Photoshoot at St Crispin Inn, Worth

I did a photoshoot for the St Crispin Inn in the lovely village of Worth, near Sandwich, on Saturday morning. The sun was incredibly strong by 9:30am and streaming in through the windows - time for some high dynamic range (HDR) shots! I used a tripod and auto-exposure bracketing to record shots at -2, 0 and +2 stops relative to the metered exposure and then Photomatix Pro to combine them.

I often use the HDR technique when hand-holding the camera if the shutter speed is so fast that I can just leave my finger on the shutter to take the 3 shots. The photo of Whitstable Castle posted on Monday was done this way.

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Photoshoot at Kearnsey Abbey, Dover

I did a very relaxed photoshoot with Jennie and her family on Sunday at Kearnsey Abbey, near Dover. There were a few nerves initially, but it didn't take them long to warm up (about one minute!). Several of the group explained to me that they don't 'photograph well'. I hear this at most wedding and portrait sessions. In these cases I take a few shots and then show them the pictures using the LCD screen on the camera - this always builds their confidence. As you can see from the shots above they were quite a photogenic bunch!

The sun was very strong so we found some open shade under trees. I used exposure compensation from +2/3 to +2 stops depending upon the brightness of the background.

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Wedding at Whitstable Castle

I had the pleasure of photographing Carly and James' wedding at Whitstable Castle on Saturday. What a terrific day it was. Carly and James were fantastic to work with, the light was great (during the afternoon the sun was softened by a partially overcast sky but reappeared as the evening wore on) and the venue was wonderful (it's closing shortly to be refurbished and is due to re-open in April 2010 - definitely one to check out venue-wise in this part of Kent). The only downside was the stifling heat - I felt very sorry for the gents with their waistcoats and jackets.

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Sharpening using unsharp masks

For further photography-related information check out my compendium of tips.

I intend to post a few articles on sharpening images over the next week. This exercise should get you thinking about the subject.

One of the best methods in Photoshop is to use the unsharp mask filter. It initially seems a little peverse to have the term unsharp in a technique for sharpening, but if you work through the following procedure it should give you some insight into how an unsharp mask works.

1. Open your image in Photoshop and duplicate in a new layer.

2. Desaturate the new layer (Image - Adjustments - Desaturate).

3. Duplicate this desaturated layer, then invert the new layer (Image - Adjustments - Invert).

4. Change the blending mode to Colour Dodge.

5. In most cases the image will now appear completely white, but there may be some black areas if the original image had pure black in.

6. Slightly blur the image (Filter - Blur - Gaussian blur) by a few pixels radius.

7. Select the top two layers and merge them.

8. You should now see a soft ghost-like outline of the original image (as above) - this is your unsharp mask.

9. Change the blending mode of this layer to Multiply.

10. The image should appear sharper (since these images are reduced in size the effect here is not that overwhelming - on your full resolution image you should see a significant difference).

A full discussion will follow soon.

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Garden Party in Canterbury

I photographed the 100 Years Celebration of Steven James Hairdressing on Sunday in Canterbury - event gallery. A very entertaining garden party - hairdressers are a lively bunch!

From a photographic perspective there were a couple of challenges to deal with. 100 people in a back garden means you have to relax your normal standards of composition - it's not possible to remove all background distractions. Also, I took a series of large group shots for which I needed people at different levels in order to be able to see them all. There were some suitable steps for this but, unfortunately, the front row was in shade and the back row in direct sunlight. I therefore decided to blast (flash exposure compensation +1) the front row with softened flash to try and balance the two areas - it worked reasonably well.

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Wedding at Manor Gate House and Princes Park, Dartford

A selection of images from Sharon and David's lovely wedding at the Manor Gate House Registry Office and Princes Park in Dartford yesterday. The light was pretty good, with only the occasional burst of intense sunlight - otherwise it was softened nicely by clouds without being fully overcast. I made extensive use of my fast prime lenses as there was plenty of room at both locations (meaning I could position myself where I needed to be). The 35mm f/1.4 L and 85mm f/1.2 L are truly awesome lenses.

