Kyle Hess Photography Blog: Couple Shoot At Sope Creek, Marietta GA

So today I did a shoot with my friend Caleb & his girlfriend Melissa. I've worked with them in the past and it's always a fun experience. They wanted to incorporate holi powder with this shoot, which is the same powder used for a well-known colorful celebration in India. I decided to use Sope Creek in Marietta, GA so we could have a nice background, as well as a good spot to have a colorful mess.

I had only been to Sope Creek once before, but loved it from my first visit so I knew this would be a good location.

It was a long walk to get to the creek from the parking lot, but eventually we got there and started off with a couple fierce looking portraits. I went with split lighting, switching sides for the both of them.

1/320 f/2.8 ISO 500
SB700 shot through 24x24 softbox
Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 AF-S
Nikon D3s

Next I looked for a good spot on the rocks where they could both throw the powder at eachother, but I found this to be extremely difficult because it was sunny out, with no clouds in sight, so I was dealing with a lot of unwanted direct sunlight which brought really harsh shadows. I finally found a spot in the shade under a tree, and so we began....