RF CookBook: The Hurricane

February 01, 2012 — This photo changed my life and career. There was something magical about this wedding—more than just the fact that it was early September and Hurricane Earl was in town (western New York often receives the tail end of hurricanes). It was after the ceremony and we were standing outside of the church as the wind was picking up and the rain was starting to come down. Most brides and grooms would have wanted to run indoors, but not this couple! As the storm was rolling in, the bride, Jaclyn, suggested going to Buffalo’s waterfront for more photos.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yeah! I’m sure you’ll get something good,” she responded.

Now that’s trust—especially coming from a bride who had just had professional hair and makeup done hours before. Here was a woman whose dress was brought in from New York City and easily worth a couple thousand dollars, willing to risk it all on me getting “something good.”
When we arrived at the waterfront the groomsmen were there with umbrellas to block the wind from the bride—only to have them shredded to pieces. There were moments when Jaclyn had to crouch down so she didn’t get blown away. We also weren’t at the location spot where I wanted to shoot, but the winds were so strong that we had to stop and work where we were. Tim, the groom, stood up on the rocks and pulled Jaclyn up by his side. Her veil was blowing violently in the wind and was ready to take off like a kite at any moment. He held it down with his hand on her back and they both looked up into the raging sky above.

This shot also changed the way I edit. HDR photography was becoming popular, but I really never thought to try it on wedding photos (people generally look like crap in HDR). When I took this photo, it looked nothing like what I saw in person. In the original RAW image, the sky was bright and Jaclyn and Tim were somewhat dark. I even used a flash, but I didn’t have the time to mess with my camera gear in a hurricane. I had no choice—it was time to use HDR on a wedding photo with people in it.

Using one RAW file, I made three JPEGs: one normal exposure, one dark and one very light. I used Photomatix and cleaned up the photo in Photoshop. The final image is exactly what I saw that day. Now, shooting with HDR in mind, I look at light in a completely different way. The locations I shoot might not be the most popular among other photographers, but because of HDR, I look for locations with amazing light, textures and a wide range of color spectrums.

[INGREDIENTS]
Camera: Nikon D3
Lens: 20mm f/11
Lighting: Flash used off camera; assistant holding it on right side
Location: Buffalo, NY - Waterfront