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Emily

A shot of Emily taken with my new Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L lens (more about that in a future post). This was taken with Emily facing a large window in our lounge - light levels were low as it's an overcast day here (ISO 640, 1/200 at f/2.0 - the lens is already nice and sharp at f/2.0!). Getting shots of her with a lovely smile can be frustrating when photographing alone - as soon as I put the camera to my eye she no longer recognises daddy and stops smiling. What I end up doing is putting the camera just below my chin, pulling silly faces, and then firing away using autofocus to try and get a sharp shot - composition goes right out the window but it's worth it for the lovely expressions. I bumped up the contrast using curves in Photoshop and then applied a gentle vignette.

I'm off to photograph Sharon and David's wedding at the Manor Gatehouse and Prince's Park, Dartford this afternoon - fingers crossed the rain holds off (I'm sure this is why so many of the best wedding photographers are based in Australia).

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Extension tubes

For a more in-depth discussion of macro photography and magnification rates check out John Shaw's 'Closeups in Nature'.

Extension tubes increase the distance between the optics in the lens and the digital sensor. This allow the lens to focus at a closer distance to the subject, hence increasing its size. An approximate magnification rate is given by total extension/focal length - immediately this tells you that greater magnification rates are achieved with shorter focal length lenses. 

Since there is only air between the end of the lens optics and the sensor I bought the cheaper Kenko extension tubes which come as a set of three - 12, 20 and 36mm. They allow the lens to communicate with the camera body so that autofocus and metering are not affected. With my 100m f/2.8 (a true 1:1 macro lens) putting on all of the above extension gives a magnification rate of .7-fold. 


The extension tubes can be used in conjunction with the extender I discussed in the previous post. If you attach extension to the lens first and then subsequently add the extender you will multiply the magnification by a further 2x. I took the photograph of the fly with a 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, 68mm of extension and a 2x extender!

Another result of adding extension to a lens is that minimum and maximum focusing distances are reduced. The former can be beneficial. I often use my 85mm f/1.2 L lens indoors with an extension tube to reduce the closest focusing distance of 0.95m - I can then take advantage of its excellent low-light capabilities in confined spaces.

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Canon extenders

Fortunately for my wallet I'm not into wildlife photography and so haven't needed to buy any of Canon's high performance telephoto lenses - here are the current prices at Warehouse Express: Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS £2848, 400mm f/2.8 L IS £4889, 500mm f/4 L IS £4154, 600mm f/4 L IS £5399, 800mm f/5.6 L IS £9000! My longest lens is the 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS which suffices for all my professional wedding and portraiture work. However, I do occasionally need a bit more reach, and so to achieve this without breaking the bank, I invested in a Canon EF 2x II extender (also known as a teleconverter) - seen above next to a Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 L lens for size comparison. It attaches between the camera and lens, and as its name suggests, it doubles the focal length range of the lens.

The downside is that the aperture of the lens is decreased by two stops, so my 70-200mm f/2.8 IS becomes a 140-400mm f/5.6 IS lens - image stabilisation is not affected. This is the smallest aperture at which autofocus can work on a Canon EOS 5D (1D bodies can handle f/8.0) - if your lens is slower than f/2.8, adding a 2x extender will require you to focus manually. This doubling of focal length results in a doubling of magnification - great for wildlife or, for example, photographing the moon, as above (cropped). As an aside, I shot this in manual mode in order to underexpose by 3 stops to take into account the black sky filling 60% of the image - exposure compensation only allows you to correct by -2 stops in aperture priority mode. The magnification resulting from the extender does lead to a small deterioration in image quality. Canon also sells a 1.4x extender.

I've used the Canon extender on all my lenses - it's particularly entertaining to stick it on a macro lens in conjunction with extension tubes (I'll discuss these in the next post) to achieve high magnifications.

