Behind The Frame 10

This shot is more therapy than anything else to me. At this point, it might even be a full-blown addiction haha. I simply can’t walk past the following combination:

What’s better than the soft rustle of leaves in a summer breeze with the sun setting right behind them? If you ask me, not much.

For this shot, my fiancée and I specifically set out to capture the rolling Cotswolds landscape in the warm glow of a summer sunset. And honestly, full credit goes to her. I had already turned around, disappointed with what I thought were failed attempts, staring at my phone in frustration.

Then she tapped me on the shoulder and pointed me toward this scene. I didn’t hesitate, jumped the electric fence and took the shot.

Sometimes the best frames aren’t found by trying harder, but by being open enough to notice them when they quietly appear.

Most people will tell you to always shoot with full backlight whenever possible, and in many cases, that’s great advice. But when shooting on an iPhone, I usually try to avoid extremely high-contrast scenes. This frame is a bit of an exception. As you can see, the sun is positioned directly behind the tree, creating classic backlighting.

What made this work for me was the low sun angle, which softened the contrast significantly, and the slightly translucent leaves that allowed light to pass through. Together, they created a balance of softer contrast and beautiful texture, a win-win in my book.

The composition here was more abstract and harder to find. I positioned the tree trunk along the left edge of the frame so its branches would naturally guide the eye toward the small opening. That organic flow, combined with the gradual shift in contrast toward the gap, leads the viewer’s gaze exactly where I intended, into the lower-right part of the frame.

Once again my starting point was the Apple LOG color profile. Read more about my camera settings here!

I continued by adding my LUT and doing my routine exposure, saturation and white balance correction. I knew that the image was quite a bit too warm for my taste but instead of reducing the overall warmth I decided to change it by using masks.

I applied a general vignette mask, as shown below, and significantly reduced both warmth and exposure. This pushed the image into a slightly over-stylized look, but for this frame, it felt right.

To lean into that mood even further, I added another mask over the tree trunk and lowered its exposure, enhancing the contrast and giving the image an even more dramatic finish.

That’s it, not a very complicated edit at all!

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Exact camera settings from the Blackmagic Camera app

Thanks so much for being here, I genuinely appreciate every single reader.
If you ever have questions or ideas for future issues, feel free to shoot me a DM on Instagram!

Until next time,

Stefan

Minimal tools. Maximum creativity.