Because no lighting equipment is allowed in the Natural History Museum in London, where photographer Nick Rutter shot this engagement session, he had to push the limits a bit for clients Luke and Amy. “It was incredibly dark inside,” Rutter explains, “so I had to find the light and stretch the quality and ISO as much as I could to achieve something awesome for them.”

Fortunately, Rutter found the perfect spot. He positioned the couple on one side of a balcony whose lights beautifully highlighted the building’s architecture, and them. The photographer went to the other side of the balcony and pointed his lens across the hall. He captured a wide scene and exposed for the highlights using Aperture Priority, which produced a portrait with some moody shadows.

“The giraffes in the bottom right of the frame are an added bonus,” he says. “I was so happy that I could capture the museum’s architecture and highlight the couple. It ticked all the boxes for me, and it happens to be Luke and Amy’s favorite photograph from the shoot. No couple is going to see this and not think, Wow, and that’s something every photographer hopes to achieve.”

(Captured using a Canon 5D Mark III with a Sigma 35mm lens at f/2.8 ISO 1600 and 1/200 of a sec.)

Photo © Nick Rutter

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