Wedding Photography Kent

Here's part two of a selection of photos from Nicky and Michael's wedding that I shot last week at the Ashford International Hotel. Shots with flash were taken mostly with a 5D, without with a 5D Mark II. I didn't warm up my flashlight with gels for this wedding in order to keep the warmth of the ambient light.

manual, 1/50, f/3.5, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

The big group photos were the most demanding shots of the wedding. The room was very poorly lit and space was limited. I had to get the best man and ushers to move, and keep, the guests back to give me room to work. I used three 580EX II Speedlites to light the above shot. One was on camera, set to master, with my usual flash bracket and Lastolite micro Apollo softener, and the other two were on stands, set to slave, and softened by Lastolite EzyBoxes. All flashes were left in group A. Flash ratios were controlled by adjusting flash-to-subject distance. I could just squeeze everyone in with a focal length of 16mm - not ideal due to distortion at the edges of the shot but better than no shot at all. Focus was achieved using the AF-assist beam on the Speedlite.

manual, 1/50, f/3.5, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 24mm

Taken with the same set-up of Speedlites and softeners.

1/200, f/1.4, ISO 1250, +1 EV, 35mm

Taken with the 5D Mark II and 35mm f/1.4 L prime. Aperture priority with +1 exposure compensation to take account of the candles and reflective white table cloth.

manual, 1/50, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

The reception room was pretty dark too. I set the camera to manual with the above settings which was about 2 stops underexposed for the ambient light. Subjects were then lit with flash.

1/60, f/2.8, ISO 6400, +1 EV, 200mm

A chance to check out the high ISO performance of the 5D Mark II - I've discussed this shot in a previous post. I've just read a review of the 5D Mark II in Practical Photography (Feb 2009) which states that, 'ISO performance has improved, although not significantly'. I reckon it's at least a 2-stop improvement - I suppose it depends what you define as significant. It may not be as good as the Nikon D3 or D700 (although the latter appears similar in a comparison test at Photography Bay), but the 5D Mark II allows you to shoot low-noise shots at ISO 6400, perfect for very low-light wedding photography.

1/50, f/2.8, ISO 6400, +1 EV, 125mm

Again the subject is lit by candlelight. You need to keep a careful eye on the quality of light falling on your subjects - you can't just switch to ISO 6400 and imagine that all shots will turn out well.

manual, 1/50, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, -1 FEC, 16mm

Back to the 5D in manual mode with softened flash on the camera bracket. A close-in light subject with a dark background causes the flash to overexpose, so I dialled in -1 stop of flash exposure compensation.

manual, 1/50, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 27mm

E-TTL II copes well when the subject is further away, and with a more even distribution of tones in the shot (I've burnt in the corners here in post-production for a vignette effect).

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 63mm

1/50, f/2.0, ISO 800, -2/3 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm

Taken with off-camera flash. I connected an ST-E2 wireless transmitter to my 5D Mark II and then held a 580EX II Speedlite, with a StoFen omnibounce diffuser fitted to mimic a barebulb, in my left hand. Shot in aperture priority mode with -2/3 exposure compensation.

1/50, f/4.0, ISO 1600, -1 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm

1/60, f/2.8, ISO 1600, -1 EV, 0 FEC, 100mm

The Speedlite was supported by a voice-activated light stand (a guest!) and triggered by the ST-E2.

1/60, f/4.0, ISO 3200, -1 EV, 0 FEC, 70mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

On-camera softened flash with the 5D. Back to manual mode.

1/25, f/2.8, ISO 6400, +1 EV, 16mm

Ambient light only with the 5D Mark II. Exposure compensated for the lit background.

Any comments welcome.

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Wedding Photographer Kent

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1250, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

1/125, f/4.0, ISO 1000, -1 EV, -1/3 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

1/400, f/2.8, ISO 1000, -1.3 EV, -1 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

1/60, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 24mm (24-70mm)

1/200, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 24mm (24-70mm)

1/80, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 24mm (24-70mm)

1/250, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 58mm (24-70mm)

1/250, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 70mm (24-70mm)

1/160, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 24mm (24-70mm)

1/320, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 70mm (24-70mm)

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 48mm (24-70mm)

1/80, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 24mm (24-70mm)

Here's part one of a selection of photos from Nicky and Michael's wedding that I shot last week at the Ashford International Hotel. Light levels in the foyer and ceremony room were good and allowed me to shoot at ISO 1600 with a reasonable shutter speed. The challenging part came later on!

