to fine art wedding photography.
Whether the light casts a soft glow or the background is ablaze, sunset wedding portraits capture every bit of the romance and intensity of your wedding day and they look sensational too. That’s why I’m sharing my top tips for the best sunset wedding portraits – make sure they’re on your fine art photography wish list!
Golden hour
These are the photos you see spanning the pages of glossy wedding magazines and taking centre stage on Pinterest. The good news is that beauties like these are within reach if you time your sunset wedding portraits right.
I love the way the fading light filters through the trees while Lauren and James laugh away in their sunset wedding portraits. Meredith and Hakki also made the most of the golden hour for their Blake Hall wedding, capturing adorable photos together with their dog, when the heat of the midday sunshine had gone.
When I shot Hayleigh and Ben’s Braxted Park wedding we were bless with the most striking of golden hours, across their stunning grounds. I was lucky these two were so happy to leave their party for a short while so we could really appreciate it.
Golden hour is a fleeting phenomenon though, and wedding day celebrations don’t always stick to strict schedules. If you miss the moment, don’t worry, because what comes next is ‘blue hour’.
This is equally romantic light and we can create incredible portraits with the help of an off-camera flash to bring out the colours. Check out this Upwaltham Barns wedding for stunning portraits at twilight. Or Victoria and Rick’s dancing in the moonlight at their Gosfield Hall wedding.
Perfect pairings
The golden rays of sunset are the defining feature of these photos, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the backdrop isn’t important too. The more open the space, the more sky we can get in the frame and the more dramatic your pictures could be.
That was certainly the case for Hannah and Kieran’s Houchins wedding, where the huge vistas and purple flowers set the scene perfectly.
Whatever the weather
Believe it or not, you don’t actually have to have the perfect weather conditions to capture amazing sunset wedding portraits. Not when you’ve got a skilled fine art wedding photographer by your side!
My couples are always keen to create golden hour photos, but sometimes the skies cloud over and sunset is there and gone in a flash. That’s where clever camera skills come in.
Take Leona and Ross’s wedding or Camilla and Bens recent Gaynes Park wedding for example. In all the below photographs, Michelle hid behind the couple with my flash creating a gorgeous sunflare when the day was in fact too cloudy to spot the real sun. Only a photographer would spot the difference!
Dancing light
If you’ve set aside a little more time for your sunset wedding portraits, the creativity needn’t stop there. We can use prisms and copper to create all kinds of light patterns and sun flares for breath-taking photographs.
Take a look at Kirsty and Sam’s Elmley Nature Reserve wedding to see this technique in action, creating orbs of gold. Or at Kerryn and Michaels Pembroke Lodge wedding using my fractal prisms, refracting the evening light.
Sunset overseas
Depending on where you jet off to for your destination wedding, sunset could fall at a different point in your wedding day. Many couples opt for late afternoon ceremonies for gentler temperatures, which means sunset won’t be far away.
Plan a gap in right after your ceremony to ensure you capture your sunset wedding portraits at the perfect moment – this wedding in Mauritius will give you an idea of how beautiful these can be.
You could even take it one step further and have your ceremony at sunset, with flickering candles complementing the glowing light. This one requires finely tuned timing, so discuss it with your planner well in advance then be prepared to be flexible with timings on the day. The results will be magical!
So, there you have it. Five simple steps to create the most stunning sunset wedding portraits. If you’d like me to capture them for you, find out more about my fine art wedding photography and talk me through your sunset plans.