DIY Kent Wedding Photography

This device could be the biggest threat to wedding photographers yet devised - as long as the subjects don't mind having an outstretched arm in every photo!

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Kent portrait photographer - published work

I made the front cover of RSC  News this week, the hard-hitting news journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry - a highly sought after accolade amongst the UK photographic community. Well, perhaps not, but it's always nice to see one's work in print.

I also had a photo published in The Scientist magazine this week. Not all the subjects could make the same photoshoot, so Elna, on the left, had to be photoshopped in! Unfortunately, the dimensions of the final photo differed from that in the brief, which scuppered my composition, but they paid well so I'm not complaining.

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Wedding Photographer in Kent - Monopods

I always have a monopod strapped to my photography trolley. I tend to use it during wedding speeches and sometimes for candids of guests shot outside, both occasions when I shoot with a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lens.

I'm currently using a Manfrotto 685B Neotec monopod - it's a well-designed and elegantly-constructed piece of kit. The headline is the automatic Neotec locking system - no twisting or tightening of clamps required, just extend the legs (whilst standing on the foot pedal to keep the monopod firmly grounded) and they lock automatically. To contract the monopod you release a safety lock with your small finger and then squeeze the palm trigger with your other three fingers - this allows for one-handed operation. It also features a suction foot cup for floor stability and a leg warmer (carrying a cold monopod without one of these is not a pleasant experience). The monopod is light, but able to support 8kg of kit, and has a good height range of 71-166cm.

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Wedding Photography in Kent - Locations

According to a recent BBC online article, 'couples in England now have greater choice about which church they can chose for their wedding. They can now marry anywhere they have lived for six months or where their parents or grandparents were married' - provided they are a regular member of the congregation for a time period set by the officiating minister.

The article goes on to say that civil venues offer a little more scope but inaccurately states that 'getting married outdoors in not an option'. Many civil ceremony venues have gazebos in their grounds which are used for the ceremony - St Augustine's in Westgate and The Staple Inn in Wingham spring to mind.

Other countries are much more relaxed about these matters. Since 2002 in Scotland, couples can get married anywhere provided an official can be convinced to conduct the ceremony. The US goes one step further in that anyone can become ordained online for free and then officiate at a ceremony!

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Wedding Photographer Kent - CP-E4 battery pack

I use my 580EX II Speedlites in 75% of my shots but typically I only add a "kiss of flash", with flash exposure compensation dialled down by at least 2/3 stop, and this often allows me to use the same set of batteries for a whole wedding, particularly during the summer. As the winter months draw on, and light levels drop, my flash units have to work a lot harder so I break out the Canon CP-E4 external battery pack. This unit takes 8 AA batteries (I use NiMH rechargeable batteries which recycle more quickly), which in conjunction with the 4 AA batteries in the flash unit, means you have 3 times as much power at your disposal. The key benefits are faster recycling times and longer usage between battery changes. The flash unit also seems to stay cooler (which makes sense, though I've never seen any hard facts to back up this observation).

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Kent Wedding Photographer in Folkestone

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

I did a photoshoot at the Quality Burlington Hotel in Folkestone last Sunday and employed the high dynamic range (HDR) technique rather than lighting interiors. The tonal range was so extreme in some of the shots that I put the camera into manual mode and made 5 exposures at -4, -2, 0, +2, +4 stops of exposure, relative to the metered exposure, and then blended the shots using Photomatix Pro.

I used my 16-35mm f/2.8L lens and made some corrections for perspective distortion using the lens correction filter in Photoshop during post-production. I also did some selective levels and contrast adjustments to the shots.

The benefits of this process is beautifully illustrated by the shot of the room with a seaview where details from shadow regions in the room to the reflection of the sun on the sea are all captured.

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Wedding Photographer in Kent - Favourite Lenses

I've just read an article in the Canon Professional Network's October 2008 Newsletter on Favourite Lenses for Weddings.

In his wedding kit bag (no doubt carried by his photographic 'caddy'), renowned wedding photographer Joe Buissink has two EOS 5Ds with 24-70mm f/2.8L and 85mm f/1.2L (his all-time favourite) lenses, and two EOS 1V film SLRs with 16-35mm f/2.8L and 70-200mm f/2.8L lenses.

He's obviously read my recent post on Lenses for Wedding Photography!

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Kent Wedding Photographer in Whitstable

I had the pleasure of photographing Victoria and Mark's wedding on Saturday at All Saints Church, Whitstable and Mount Ephraim Gardens, near Canterbury - see their wedding gallery.

It was another beautiful October day. Unfortunately though, the sun was unsoftened by covering cloud for most of the day which, in combination with its low position in the sky, made for tricky lighting conditions - very strong contrast and long shadows. The light inside the church was even worse - a mixture of light sources with different colour temperatures. Post-production was involved!