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High ISO performance of Canon EOS 5D Mark II

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

1/60, f/2.8, ISO 6400, +1 EV, 200mm (70-200mm f/2.8 L IS)

I shot part of a wedding with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II last week. I had the opportunity to check out its performance at high ISO when taking candids of the guests during the meal. Light levels were very low, with illumination provided primarily by candlelight.

In my opinion, noise levels at ISO 6400 on the 5D Mark II, under these conditions, are equivalent to about ISO 1250 on the 5D, an improvement of over 2 stops. Zooming to 100%, the noise is visible, as shown on the left in the image above. The result of running the image through NeatImage, using the custom noise profile I created for my camera, followed by sharpening in Photoshop with an unsharp mask, and then a minor tweak to brightness, is shown on the right. A nice improvement in image quality.

The post-processed image is shown above. Noise levels increase considerably when moving to ISO 12,800 and 25,600. However, ISO 6400 in combination with a fast prime lens and a Speedlite will allow you to get great results in the darkest of venues.

It would be interesting to see what the images from this sensor looked like at very high ISO if it only had 12 megapixels, as in the 5D. I'm sure I'm not the only one to wonder this!

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Microadjustment of Canon lenses

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The Canon EOS 5D Mark II allows you to microadjust the autofocus system for each of your lenses. I followed the method described by Keith Cooper on his excellent website. It's based upon moire patterns produced by interference and is very straightforward to carry out.

These are the results I obtained for my lenses:

Canon EF fisheye 15mm f/2.8 -4

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L -2

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L +10

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L -2

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L -4

Canon EF 170-200mm f/2.8 L 0

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 0

All minor tweaks except for the 24-70mm zoom. I then shot a test image, with and without the microadjustment, for each of the lenses to see if there was any visible difference.

I used the above test card which came free with an issue of Digital Camera magazine. It was firmly clamped, to ensure no movement, and the camera was mounted on a tripod, triggered by remote shutter release, with mirror lock-up activated.

Above is an enlargement of the card from shots taken with the 24-70mm zoom lens, with no microadjustment on the left and with the +10 adjustment applied on the right. The image on the right is clearly the sharper of the two. It took about 90 minutes to adjust and test all my lenses and was well worth the effort.

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Kent Photographer in Bromley

We met up with friends in Bromley last weekend, and since I knew there would be lots of photogenic children there, I took my camera with me!

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Kent Wedding Photographer in Deal

1/200, f/5.0, ISO 400, -1/3 EV, 40mm (24-70mm L)

1/400, f/2.8, ISO 200, 0 EV, 24mm (24-70mm L)

1/100, f/4.0, ISO 500, -2/3 EV, 34mm (24-70mm L)

1/50, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 25mm (16-35mm L)

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 16mm

1/40, f/2.0, ISO 3200, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

1/8, f/2.8, ISO 1600, +1 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm

1/40, f/2.8, ISO 3200, +2/3 EV, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

1/60, f/3.5, ISO 3200, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

I had the pleasure of photographing Kerry and Simon's wedding at Deal Castle on Saturday - check out their wedding gallery. The weather was fantastic, incredibly mild, and the sunset was magnificent.

Light levels inside the castle were very low so I put the camera into manual mode - 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600 - and used flash, with appropriate FEC, for lighting. I pushed the ISO to 3200 for some of the shots at mealtime, turned the flash off, and used just candlelight!

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Wedding at Ashford International Hotel

1/50, f/4.0, ISO 6400, -1 EV, 0 FEC, 70mm (70-200mm f/2.8 L IS)

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, off-camera flash

I had a great day yesterday photographing Nicky and Michael's wedding at the Ashford International Hotel. It was the first outing for my Canon EOS 5D Mark II which arrived on Monday. I leapt straight in at the deep end and filmed their ceremony in high definition video and then was shooting at ISO 6400 on the dance floor without flash.

My initial impressions of the 5D Mark II are highly favourable. Full review to follow.

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Wedding Photographer Kent

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

Just had this question from a reader:

Hello David

Is there any chance you can tell me how you took and exposed the Deal Castle pics on the blog? They look superb!

Thanks

Matthew

First of all, thank you for the positive feedback Matthew - much appreciated.