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Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2

I have three 580EX II Speedlites that I use for lighting but I still find the ST-E2 wireless flash controller to be a useful addition to my kit - it's very light and compact compared to having a 580EX II mounted on camera as the master controller, and it can also be used solely for its AF-assist beam.

It does have a few limitations compared to a 580EX II though. It can only control two channels, A and B (you can have as many Speedlites as you want in each channel but you can only control the flash output ratio between the two channels as a whole - from 8:1 to 1:8), as compared to the 580EX II which can control three (A, B & C). Also, the ST-E2 cannot communicate flash exposure bracketing or manual flash instructions, unlike the 580EX II. Another point of difference - the ST-E2 sends instructions to the slave flashes using near infra red, whereas the 580 EX II Speedlites communicate using visible light.

How do I use the ST-E2 transmitter? For indoor portraits of the bride and groom and for the cake-cutting pictures are two good examples. I set up two 580EX II Speedlites on stands with diffusers, as fill and key lights, set an appropriate ratio between the two light sources, and then off I go. I feel fleet-of-foot and liberated from a composition point of view.

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Autofocus assist beam

For further photography-related information check out my compendium of tips.

Autofocus relies upon the contrast between dark and light areas - this becomes more difficult to assess as light levels drop. My venerable Canon EOS 5 has a built-in AF-assist light which automatically switches on and beams a near infra-red light pattern from an LED to help the AF system. My Canon EOS 5D, however, must rely upon either a Speedlite or the ST-E2 Speedlite transmitter for AF-assist. I imagine the reason for this is that an in-built AF-assist light would struggle to cover the 9-point AF system 0f the 5D.

When I'm shooting a wedding it's generally around the first dance that I see the reassuring three vertical red lines of the AF-assist beam on my subjects. I can be shooting at f/2.8, or lower, and yet I rarely get a shot that is out of focus. Impressive stuff. Tips for focusing: I only use the more sensitive central focus point, to take advantage of both the f/5.6-sensitive cross-type sensors and f/2.8-sensitive vertical line sensors, and I look for areas of good contrast, such as the line between a white shirt and a dark jacket, to focus on. If you're going for a portrait shot, try and focus on eyelids or eyebrows.

In the 580EX II Speedlite manual it states that the AF-assist beam is compatible with lenses of focal length 28mm and longer, but it seems to work perfectly well at 24mm with my 24-70mm f/2.8 L zoom lens. The effective range of the light is 0.6 - 10 m at the central AF point, and 0.6 - 5 m at the outer points.

When shooting in low light the AF-assist beam fires twice - initially to calculate a focusing distance for the lens and then, secondly, to confirm that the subject is in focus before taking the shot. If the subject is moving too quickly, the focus distance will have altered between these two readings and focus lock cannot be achieved. For this reason the AF-assist beam is not compatible with AI servo - your camera must be in one-shot mode. For the tricky shot of the bride and groom walking down the aisle I have the camera in AI Servo mode only if the church is well-lit. In low-light I switch to one-shot mode to take advantage of the AF-assist beam and take plenty of shots to maximise my chances of getting one that is sharp (I always ask the couple to walk slowly beforehand).

As mentioned in an earlier post I use an Ee-S focusing screen to aid manual focus. This has no impact on the autofocus system but does affect the metering system (this is set with custom function 00). With lenses of aperture f/2.8, or lower, the viewfinder remains bright.

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E-TTL II

For further photography-related information check out my compendium of tips.

These are some brief notes on E-TTL II. For an in-depth read on Canon's flash systems read NK Guy's magnum opus at Photonotes.

Evaluative through-the-lens II (E-TTL II for short) is the latest incarnation of Canon's automatic flash exposure control system. I currently use a Canon EOS 5D with 580 EX II Speedlite which is based upon this system - it's a match made-in-heaven for flash photography. Previously I used a Canon EOS 5 with 540 EZ Speedlite (based upon A-TTL, where A = advanced) which was far less reliable and required me to constantly adjust flash exposure compensation (FEC).

