Chris and Shelly Roper, October 11, 2008

So what happens if you have bad weather?

So before I get into answering one of the most common questions I ever receive, let me first tell you about my day. After all, this is my blog right? Hehe. Well, I just had a hell-of-an exhausting day. I had a morning vow renewal service, then a sunset wedding where I had to pick up and drop off my clients. Both couples were awesome and I'll be blogging about them both in the near future. But phew, two weddings in a day really puts some mental and physical stress on my 31 year old body. I'm not complaining at all...I'm just exhausted.

Anyway, it's about 4am in the morning, and I thought I'd finish up on some blogging before I head to bed.

Now onto the most common question I get in the world "WHAT HAPPENS IF IT RAINS ON MY WEDDING DAY!"

Well, I have to tell you. Ladies, most likely, it will rain on your wedding day. See, here on Oahu, it rains everyday. The question is always a matter of when and where it will rain. Luckily, most of the rain is concentrated over my house, not kidding there. I live on the Windward side of Oahu, right by the mountains, so that's where all the moisture...or rain, gets trapped. The Leeward side of Oahu, really doesn't get much rain, and that's where I do most of my weddings.

So the solution is to have your wedding away from the rain, which means anyplace except where I live!

Now what if you're unlucky, and it just storms on your wedding day. We're talking...the entire island. Then, we have the option of moving dates...or moving times.

I know what's probably clogging your mind now. "What would happen to the pictures if we have stormy weather?"

The answer to your multi-million dollar question is...most likely good things. Blue skies in pictures are one thing, and while that may be beautiful, a silver sky actually makes for great photos, not to mention great sunsets. The trick though is that if there are clouds on your wedding day, to move to location where there are trees. Lets take a look at this photo:

Green makes a difference, as with bright color flowers

As you can see, green's make a big difference. At least at this location, Ko'olina. I have the option of putting some green in this picture, to some color to the shot. The gray clouds automatically make the water look gray...as with the bland sand color. What also helps are bright color bouquets... those really pop in stormy weather.

Wrong Beach, wrong day... Sunset Beach

So this picture above is of wedding at Sunset beach during an overcast day. There are no blue skies, well, not much, and the ocean isn't as blue as it could be. So I actually took this couple to the abandoned building, and a forest area where there were more greens, so we could add more color. I also changed the the angle from which I shot at, so I could add some green in there to make the shots more lively. I knew a front was coming in, so I had to really work fast with this couple...

Changing the angle, added some green...

And then changing location added a lot green!

As an added note, bad weather is actually great for fashion shots as they make pictures more dramatic. For videography, and for some wedding photography, it's also better to as the light is softer, it's the same effect of having a huge soft box that gets rid of all the nasty shadows

CHANGE IN WORK STYLE

Cloudy weather, stormy weather, any type of weather that's not blue sky perfect changes my work flow when it comes to picture taking. It makes we work fast. Usually I take my time with picture taking. My normal work flow; it takes me roughly one hour to shoot 36 pictures. But when there's a front moving in, I can go through 72 shots in 10 minutes if I need to. The quality of the shots don't change..and it may seem as though I'm rushing. Truth to it, I'm trying to avoid the rain. Once it starts raining, all bets are off.

SUNSET SHOTS

Regarding sunsets during cloudy days....are they possible? Yes and no. During an overcast day, the sun races the clouds to horizon. If the sun wins, then you can get a pretty nice sunset shot. If the clouds win, you get nothing but a dark sky. Luckily, most of the time, the sun wins because heavy clouds don't move as fast.

The sun wins the race to the horizon!

It's literally a gamble when it comes to shooting sunset shots on stormy weather days. The photographer literally has to guess if it's a good idea to wait if the sun pops out or not. If he waits too long, and the sun doesn't pop out, then the last five picture on the roll will be gloomy and gray. If he's right though, he can get some of the best sunset shots he's ever taken. Luckily, I've been a lot more right than wrong when it comes to shooting sunset shots in stormy weather.