All Gold Everything: October Contest Winners

This month’s #MadeWithMagMod photo contest was all about that magical Golden Hour lighting. The theme was “Sunset,” and the winning images are, dare we say it, solid gold.

Shout out to our grand prize winner, Maya Papovic. For her victory, Maya takes home $150 in MagBucks and a Moneymaker from Holdfast. 2nd and 3rd place honors go to Jason Nhon Tran and Clay Sousa, who scored $75 and $50 MagBucks gift cards. Keep reading to see all of the winning images in their full rez glory and check out the camera settings.

Want in on our monthly contest? Here’s how to enter:

1. Join the #MagModCommunity on Facebook to get this month’s contest theme.
2. Shoot an epic image using MagMod gear.
3. Look for the pinned contest post in the Community and attach your entry as a comment.

That’s it! Easy peasy.

You can enter as many times as you want. The contest theme and prizes change each month, so get in on this action!

We love the way Maya lit this image to blend and balance ambient light with natural light. She used a MagSphere to light the couple from camera right. Her use of flash isn’t overt; it hits the couple in *just* the right spot and feels so natural that it helps maintain the character and atmosphere of the setting. The post-processing is on-point, too--it’s just enough to enhance the natural beauty of the beach.

Here’s her camera settings: ISO 500, 1/100 second, 6.3 aperture. Voice activated light stand with flash. 1/8 power. Camera right.

Jason shared with us how he got the shot:  “The sun was peeking into my lens, so the scene was quite bright. I've shot at quite a large aperture to underexpose the waterfall. My flash is to the right of the couple just out of frame, and we're at full power (Nikon SB-900) with a MagGrid and 1/4 CTO gel so that the temperature of light hitting the couple is similar to the ambient light. Camera settings: 35mm f/7.1, 1/200 sec. ISO 100.”

Here’s how Clay got the shot: “I've had an eye on this location for some time. It's about 3 hours from where I live. I tried to do a parachute dress shot there before, but it was too windy that day, and I ended up changing locations. But I knew it would be an awesome location for a bridal portrait. I just had to wait for the right bride to come around. I had everything planned out beforehand, and, as soon as we got there, we started finding a location where the bride could be safe. I also had to find a spot behind the bride for my lovely wife to be and throw the veil. It needed to be a place where she felt safe to throw the veil and hide behind the bride. These rocks are huge, and a fall would definitely land one of them in the hospital. We tried several times until we got it the way I had in my mind. I used one flash, camera right on a stand stuck between two rocks. I modified it with a 1/2 CTO gel, a grid and my favorite modifier on-the-go, the MagSphere. I don't remember flash power, but it was shot with a Canon 5D MkIII, Canon 16-35 f/2.8 at 16mm f/7.1 and ISO 100.”

Here’s how Gerardo got the shot: “ I used a simple set up of one flash (camera right) and a MagSphere. The flash was at 1/32 power, f9, ISO 500 and a shutter speed of 200. I believe that the success of this picture is her hand expressions and the near kiss. And, well, the sunset collaborated with MagMod and took care of everything else.”