Drown the Gown - Kiwi Style :)

My best friend and I found a couple of wedding dresses locally for cheap - one never worn, and headed out to the local beach to drown the gown/s. We had someone videoing it too.. It was tonnes of fun ! We did some at a waterfall near the beach while waiting for the sun to set with one dress and a huge train - then headed to the surf with the other dress when the light was perfect. My first time doing anything like this and I'd love to do more... Hopefully this will be enough to encourage some others Lol

There's a couple more on the blog too
1

hi i am a fan of your work .. a very BIG fan .. you might remember posting something on one of my threads .. but i LOVE these .. do you mind telling me the camera settings you used for these gorgeous pictures?

again .. VERY big fan

cheers .. jessika

Hiya

I've gone back and added numbers and will put some of the settings below

The first two were ISO 100/200, F3.5 just with direct on camera flash (430ex), Canon 30D, 17-55.. I was in AV mode from memory

3. Taken by my other half, 10-22 at 10mm on 40D, 1/125, F5.. the sun was behind her and an off camera flash (580ex) to the left of the frame just out of shot.

4. Same settings as above just without the flash.

5. Manual mode (Somewhere I dont venture often!) ISO250, 1/250th to expose for the sunset, F4 - 17-55 at 17mm... flash compensated itself being in manual mode.. I boosted the saturation on the sunset ever so slightly in PS.

6. Similar to above but 1/125th second - all in manual..

The last two were taken at 9pm after the sun was well down..

Does that help at all? I was playing around a lot and changing all sorts of things.. lol

The flash, imo, is a little harsh in three, but other than that, this set is amazing.
I love the last two. Great shots. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work

Thanks - third one was taken by my other half playing around with off camera flash

Playing around is good.

*wow*

Those are fantastic! Lucky you...!!

I can't wait to do a drown/trash the gown.

Well done

"Drown The Gown" sounds so much more fun than "Trash The Dress"

Very nice work, this!

thanks I thought Drown the Gown was more appropriate given the location and its not so much a trashing as the dress is still useable Lol

Lovely! The last one is really nice (others are great, but in the last one I love the way she's posed & the sun set).

Not to sound like a complete idiot but I have a question for the experienced photogs....
I've seen plenty of pictures of brides in water, wonderful and gorgeous pictures, but is there ever a concern that the wedding dress might get some damage?
My hubby and I are not very traditional, and I did not really care to have a dress or a fancy big wedding or anything, so I don't really know.


Do you usually bring up having the bride get into the water? Do they ever not want to do it because they might ruin the dress or something? How delicate are wedding dresses?

I love shots of brides in positions that aren't very traditional....in water, in a field, rocks, whatever, and something I would consider experimenting in when I get into wedding photography...

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Really nice work. I like all these except #3 for some reason it just doesn't do much for me. I think it is her expression and stance, but the rest are great. Nice job!

Greg

you scored with those dresses. that second photo the dress looks awesome... heaps of material to work with

babuszka wrote in post #7215369
Lovely! The last one is really nice (others are great, but in the last one I love the way she's posed & the sun set).

Not to sound like a complete idiot but I have a question for the experienced photogs....
I've seen plenty of pictures of brides in water, wonderful and gorgeous pictures, but is there ever a concern that the wedding dress might get some damage?
My hubby and I are not very traditional, and I did not really care to have a dress or a fancy big wedding or anything, so I don't really know.


Do you usually bring up having the bride get into the water? Do they ever not want to do it because they might ruin the dress or something? How delicate are wedding dresses?

I love shots of brides in positions that aren't very traditional....in water, in a field, rocks, whatever, and something I would consider experimenting in when I get into wedding photography...

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

These particular photos were not of a bride.. just my best friend and a couple of dresses
Typically though the Trash the Dress/Drown the Gown is normally done after the wedding day and if people are only going to wear the dress that once then I guess why not... I imagine if you were wanting to onsell it you'd be a bit careful though. And i'm sure if it was worth $$$ you probably woudlnt go anywhere near water either..

When I do actual weddings, I try to get an idea of what the bride is up for in terms of sitting on the grass/seats etc - some are completley dead set on keeping their dresses white, other are not so.

The dress above that was used at the beach, I put through the washing machine on delicate cycle and its come up perfect (apart from the odd fleck of sand floating around). It didnt get overly dirty though, it was just wet and covered in sand. The other dress did get a bit dirty from rocks etc and didnt come up so well in the washing machine, but i'm sure with dry cleaning it would be fine... I dont have any intention of onselling these two dresses though as I did have to "modify" them with scissors lol

harroz wrote in post #7215753
you scored with those dresses. that second photo the dress looks awesome... heaps of material to work with

Thanks it has a stupidly long train lol

I love these!! Great job!!