The system is a 'black box' in that Canon publish only limited information about the algorithms that control flash exposure. Their attitude is switch it on and use it. I would urge you to do the same. Get an empirical feel for how the flash system works and then make adjustments as you wish. I did, however, find the following information on the Canon Professional Network website regarding fill-in flash (see my post regarding exposure values, EV).

"The output of the fill-in flash depends on the shooting conditions. With lower light levels (below about EV 10), you get a flash output just as if you were shooting a subject at the same distance indoors. Above EV 10, the flash output is gradually reduced, to a maximum of -1.5 stops (-2 stops with E-TTL autoflash) at EV 13 and above. This auto flash output reduction helps to create a better balance between the daylight and the flash illumination in bright sunlight."

When shooting indoors I still tend to use some flash exposure compensation (at least 2/3 stop) to keep the light contribution from the flash very subtle but the shot will still look good without. Check out my most recent gallery of wedding photography - most of the shots used flash, both indoors and outdoors (the Speedlite was set to high-speed sync outdoors).

With E-TTL II, the camera transmits the lens focal length, exposure control mode, aperture and image sensor size. With more recent lenses focusing distance data is also communicated - even if the Speedlite is attached via an off-camera shoe cord (although for this to work accurately your flash unit must be a similar distance from the subject as if it were mounted directly on the camera - a flash-bracket is fine). Distance data is not used if flash is bounced or used wirelessly.

Metering for flash uses the same system as for ambient light metering and is linked to the current auto-focus point. The camera fires a pre-flash which allows it to meter the scene for flash exposure. To see this, put the flash in second-curtain sync and then set a long exposure time.

Flash exposure locking is available for situations in which the camera is fooled and you're not confident using FEC. These are the same situations that can cause problems metering for exposure - when the overall tone of the shot is not medium-grey.

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Wedding at St Francis Church, Ashford

A selection of images from Tanya and Matthew's Kent wedding yesterday at St Francis Church and Park Farm Recreation Centre, Ashford. It was a fantastic day but what an emotional rollercoaster it was! Even I, as a hardened wedding photographer, shed a tear.

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The sofa surfer

Just a quick post today with a couple of shots of my lovely daughter Emily. She's almost one (that went quickly!) and has just started to tentatively 'sofa surf'. Time to lock my camera equipment safely away.

I'm off to St Francis Church, Ashford tomorrow to photograph the wedding of Matthew and Tanya. Photos will be posted on Sunday.

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Exposure values (EV)

For further photography-related information check out my compendium of tips.

I need to introduce the concept of exposure values (EV) for some forthcoming posts. EV is an absolute measurement of the light quantity required to give a correct exposure at a specific ISO speed (it depends upon aperture and shutter speed) - though most charts only give these values at ISO 100 (these are then also known as light values). It's useful to be able to refer to the amount of light using just one variable rather than a combination of aperture and shutter speed. In the table above EVs run from 0 to 24 (they can be negative as well). The scale is based upon stops of light - ie doubling or halving of light. For a given EV there are many combinations of aperture and shutter speed which can be used to make a correct exposure.

Some examples of EVs to help you get a feel for the scale:

EV 17 white object in full sunlight

EV 15 noon daylight

EV 13 bright, cloudy days

EV7 indoors

EV -5 scene lit by the moon

Knowing the amount of light in a particular lighting scenario allows you to construct guidelines, such as the 'sunny 16 rule' - on a clear, sunny day set your camera at f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/ISO setting - this equates to a constant EV of 15.

You'll also see these values in the technical specifications in your camera manual. For example, my Canon EOS 5D autofocus system works in the EV range of -0.5 to 18 EV.

