Emily and her Nana at Deal beach

My final set of photos from last weekend - I was very busy! Emily and my Mum at Deal beach in Kent on Sunday afternoon. Taken with an 85mm f/1.2 L lens.

I'm setting off for Sidcup shortly to photograph a wedding and will be shooting another in Dover tomorrow. August is  the cruellest month!

Check out more of my photography here: wedding photography in Kent

Feedback from Carly and James

I received some lovely feedback from Carly and James yesterday whose wedding I photographed at Whitstable Castle on Saturday.

Thank you so much for being our wedding photographer David. From start to finish you have been so helpful and professional. You've always been on the other end of the e-mail whenever I've had a question which had been really appreciated.

Our wedding day was amazing and we're so glad that you were there to capture it for us. You were so calming on the day and helped us to feel relaxed in front of the camera.

The photos are of great quality and were delivered to us so quickly. I am so glad that we have them as a memento of our day.

You service is such excellent value for money and I will not hesitate to recommend you in the future.

We wish you all the best for the future.

Carly & James (Mr & Mrs Shaw!)

Check out my photography here: wedding photographer in Kent

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.

Check out more of my photography here: Kent photographer

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.

Check out more of portrait photography here: Kent portrait photography

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.

Check out more of my wedding photography here: Kent wedding photographer