These shots were taken at least 30 minutes after sunset when just the last vestiges of light were left in the sky. I put the camera in manual mode - 1/50s, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 22mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L) - which came out at around 2 stops underexposed for the ambient light, which I knew would bring out the colour in the sky.

Flash exposure compensation was dialled to +1 because of the reflectivity of the bride's dress. The flash was mounted on a Custom flash bracket with a Lastolite micro Apollo attached. This acts as a light softener since it hugely increases the size of the light source, as opposed to a Stofen omnibounce which acts as a light diffuser and serves no purpose outside.

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Wedding Photographer Kent at Deal Castle

Just back from Kerry and Simon's wedding at Deal Castle in Kent. Really great afternoon - fantastic light, weather and couple. What more could I ask for?

The great thing about winter weddings is that you can get the lovely post-sunset shots and still be home in time for dinner!

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Wedding Photography Kent

Finally got a call from Cameraworld yesterday saying that my Canon EOS 5D Mark II would be delivered on Monday. No battery grip or spare batteries until the New Year though. I don't think it's unfair to say that Canon was a little premature with the announcement of this camera.

It's not worked out too badly, however. If the camera had arrived earlier, I wouldn't have been able to process any RAW shots anyway, as Lightroom and the Adobe digital negative (DNG) converter have only just been updated.

Note that Adobe are no longer updating either Lightroom 1.4 or Photoshop CS3 with RAW support for recent camera releases. Instead you'll need to use their free DNG converter utility.


I've got a wedding tomorrow and then the last of the year on Tuesday. I'll probably take the 5D Mark II along to the latter as back-up for a quick tryout.


This is my 200th post having only started the blog in April 2008. I hope my blogging stamina will maintain throughout 2009!


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Wedding Photographer Kent - Flash Support

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

When using off-camera flash I often place my Speedlites on lightweight stands fitted with Novoflex Neiger 19 mini-balls (they're sold with flash shoes). This gives almost total freedom in directing the flash light and, in particular, allows you to use the flash in both portrait and landscape orientations. They're very well-made, extremely robust and available from the ever-reliable Speed Graphic for around £20.

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Wedding Photographer Kent - Lightroom Update

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

Adobe have just updated Lightroom to version 2.2.

Download Mac/Windows version.

This version now includes camera support for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II (for those of you lucky enough to have one!)

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Kent Wedding Photographer - Light

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

It's great to read about the fun people are having with their new Canon EOS 5D Mark IIs (I've yet to receive mine, alas). The performance of the camera at high ISO is apparently stunning and, as a result, I've read quite a few comments suggesting that this will remove the need for flash.

I strongly disagree with this statement.

When thinking about light as photographers we have to consider both the quantity and quality. Cameras with great performance at high ISO are wonderful because they allow us to work with a smaller quantity of ambient light, but this has no correlation with quality of light however.

A lot of photographers seem to think that artificial lighting is purely a means of dealing with low light levels - an issue of quantity. I would argue that it's equally as important at providing a source of good quality light - once the photographer has taken the trouble of mastering the added technical complexities of using artifical light sources. It's liberating - you have a reliable source of good quality light with you at all times. You can shoot when and where you choose to. It is possible to shoot some weddings using only natural light - Jeff Ascough is renowned for this (although I notice that even he has a couple of Speedlites in his kit now) - though I would argue there are many weddings that you can't shoot using only natural light, particularly if your clients are anticipating the classical wedding photography repertoire.

Landscape photographers spend their time 'chasing the light'. Wedding photographers are better off focusing their efforts on 'chasing the moment'.

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Portrait Photographer - Emily

1/100, f/1.4, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

No weddings this weekend but it was neither quiet nor relaxed. These states seem unachievable with a 16-month old charging around the house! I managed to take a few shots of Emily in the process of dismantling the kitchen. Light levels were low but the quality of light was fantastic - reflected light from the white fridge in the shot above is acting as fill light.

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Wedding Photographer Kent

Some black & white conversions from last Saturday's wedding - check out a bigger selection in colour or B&W. These conversions mimic the look of fast B&W film, with a good contrast boost and some grain added to areas of midtone.