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Photoshoot at Pfizer, Sandwich, Kent

I did a photoshoot at the pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent yesterday for the Royal Society of Chemistry. The day was set-up to encourage young people to pursue a career in science - a noble aim. Light levels were low so I opted for ISO 1600 or 3200, with post-processing in Neat Image to remove noise. I decided not to use a flash as I wanted scenes lit evenly.

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L II USM lens

Canon's best lenses are given the L-designation (an abbreviation for luxury I believe). They have excellent optics, superb build-quality and cost an arm-and-a-leg. If you're doing photography professionally, however, they are well worth buying. They hold their value well, unlike camera bodies, so you can recoup most of your money if you regret your profligacy at a later date! A terrific value starting lens is the 70-200mm f/4 L lens - be warned, though, it's a slippery slope. Once you see how good your shots are - in terms of sharpness, contrast, colours and pure visual impact - it's hard to go back to non L-series lenses.

For this post I  wanted to briefly discuss the 85mm f/1.2 L lens - for a full review visit the excellent digital-picture.com. Canon describe it as their "definitive portraiture lens" (it's very popular with wedding photographers) - for a discussion on why this focal length is ideal for portraits see my earlier post 'Perspective and portrait lenses'. With a maximum aperture of f/1.2, this is the fastest lens that Canon produces - the more light a lens allows in, the faster the shutter speed you can access for a given level of light. Working down through the full f-stop sequence (1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22 - multiply by the square root of 2 each time), each aperture allows in twice as much light as the previous one. Fast L-series zoom lenses have a maximum aperture of f/2.8 - f/1.2 is a huge 2.5 stops faster than this. Coupled with ISO 3200 on an EOS 5D and the low-light capability is truly astonishing. This wide aperture also gives incredibly shallow depth-of-field and leads to wonderfully out-of-focus, diffuse backgrounds - an effect known by the Japanese word bokeh (pronounced bo-ké). As a result, your focusing must be very accurate. The optical quality of the lens is just fantastic (this is purely a subjective description, I haven't run any tests on the lens) - the shot of Emily above could be printed at A2 and still look great.

The downsides? It's very slow to autofocus in comparison with other Canon USM lenses, the closest focusing distance is 0.95m (though this can be improved using extension tubes) and, the really bad news, it currently retails for £1249 in the UK. Not the first L-series lens you should be buying but a very worthwhile addition if you shoot weddings and portraits.

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Wedding at The Three Tuns, Staple, Kent

A selection of images from Michael and Linda's highly entertaining wedding at the Three Tuns in Staple. There was scarcely a cloud in the sky (after rain had been forecast!) and, as a result, the sun was merciless. We managed to find a shady spot for the group photos and these were lit using flash. Like all charming country pubs the interior of the Three Tuns was quite dark, and so it was diffused flash all day, with plenty of opportunities for wireless off-camera lighting. My poor old Speedlites were glowing by the end of the day.

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First and second-curtain sync

For further photography-related information check out my compendium of tips.

It's worth reading the previous two posts before tackling this one. Except for when using FP mode on your Speedlite, the shutter is fully open when the flash fires. The shutter is fully open when the first curtain has come to rest, and before the second curtain has started moving - the time that the shutter is open is at least 10x longer than the flash duration. When does the flash fire? By default, at the first possible opportunity - when the first curtain has come to rest and the shutter has just opened. This is termed first-curtain sync. More sophisticated flash units also give you the opportunity to fire the flash just before the second curtain starts moving and the shutter starts to close - second-curtain sync. This is accessible on the 580EX II Speedlite by the button just below the red box shown in the previous post.

