Ronak & Khushbu

Treasure Island

Treasure Island Beach sits below the Montage in Laguna, down a path from the bluff, and it is one of the few stretches of Orange County coastline where the rock shelf runs almost flat out to the waterline. At low tide the whole thing becomes a field of shallow tide pools that hold the sky.

That is why we shot here. When the sun drops, those pools stop being water and start being mirrors, and you get the light twice in a single frame.

Timing a surprise

A proposal is the one session you cannot ask to run again. Ronak and I picked the spot and the moment in advance, and I positioned myself far enough back to stay out of view but close enough for a long lens to reach.

We set the proposal for roughly forty minutes before the sun hit the horizon. That left the actual moment in warm, still-directional light, and it kept the sunset itself in reserve for afterward, once the nerves had worn off and they could just be together.

Two kinds of light in one hour

The frames from the proposal itself are bright and clean, with the ocean behind them and the sun still high enough to light their faces. Twenty minutes later the sun was sitting directly between them and I switched to shooting into it, exposing for the sky and letting them go to silhouette.

Then the light went. Blue hour on this beach is cold and quiet and completely different in character, which is where the last few frames come from.

Read more on how to photograph a surprise proposal in Laguna Beach