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Lenses for Wedding Photography

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

I received a great question from a reader yesterday:

Hi there,

I've been reading your wedding blog with interest. I'm not a wedding pro, but aspire to that standard, and have just ordered a Canon EOS 5D MKII. I've read the post regarding the lenses you take to weddings but wondered which you recommend for bread-and-butter wedding use. Which 3 lenses would you say are must-haves in your experience?

I was thinking of initially buying the 35mm f/1.4, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/2. I'm also tempted by the 16-35 f/2.8 but have read some negative reviews.

Great blog by the way.

Thank you.

George Bain

Thanks for the question George and many thanks for the positive feedback on my blog. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that people enjoy reading it.

So which are the 3 must-have lenses for a wedding photographer? The lenses that I currently take with me to all weddings are the 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye, 16-35mm f/2.8 L II, 35mm f/1.4 L, 24-70mm f/2.8 L, 85mm f/1.2 L and 70-200 f/2.8 L IS. Bear in mind that I'm using a full-frame Canon EOS 5D with no crop factor. Rather than speculate as to which of these lenses I think are most important I've used Lightroom 2 to analyse the metadata from my last 10 weddings in order to see how frequently I actually use each of the lenses (I need to get out more!). Numbered weddings in the first column, percentage use of each lens in the following columns and average use in the bottom row.

A few observations:

1. Perhaps I should remove the 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye from my bag! I only used it at wedding 3 (for some shots on a beach).

2. The focal length range 16-70mm completely dominates every wedding I shoot. The 16-35mm f/2.8 L II is my most used lens. I think this reflects the compact nature of many wedding venues and my desire to shoot people with their environment. The 24-70 f/2.8 L is my next most frequently used lens.

3. The 35mm prime lens is used less frequently at weddings with shorter coverage time. I stick to the zooms to save time.

4. My 85mm f/1.2 L is primarily employed for the bride and groom portrait session and usage reflects the length of time that is allowed for this aspect of the wedding.

5. Weddings 2, 4, 5 and 7 were mainly shot indoors due to poor weather. The 70-200 f/2.8 L lens was then often unused.

6. The length of coverage, structure of the day, nature of venue and quality of weather all have an impact on lens usage.

So on the basis of this analyis my recommendations would have to be the 16-35mm f/2.8 L, the 24-70mm f/2.8 L and the 85mm f/1.2 L (or cheaper f/1.8 variant) for the portrait session - that dreamy bokeh is just irresistible for weddings. A pretty portable set of 3 lenses.

You will always be able to find a negative review of any piece of kit - people are much more likely to write one if they've had a bad experience. Lenses, in particular, show variability and it is possible to buy poor quality examples of them. If you're not happy with a lens then ask for it to be replaced - the more supporting evidence you can provide for this claim, the more willing the vendor will be to help you (theoretically).

Hope you enjoyed reading this. Please feel free to feedback your comments. I think I'll speculate further on lenses in future posts.

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Wedding Photographer Kent - Hadlow, Tonbridge

I had the pleasure of photographing Natasha and Chris's wedding on Saturday at Hadlow Manor Hotel, near Tonbridge - see their wedding gallery. It was an absolutely lovely day, warm and sunny, and we were surrounded by the beautiful colours of autumn. Natasha and Chris were absolutely charming and non-stop smilers - it made my job very easy!

Since the sun was so low in the sky I had to avoid casting my own shadow on subjects and sunlight entering the lens directly to give lens flare. The quality of light under the shelter of trees though was superb.

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Alex Hughes Photoshoot, Margate

I had a great time photographing up-and-coming singer Alex Hughes yesterday at Arlington House in Margate. Gritty would be a polite way of describing the location but it was the perfect setting for the shoot I had in mind. His producer Ted Carfrae came along and very kindly held my wireless flash unit and reflector for some of the shots!

Alex and Ted were a real pleasure to work with and I wish them all possible success with Alex's new album. I think Alex could have a future in modelling too - he was wonderfully relaxed and confident in front of the camera. Virtually all the shots were keepers.

The photoshoot took place at midday which meant that no direct sunlight reached us in the covered ground floor car park that we used. The quantity of light was low (ISO 1600 for some of the shots) but the quality was very high. Most of the shots used natural light but I also shot a few with a 580EX II Speedlite triggered with an ST-E2 Speedlite transmitter.

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Finding your way around my blog

I've been blogging for 6 months now and, having reached almost 150 posts, it was getting difficult even for me to find previous material. I therefore decided this morning to re-classify all the posts in such a way as to accomodate the needs of the different sets of people who regularly read my blog - some are potential clients, others want to know only about the technical side of photography.

This classification system is visible under the title 'Labels' on the right hand sidebar. Getting this to display was not a trivial exercise as I'm using a classic Blogger template and publishing via FTP to my own website. Many thanks to phydeaux3 for the HTML script, though unfortunately it's not possible to display the number of posts under each heading.

Feedback: comments from previous clients - weddings and other.

General: photography related issues.

Kit: equipment reviews and tips.

Personal: family and personal projects.

