Charisse & Jared BTS

Jared and Charisse Pre Nuptial

A photographer friend of mine, Rey Tuazon (http://reytuazon.com.au/), invited me on his pre-nuptial shoot.  The couple were Charisse & Jared who’s going to get wed this May 08, 2015.  I was allowed to take either photos and/or video. But since I’m currently interested in video, I took more videos than photos.

I still took photos though, as I need these to add to this blog post.  

This is the start of autumn.  Thus the colours are not as vibrant as it will be on peak periods.  But in some parts of Mount Wilson, the colours are already vibrant.  It's a matter of finding where these spots are.  Definitely, there are fallen leaves at the side of the road.

The Patterns of Autumn

The Location

The pre-nuptial shoot was held at Mount Wilson, particularly at Bebeah Gardens.  Bebeah Gardens is an old (started at 1880) but large garden (5 hectares).  Barry Byrne is currently taking care of it.  Below is a map to show where Mount Wilson is.  It's at the North part of Blue Mountains.  Unfortunately, I can't focus the map to only show Mount Wilson.




If you managed to find Mount Wilson, Bebeah Gardens is just at the intersection of The Avenue and Church Lane.  You'll see a church right across Bebeah Gardens.  It's very easy to find and locate on the map.

We arrived before the couple so we got the opportunity to scout some parts of Bebeah Gardens.  This garden’s entrance is located at the intersection of Church Lane and The Avenue.  Fall had just started.  But some of the leaves and colours of Bebeah was already mature.  The colours are already red, yellow and brown.  I was really mesmerised.  I’m sure that this will become a blast!

I got to know Charisse and Jared as they are settling in.  Rey continued to scout the place and found some very good locations.  Though it’s 5 hectares, we didn’t walked that far.  We only did the photos and video around the vicinity of the house.  It’s already amazing, so why go far?

Autumn Starts

The Gears

Several gears are used to create the video.  I believe they are essential gear to either give interest to the movie or raise production value.  I also incorporate 2 lenses to do the job.  Below are the list of gears I used for filming: 

• Nikon D800e
• Sony A7s
• Nikkor 70-200mm F/2.8 VR II
• Nikkor 20mm F/2.8 D
• Slidecam 600 slider
• Manfrotto CX190 tripod
• Benro B1 Ballhead
• Benro S4 Video Head

Unfortunately, I haven’t got a chance to fly my drone.

For Love and Danger

Filming

I used the slider often to pan the video smoothly on a straight line.  Thus, if you see a seen where the camera enters either from the left or right then focuses towards the couple – that’s the slider.  My slider sits on top of my tripod.  It’s always levelled.  I always ensure that the mounting plate is secured at the centre.  If it shifts to the right or left (along with any camera body), the whole tripod would fall down and damage my camera.

I also used a Benro S4.  Surprisingly, this video head functions flawlessly.  It rotates & tilts smoothly without any bumps or resistances.  So when I pan to the left or right (tilt up or down), the shot is smooth.  I only have one quick release plate, thus if I need to use my other camera, I need to detach the quick release plate.

The 70-200 is a very vital lens for me.  The Nikon D800e is attached to the 70-200.  I used it 80% of the time.  I love the colour rendition, the sharpness and the bokeh.  This lens focuses on the subject by blurring out other elements on the photo.  I also love how it can rack focus (I can shift focus from one subject to the next).

The Sony A7s has an adaptor wherein the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 is attached.  I used this to establish the environment shot.  I mount it mostly on my video monopod.  This monopod has feet so it can hold its ground even if the monopod is tilting or swaying.

Post Processing

In post processing, I used Adobe Premiere.  It looks complicated at first but as you progress editing and stitching videos, you’ll understand various functions.  Once you understand it, you can pretty much do the edits on the fly.  I did some colour grading on the video, particularly adding brown/sephia and desaturating some of the colours.  I fixed up the exposure as well for some footage were they are too bright or too dark.

The intro of the video (fire rushing across the screen, then showing 'Adventscape') was made from Adobe After Effects.  

Final Thoughts

Fall is always beautiful.  Though its 2 hours from our place, we decided to have the prenup photo shoot on this area.  We were not disappointed and would love to have more photo shoots here.

I’m satisfied with this photo shoot.  With a small window of time, I managed to pull off a 3-minute Behind the Scenes film.  I hope Rey is satisfied with his video as he can use it to promote his photography business.

To find more photos from Charisse and Jared, please visit Rey's blog entry at:
(http://reytuazon.com.au/blog/harmonies-of-autumn/)

Bebeah Gardens