Beauty and the Beast
When this beautiful bride asked for photos of her veil i suggested we get up for sunrise and shoot against the big dramatic clouds that appear during the night ...
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When this beautiful bride asked for photos of her veil i suggested we get up for sunrise and shoot against the big dramatic clouds that appear during the night in the Caribbean.
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Apr, 2016Views
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Outdoor Weddings Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Isolating The Subject Photo Contest
Honorable Mention in Elegance In Nature Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Elegance In Nature Photo Contest
Featured
Contest Finalist in Composing with the Horizon Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Virtuoso
Genius
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Top 10 rank
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this in Cancun, Mexico while shooting a destination wedding. I'm from rural Ireland and I travel quite extensively but to have a beautiful Canadian couple book me to photograph their wedding in Cancun was amazing!Time
Ok so I arrived in Cancun 3 days before the wedding and I took full advantage of my three days there searching for locations, best time for light and making a plan of action for the wedding. I like to get up for sunrise when I'm on my travels and this trip was no different, I was on the beach each morning at 5am with my camera and one thing I noticed was the big storm clouds that were there each morning but cleared around 7 or 8 am. The bride came over to me the day after the wedding and explained how she had bought a veil and decided not to wear it last minute but would love a few photographs in it so I asked her if she would mind getting up at 5.30am and allowing the veil to get wet and she was all for it which was half the battle! We met on the beach at 5.30am, just myself the bride and my assistant and shot for around 45 minutes as the sun rose through the big storm clouds. I went in to the water too, up to about my chest while holding the camera up!Lighting
Again the fact we shot this at sunrise in the Caribbean made it so different to the regular caribbean wedding photos we are used to seeing. The mid day sun is so flat and boring over there compared to Ireland where we get this amazing light almost all year round (when it's not raining!). All the light in this photo is natural.Equipment
Throughout the shoot I shot with a Canon 5D mark two, although my favourite camera is a 5D mark three I didn't want to risk any sand or salt water getting in to it. I used a Canon 24-70mm 2.8 II lens and a 50mm 1.2 throughout the shoot while resting the camera on a Manfrotto tripod when I wasn't in the water.Inspiration
Those clouds, each morning I saw them I was in awe and well lets be honest who wouldn't want a bride like Courtney to step in to this epic scene. I work on film and TV sets in Ireland too which has influenced my photography in a way that I try to get the epic scenes at the best possible light but so much of this was down to my early morning location scouting and for anyone who's interested in Travel photography you have got to be an early riser!Editing
Yes and no. I don't believe in changing a huge amount of the scene and making it unnatural however I will enhance what's there already. I shoot for the shadows (which I know some photographers don't agree with!) so I will almost always over expose the image in camera, from there I will pull the Raw file way back so the highlights are all back and then bring it in to Photoshop where I will first up correct the range (lighten the dark areas again) and tweak the rest from contrast, colour sharpening etc. Another thing I did here was I hit apply image on a layer and brushed it in to the sky just to give it a little more drama. I actually edited this one on the plane on the way home after 10 days in Mexico and while I was there I dedicated 4 days to the wedding and 3 to shooting stories for travel blogs and magazines so the plane trip home felt like no time at all!In my camera bag
I'm in love with my 5D III and my 5D II for the more adventurous stuff! I'll never leave home without my 24-70mm lens for it's speed and versatility are unbeatable in my book. My other lenses that I vary job to job would be a 50mm 1.2, 70-200mm 2.8 and my 24mm Tilt Shift. I have several others but those are my go to lenses. I also shoot with the Canon 600 Speedlite with the little transmitter that comes along with it allowing me to use off camera flash using ETTL which is very speedy and handy for weddings especially. Other than that I like to shoot without filters except maybe a polariser sometimes but I prefer to shoot through the glass of the lens most of the time.Feedback
This is a result of careful planning but I find the more time I spend planning the easier the shoot becomes. When on a destination wedding scout, scout and scout some more for beautiful locations at the different times of the day and the different weather patterns. My speciality, if you like, would be portraits in locations so I just try to take epic photos of people in epic places. Think of it as a landscape photograph with a specific subject.
