So what if it rains!

This past weekend we had the most amazing couple.  They are fun, sweet, very much in love and just fun to be around.  (Like all the couples we choose to work with!)  One thing that really set them over the top was that they set aside some time to go play after the wedding and get some amazing portraits and fun shots at Thornblade country club.  WOW!  What an opportunity.

Then the rain came...  RECORD rain came.  The most rain in a 24 hour period.  Massive flooding rain.

This is when hiring a team of professional wedding photographers really comes to rescue a situation.  Modern cameras do a fine job of masking a semi pro's  lack of technical skills.  The internet makes posing available to the masses.  The semi pro or uncle Charlies fail on days like this because they lack the years upon years of dedication and experience to turn the corner and get interesting images that tell the story of the rains (it did after all rain!) but still keep the couple safe and dry.  I'm also betting uncle Charlie doesn't keep a special camera set aside for monsoon rains - and additional water sealed flashes on spare triggers to make this all work.

If you hire the right pros - rain can be a great thing on your wedding day!

www.magnolia-studios.com

In the above shot the couple was under a large tree and the umbrella (which i nabbed from a groomsman as it matched the trolley) as they disembarked from the trolley after the wedding.  I used experience from underwater photography to minimize back scatter from the drops. By positioning my main light away from the camera (45 degrees high camera left - 10" beauty dish) and a strong back flash to illuminate the raindrops behind the couple making it look like rain all around them.

When the couple arrived at the reception we positioned them under the roof and made an arrangement of groomsmen holding black umbrellas.  I used a fast shutter speed to reduce ambient light and a full power flash behind them to blast a shadow into the umbrellas.  by having only one layer of umbrella in the center and layers on the outside it created a natural fall off.  I may photoshop more rain in later - but this is how it looks as shot but converted to BW.

Using the same back light setup as above I backed farther away and changed up the pose.  I also added a 10' beauty dish out in the rain with me to fill the facial shadows.  Show the shutter speed to add ambient light and you get the above shot.  The entire group is under the overhang and dry.

The last shot was actually taken from the dance floor in the reception.  I put a flash in a ziplock bag and clamped it to a railing 20 feet behind the couple.  I stood them just inside a doorway and shot from inside the building.  I set my camera white balance to tungsten to give the blue color on the flash.  Fast shutter speed and closed the f stop to get only flash exposure.


Hire professionals and don't worry if it rains...  we got this.