Canon EOS 40D vs 5D

One of my friends bought a Canon EOS 40D recently and complained that he was never able to get a pin-sharp shot with it. I therefore borrowed it for an evening recently to compare it with my 5D under 'test' conditions - using a tripod, shutter release, adjusting for crop factor with focal length etc. The results from the 40D were so disappointing (top crop above) that I think he probably has got a faulty example, and I recommended he send it back to Canon to be checked out. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with faulty cameras who are just unaware of the results they should be getting - make sure you're not one of them!

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The Bell Hotel, Sandwich, Kent

A selection of images from this afternoon's photoshoot at The Bell Hotel in Sandwich, Kent. I used the high dynamic range technique, in order to capture interior details without blowing out the windows and surroundings, and Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L & 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lenses.

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A simple way to add zing to your portraits

I took this shot of Emily at the weekend using window light and a collapsible background - an impromptu shot with no fussing over set-up. She's got a lovely expression and the skin tones are natural - perfectly acceptable. However, as I didn't bother to light the background separately it is rather muted.

A couple of minutes in Lightroom and Photoshop though and you can make the shot a lot more vibrant. I used the brightness control in Lightroom (this protects highlights unlike the exposure control) to give a modern high-key look to Emily and then split-toned the image, introducing a gold hue into the highlights. I then exported to Photoshop and made a crude selection of the face which I then inverted. I used the 'replace color' command to select only the background and then lightened this (if I hadn't deselected Emily's face, areas here would have lightened as well). I then added a white stroke and black border (a process I have stored as an action). Very simple but gives the portrait a very different feel.

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Wedding photography at the Dog Inn, Wingham

Above is a selection of shots from Lauren and Allan's wedding on Saturday at the Dog Inn in Wingham, Kent. I was there for 5 hours and provided them with 539 images. It's quite a compact venue so I had the opportunity to use my Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens and was very pleased with the results. A very useful addition to my arsenal of lenses.

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Practical wedding lighting

I had great fun photographing Lauren and Allan's wedding yesterday at The Dog Inn in Wingham, Kent. They decided to cut the cake in the gazebo and I thought it would be more interesting to have the Dog Inn and their guests in the background rather than shooting into the gazebo. Light levels in the gazebo were much lower than the background scene, and as I knew I'd require a good amount of lighting power to counterbalance this, I set up two Canon 580EX II Speedlites on stands with my homemade diffusers (checkout the shot above) - a key and a fill light in a 2:1 ratio. They were controlled wirelessly using the Canon ST-E2 transmitter.

And the shot above is an example of the results from this set-up. Both foreground and background perfectly balanced and with good modelling (not just front lighting with no depth) in the light. It only took 5 minutes to put together.

Check out more of my photography here: Kent wedding photographer