Get me to the church on time

If you noticed a lack of a blog posts this weekend, it is because I spent what “photography” time I had processing shots from Catherine and Dean’s wedding on the previous weekend.  As much as possible I tried to process the images in batches – for instance the formals were all taken with the same lighting, so once I was happy with the processing for one image, I could apply it to all the others, largely successfully.  This is important to make sure the task doesn’t get out of control.  Of course, other images require individual treatment – especially exterior shots such as this one.

This shot, taken at the side of the Unitarian Church on St. Stephen’s Green, is of the first of the two wedding cars arriving at the church.  Logistically, a wedding in the Unitarian Church can present problems – most notably related to parking.  Myself and my second shooter on that day, Paul, had planned ahead to overcome this, so that when I approached the church from the bride’s house, he moved his car from a space that he had occupied early that morning so that I could park outside the church and be ready for the bride’s arrival.

Even so, the period between me leaving the bride’s house and getting to the church was the most stressful.  While the bride could be late, I couldn’t be and had to get there ahead of her.  I gave myself as much of a headstart as I could, and also consulted with the wedding car driver before I left the house to find out the route he would take.  If I left first, and took the same route, I should arrive first.  Even still, until I pulled around the corner to see no wedding car waiting I didn’t relax.

When the cars did arrive I was ready and waiting to take this shot.  I would later photograph the cars on their way through the Phoenix Park, where Catherine and Dean paid a visit to her grandfather, and again as they arrived at Carton House.  Those shots are nice to have in the set of images of the day, and help move story of the day, as told in the photographs, from the house to the church to the reception.

The Bentleys photographed particularly well in the ambient light also.  A few weeks ago Guy Gowan, Photoshop Guru extraordinaire, visited Dublin Camera Club and commented how Ireland’s overcast skies made for nice photographic light, and it is true, if a bit non-intuitive. You’d think that a blue sky and a blazing sun is photographically pleasing, but the resultant hard light can be difficult to handle, and unflattering.  Overcast skies give soft diffuse light, and a more pleasing look.

This shot is a good example, with the sky becoming one large light source (like a large overhead softbox) and giving lovely highlights on the polished metal surface of the car.

This shot, more than others, was pushed further in post processing to increase the contrast and bring up the detail in the road, and get the markings on the road as white and as bold as possible.   The diffuse light allowed me to do that without ruining the light on the car, and resulted in an image that I find very pleasing.