Portraits: both people and places.

Technical: photography tips and educational material.

Weddings: samples from my wedding portfolio.

I hope this makes it easier for my readers.

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Apple Cinema Displays

I'm a huge fan of Apple's products - premium-priced but well-designed and built and with resulting longevity. I've got a Mac running my mini music studio (another passion) which is over 10-years old.

I've just had my first problem though. I bought a 23" Apple Cinema Display (£600) last year and declined to purchase the 3-year Apple Protection Plan (£69). The products are so robust and I treat them very well so why bother? Wrong answer this time. Last week the screen remained ominously dark when I switched on the computer so I took it to the Apple Shop at Bluewater. They couldn't get it working with its power supply but, by complete chance (and in retrospect very good fortune), it was tried with a power supply for the 30" Cinema Display they had to hand and it worked fine. They therefore concluded my power supply was at fault and ordered a new one for me. I returned 3 days later to try this out but the screen still refused to work. I was asked to leave the screen with them and told that if it was at fault Apple operated a full-unit replacement only and it would cost me £400 for a new one with a limited 90-day warranty. Not ideal.

I needed a screen straight away (and also realised it was probably a good idea to have a back-up) so I bit the bullet and invested in a 30" cinema display (with Apple Protection Plan this time). Outrageously expensive but a magnificent bit of kit and with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels perfect for photo processing.

I got a call from the Apple shop the next day to let me know they couldn't get my screen working so I suggested they try a power supply for a 30" display. They called back shortly after to say the screen worked perfectly. For some reason my old screen seems to require more power now - any suggestions as to why are most welcome.

I just need to buy myself a new power supply then - so I seem to have got off relatively lightly. I haven't checked the price yet but, knowing Apple, I'm sure it will be in 3 figures.

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Portrait photography at Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent

I was hired by the American science magazine 'The Scientist' last week to take a portrait shot of some of the people involved with Celsentri (maraviroc), Pfizer's new anti-HIV medicine, that was discovered and developed at Sandwich. I only had a 5 minute session for photography so I did a very quick location scout before meeting up with them. It was then primarily a question of getting them looking relaxed and in pin-sharp focus. The ambient light was underexposed by -2/3 stops and the subjects were flash-lit with flash exposure compensation of -2/3 stops.

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Emily's Photobook

I was invited to beta-test a printer's latest Mac software for album design last week and so decided to put together a photobook of my daughter Emily's first year. I'm sure all parents think the same - where did that year go! I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and I'd recommend putting together albums of your favourite photos - it's good to get the shots off the monitor and into printed form.

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Wedding Photography at Mount Ephraim Gardens

I had the pleasure of photographing Fleur and Aatif's wedding yesterday at Mount Ephraim Gardens near Canterbury - see their wedding gallery. After having had the last two weekends off and enjoyed wonderful weather I was welcomed back to wedding photography by rain and high winds! It certainly didn't spoil the day or limit the photography though. The main hall has a wonderful glass roof giving good levels of light inside - a great venue for photography.

Fleur and Aatif had a civil ceremony followed by a Muslim blessing, bringing together English and Pakistani families in the process, and in joyous contrast to the cultural divisions that are daily reported from around the globe.

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Kent Wedding Photographer - feedback

I received feedback from Suzanne and Steve yesterday regarding their wedding that I covered a few weeks ago - see their wedding gallery.

David was FANTASTIC!

Before, during and after the wedding David was extremely professional and organised - someone we knew we could rely on. On the day he made us feel wonderfully relaxed and took amazing photos that we love. He even made us look good!

David's presence at our wedding was non-obtrusive and all our guests thought he was superb.

We would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone. He really added to our day.

Steve and Suzanne

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Wedding Photography - minimising risk

Having written yesterday about what I'd do in the event of illness I thought that today I'd tackle the other main threat to the wedding photographer - equipment failure.

I've yet to experience total failure of any of my equipment but there's a chance that it will happen eventually in spite of all the precautions I take. The question is, how does an experienced wedding photographer minimise the risk of this happening and then reduce the impact of failure?

1. The most obvious answer is to have spares of everything. I currently take 3 camera bodies, 6 lenses, 16x 4Gb memory cards and a huge number of spare batteries.

2. All my equipment is well-maintained and serviced. At the first sign of any problem the item is dispatched to Canon UK in Borehamwood to be serviced.

3. Memory cards have to be treated with particular respect. I always feel more relaxed when I've downloaded their contents to my computer after a wedding. I buy only top quality SanDisk memory cards and replace them regularly. I typically use 8 during a wedding which means I only store 100 photos on each card - much less of an impact if any develops a fault (although I have all the relevant recovery software required to extract the contents from the card if one does). I could buy a 32 Gb card and use only that for a wedding but the well-known phrase involving eggs and baskets springs to mind.

As I stated yesterday, nothing in life is certain, but with the precautions outlined above the chances of equipment failure ruining a wedding shoot are minimised.

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