Before and After : Amy French

Where was the shot taken?

An alternative wedding venue called Mount Druid in Castletown Geoghegan, Co. Westmeath, Ireland. I shoot a lot of weddings at this venue. I live very close by and just love the couples who choose to get married here. It is quite a different venue for a mostly traditional Ireland!

This is the final version, that we all fell in love with ! www.rubistyle.com

Did you plan it in advanced or was it more a capture of the moment?

I did not plan this particular shot in advance but I had tried something similar the week before in a similar spot at the same venue and once I saw the sky with the wispy clouds I knew I had to make it happen this time. Apart from the cloudy / misty effect, it’s not an unusual type of shot for me. I do like to place my couples in dramatic landscapes and couples often request these types of shots knowing I love taking them. It was the last shot of the bride and groom portrait session and the wedding car was on the crest of the hill  at the venue, ready to bring the couple down to their drinks reception. I asked the driver to stop and the couple to put down their glasses of prosecco for one more shot which, thankfully, they were keen to do!

How did you manage to achieve this shot?

Many people have wondered and tried to guess how it was achieved. A lot of people thought the mist or cloudy look was made in post but as you can see from the RAW file it was created when the frame was shot. Creating the ‘mist’ or clouds was an idea I came up with after doing something similar indoors at the same venue the week before which I also attempted outside that day, but didn’t really get the sky for. I do sometimes use a prism for portraits, often held over the lens to block out distracting elements at the edge or bottom of frame. Unfortunately, my prism is lying in a field somewhere as I lost it at one of my weddings last year! What I did have to hand though, sitting in my pocket, was an everyday item - my white iPhone - which I whipped out and used the back of, tilted against the lens to create the white blur effect. So simple! I hope the magic isn’t ruined with that reveal!

How did you edit the Image?

I applied the Agfa Vista 100++ preset from VSCO film pack 05. I made quick adjustments to contrast, shadows and highlights. I then brought the blue luminance down to darken the sky and I adjusted the blue hue to give the sky more of an aqua look, which I like. 

I then applied a very low opacity colour fading preset in Alien Skin Exposure for a very subtle colour shift. Apart from removing some weeds which were in the original image, that was it! As the ‘mist’ was created in camera, there wasn’t a lot of post processing involved.

Straight out of cam version ! www.rubistyle.com

What gear and settings did you use?

Canon 5D Mark III

Canon 35 f/1.4L

ISO 100

f 2.8

1/2500 sec

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