To see the impact of curtain sync, check out the images above. The camera was in aperture priority mode (the flash behaves differently depending upon which mode you're in - a subject for a future post) and to expose for the ambient light conditions a shutter speed of 1/2 sec was required - using flash with long exposure times to record ambient light is known as 'dragging the shutter'. In the first example I set the toy rolling (right to left) and used a remote shutter release to trigger the camera, mounted on a tripod, without firing the flash - the toy travelled for the entire duration of the shot and hence is completely blurred. In the second example I switched on the flash. It fired as soon as the first curtain had come to rest, freezing the motion of the toy, and then the shutter stayed open (to record the ambient light) for the remainder of the 1/2 sec exposure time - thus a sharp image of the toy was recorded (when the flash fired at the beginning of the exposure) followed by a blur - the result of which makes the toy appear as if it is travelling backwards. In the third example I set the Speedlite to second-curtain sync. Now a blurred image of the toy was recorded until the flash fired just at the last moment (before the second curtain started to move and close the shutter) to record a sharp image - in this case, the toy appears to be travelling forwards and gives a visually more appealing sense of movement.

Capiche? Please post a comment if further explanation is required.

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High-speed sync (FP) flash

For further photography-related information check out my compendium of tips.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the EX-series of Speedlites have an option that allows you to use flash even when your shot requires a shutter speed faster than the X-sync (flash sync) speed. It's termed high speed sync mode (technically known as FP, or focal plane, mode for historical reasons, though this abbreviation has been referred to as fast pulse, which more accurately describes what the flash unit is doing) and is highlighted by a red box in the picture above. A quick remider - at shutter speeds faster than the X-sync speed only part of the sensor will be exposed to the scene at any one time, as one curtain starts to move before the other has come to rest. To overcome this, the unit pulses the light very quickly (50 KHz), effectively creating constant light for the duration of the shot - this is the elegant solution that FP mode offers. When I'm shooting outside I always have the flash unit set to FP. The price you pay is that the flash output is significantly reduced (to about a third), but by shooting at a wide aperture and getting close to your subject, less light output will be required as fill to balance the ambient, or key, light.

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X-sync (flash sync) speed

For further photography-related information check out my compendium of tips.

The shutter in your camera consists of two metal plates (known as the first- and second-curtains) which travel sequentially (the time lag being determined by the shutter speed you set) to expose the digital sensor to light. They travel vertically, as the distance is shorter and allows faster shutter speeds. The sequence is illustrated in the above pictures. Once the shutter speed reaches a certain point (known as the X-sync speed), the second curtain is on the move before the first curtain has come to rest. This means that the sensor is only ever exposed to a narrow band of the scene at any moment. Have a good think about it - once you've got to grips with the concept we can explain flash sync and second-curtain sync.

A burst of flash lasts only milliseconds, and since you want all of the area in your shot to be illuminated equally, the sensor must be fully exposed to the scene when the flash fires. It's no good if only a narrow band is exposed as only this area will be lit by flash - the rest will be dark. Therefore the camera needs to synchronise the firing of the flash with the movement of the curtains. The fastest shutter speed at which this can occur is known as the X-sync, or flash sync, speed. The faster the curtains can physically move, the faster the X-sync on the camera will be. On a Canon EOS-5D it's 1/200 sec - not that impressive.

So what, you might ask. Unfortunately, this does create limitations (particularly for the long-suffering wedding photographer). Imagine you're outside on a very bright sunny day - it's midday and there's no shade available. You want to take a picture of the bride and you're aware that the lighting will create high contrast shadows under her brow (panda eyes) and nose. Since you're a competent photographer you decide to add a touch of fill-flash (maybe with some positive flash exposure compensation). You've stopped your lens down to f/22 and set your ISO speed as low as it will go (to get the slowest shutter speed you can) but the camera still only needs 1/1000 sec to expose the scene correctly. You switch the flash on to take the shot and you see the X-sync shutter speed flashing in your viewfinder. This is the camera telling you that if you use the flash you're going to get this shutter speed and consequently over-expose the shot. You could add a neutral density filter and polariser to reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor, but at a wedding you're unlikely to have the time. If you have an EX-series Speedlite there is an alternative escape route - I'll tell you about it in the next post.

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