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Kent Photographer - shooting tethered

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

I have a very simple and portable studio set-up (collapsible background, reflectors, stands, softboxes and brollies - as shown above) that allows me to produce studio-style portraits (as shown below). I use only Canon Speedlites as light sources, rather than continuous lights, and so it can take a bit of tweaking to get the lighting right. Yes, my 580EX IIs do have a 'modelling light' facility (do not use around those prone to epilepsy!) but it's not as useful as being able to immediately see an image produced with the lighting set-up.

Rather than removing the memory card from the camera to transfer the image to your computer it's possible to 'shoot tethered' - with your camera physically connected to the computer by a USB cable - so that images can be displayed on your monitor immediately. The following instructions are for Canon users (the Canon-suite of software should have accompanied your camera on CD, but make sure you have the right version of the EOS Capture Utility for your camera - it's available for download from Canon) who own Adobe Lightroom (though I'm sure most photo-editing software packages have this facility).

First of all you need to specify a folder which EOS Capture will deliver the files to and which Adobe Lightroom will watch for new files to import. I have one called 'Live' on my desktop.

In Lightroom, go to File-Auto Import and Enable Auto Import. Then in Auto Import Settings specify the Watched Folder - the folder Desktop-Live in my case. You can also specify a 'Destination Folder' for Lightroom to permanently move the files to.

The following sequence of events occurs when I connect my Canon EOS 5D to my MacPro computer - it may differ depending on both your camera model and computer. Connect your camera to your computer using a long USB cable (I bought a 10-metre cable on eBay). When you switch the camera on this should open up the 'Camera Window' utility, which on detecting that a camera is connected rather than a card reader, then opens up the 'Camera Window DSLR' utility. Click on 'Start Remote Shooting' and then choose your specified folder to deliver the images to. EOS Capture (I have version 1.5.0.8) then opens and should display the current settings of your camera.

Take a shot and about 10 seconds later you should see it appear in Lightroom. Much better than the LCD on the back of your camera for checking your lighting set-up.

NB You must have a memory card in your camera for this to work.

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Wedding Photographer in Kent - starting-out kit

I had the following great question from a reader yesterday:

Hi,

Just been looking at your blog, which is excellent. I wonder if you might extend a bit of advice to someone looking to dip a toe into the wedding photography ocean?

I’m making myself available to friends of friends (ie weddings I wouldn’t be invited to myself) who otherwise wouldn’t have a wedding photographer (perhaps couldn’t afford one). At the moment, I have a Canon EOS 350D with a couple of cheapish lenses. I wouldn’t consider myself under any pressure to product fantastic wedding shots and I’m certainly not looking to make a career of this at the moment. However, I do want to produce the best work I can and have some funds available to buy some new kit.

I was really wondering what I should spend my money on. Is the key to good wedding portrait photography through a good camera or good lenses (or both)? In other words, should I spend my money upgrading to a better camera (eg secondhand 5D, 1D etc), or should I purchase some decent EF lenses that would be compatible with my 350D (eg L lenses)?

I’ve already got a decent flash (580EX). It would be useful to take some advice from somebody who’s been there and from looking at your gallery, producing some great shots.

I appreciate you will be busy, but would welcome any advice you might be willing to give.

Many thanks in advance.

Marcus

Obviously there's no right answer to this question. Here's my take on it.

Although digital cameras with smaller sensors have a crop-factor which is to the benefit of cheaper lenses I would be tempted to buy a secondhand Canon EOS 5D since this will allow you to handle lowlight situations - the bane of wedding photographers. The larger pixels on the sensor give a much better signal-to-noise ratio allowing you to shoot at high ISO. Unless of course you can be certain that you'll be shooting in well-lit venues on bright days! Partnered with your 580EX Speedlite you'll be able to handle nearly all lighting conditions.

Obviously a 5D will not work with EF-S lenses. You could pick up a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens, which is incredibly fast and has superb optics, for £60. You could shoot a wedding with just this.

Sigma also make some great lenses - check out the 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG.

There are a few Canon L-series lenses which don't break the bank. The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L (though you'll need to crank up the ISO setting to give you at least 1/200s at f/4.0 when shooting at 200mm in low-light levels) and the Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L are both worth checking out.

As always, comments are most welcome.

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The Kent Wedding Photographer - not in Kent

I had the pleasure of photographing Felicity and Dan's wedding last Saturday at Newstead Priory in Brigg, Lincolnshire - check out their wedding gallery. As mentioned in a previous post, I don't normally travel so far to photograph a wedding (it's neither in the clients, nor my interest, to do so) but Dan is an old friend, and I was there as both guest and photographer.

