Wedding+Storm! - Short Teaser to Share
 

On the day of the wedding, a menacing storm stalked us the entire day and when it came time for the photo session we needed to decide whether to stay safely indoors or press on to the chosen location (about 25 minutes drive).

It was a gamble either way. Do we stay or do we go? With a gorgeous couple waiting and a storm at our heels, we requested divine providence and went for it.

Check out the full post here on our blog:
Shadowplay Blog Heath and Samara - Wedding Teaser

Click here to watch the video in HD on Vimeo:
Heath and Samara - Wedding Teaser - HD on Vimeo

For this wedding we were only hired for photography, not video. But, I knew it was going to be something special so I decided to film as much of the wedding as I could in between assisting Katie (my wife|the photographer).

Once we reached the location (an old barn on a hill overlooking a panorama of cane fields) and I saw how amazing the light was plus the storm on the horizon, Katie was on her own! I grabbed my cameras and filmed as much as time would allow - which wasn't much given that the photography was #1 priority.

Literally two minutes after we all reached our cars it absolutely bucketed down: D90 - Rain on Vimeo

Any feedback and critique is always welcome.

Cheers,

Matthew.

Absolutely love the colors in this. You're shooting on A1's, right? Are you using a preset or just making adjustments in post?

That rainstorm was crazy. Imagine the cool shots you could have gotten IN that. Of course, you'd need some heavy-duty raingear for sure!

Gorgeous! Enigmatic!

Kudos for turning an obstacle into an opportunity!

jones

Hey Travis,

Thanks for checking it out.

Yeah, I'm shooting with two A1s. One A1+Merlin combo and one A1+Brevis combo. All the Brevis shots were with a Nikon 85mm 1.4 lens.

When it comes to colour, I do it all in post. I never shoot with presets on the A1 'cause I want the image to be as flat as possible.

Because of the cloud cover and the storm, the light was possibly the most perfect light I've ever shot in. That's the #1 reason I could push the colours so hard in post. On every shoot, I do everything possible to shoot in the nicest light available, on this one the light was just gorgeous.

We were pretty lucky to not get caught in that downpour, that's for sure!

Cheers,

Matthew.

Thanks Chris! Appreciate you checking it out!

Cheers,

Matthew.

Wow!. That is incredible light. I like your idea about shooting flat. Once you've picked and shot with a preset, it's pretty hard to undo if you don't like it after. I actually liked the handheld movement, it works with that piece. I assume you used the merlin on the glidepast?

I shoot without presets as well. As much as I like what some of the presets can do, I prefer to have the image flat as well.

Travis,

It's funny because we used to gripe about the flat colors out of the box over at the H1 forum, so I got kind of hooked on presets, and then had a couple of shots that I really didn't like afterward. Not to mention most of them cost you 1/2 stop or more of light. On the H1 it's fairly easy to bump from one preset to the next without realizing that you tapped the button. Most of the work I was doing last year was quick & dirty, so the the presets helped, but with a wedding, CC just comes with the territory.

I've always been a big fan of yours Matt. I really enjoyed this last piece you created. When ever photo shoots are done in the country side they always come out very good, but the added storm created an unbelievable back drop.

Good job on the color grading too, didn't feel over the top and mixed well with the b&w scenes.

Thank you for sharing.