Shooting started at the Forest Pines Hotel at 11:30am with the bridal preparations. I was then driven to the venue (with a packed lunch en route) to photograph Dan with his best man and ushers at 1pm, followed by candids of guests arriving from 1:45pm onwards. The bridal party arrived at 2:25pm and the ceremony took place from 2:30-3:00pm. We then took the formal group shots immediately, which allowed us to take some bride and groom shots with the setting sun in the background at 3:45pm. The time of sunset was known in advance (check out the time of sunset by postcode calculator) which allowed us to plan our timings with these shots in mind. I then took further bride and groom portraits in the Priory until 4:30pm, when we joined the other guests in the dining area for some candids shots, before dinner at 5:00pm. I then photographed the speeches, the mock cake cut and first dance before putting my camera down for a well-earnt break. Wedding photography is hard work!

Everything went smoothly except for battery troubles just before the ceremony. Shooting with a battery grip means I have two BP-511 batteries powering the camera, which generally lasts all day. Unfortunately, it was so cold on Saturday that this severly reduced the batteries performance and the battery power indicator started blinking at about 2:10pm after 70 minutes of shooting outside. I put in two fresh batteries but the indicator started blinking again at 2:20pm - just 10 minutes use! I think it was because the camera body was so cold. I put another two fresh batteries in my pocket (I carry 8 with me!) just in case I needed them but the charge indicator returned to normal as the camera warmed up. Panic over!

Now for a selection of photos with commentary - check out the post on EXIF data for an explanation of the information below each of the images.

1/400, f/1.4, ISO 400, -1/3 EV, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

Shot wide open to minimise depth of field - this does require good focusing technique though. I could have reduced the ISO for this particular shot, but for the sequence of shots taken at this time, at a variety of apertures, ISO 400 allowed me to keep the ISO setting constant. I'm not too worried about always getting the lowest ISO setting for every shot. The slight negative exposure compensation accounts for the dark tones in the background and prevents any burn out of highlights. I didn't need to reduce this by too much as her white dressing gown counteracted the background.

1/200, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

1/200, f/3.5, ISO 1600, -1/3 EV, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

Wide-angle lenses are essential for capturing more of a scene - a so-called environmental portrait - when working in a tight space. Perspective distortion is the downside though - some corrections can be made in Photoshop.

1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 200, 0 EV, 70mm (70-200mm f/2.8 L IS)

Working outside gives the 70-200mm f/2.8 L zoom lens a chance to shine. The dark and light tones average out to medium grey so no exposure compensation was required.

1/1600, f/1.4, ISO 200, 0 EV, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

The occasional humorous shot livens up proceedings! The 35mm prime lens is sharp wide open.

1/60, f/3.2, ISO 1600, 0 EV, +2/3 FEC, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

The ceremony room was cramped. I took a few shots at 16mm even though perspective distortion is obvious. Rather than upping the exposure compensation to take account of the backlighting (which I had tried in an earlier shot, but which led to the bride and groom being engulfed in a light haze, reducing contrast) I upped flash output by 2/3 of a stop to light the scene.

1/200, f/4.5, ISO 400, -1 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

Outside for the sunset. Ambient exposure was reduced by 1 stop to bring out the colours in the sky. I took a few shots, varying both the ambient and flash exposures.

1/80, f/2.0, ISO 1600, 0 EV, -1/3 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

Indoors to warm up - both the bride and my flash light! From now on I had a full colour temperature orange flash gel on my Speedlite to balance the tungsten-dominated indoor light.

1/100, f/2.0, ISO 3200, +2/3 EV, +1/3 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

Light levels indoors were low - up to ISO 3200. Positive exposure compensation to account for the bright background and full blast from the flash because of my distance away from the subjects.

1/160, f/2.0, ISO 3200, +2/3 EV, -1/3 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

Flash exposure compensation reduced as I come in closer.

1/100, f/1.4, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

No flash for this one. Spotted a nice pool of light from a tungsten lamp.

man, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

The reception venue was so dark I switched to manual mode. A shutter speed of 1/50 is as slow as I dared go shooting candids. The lens was wide open. Basically I'm getting as much ambient light as possible without risking subject blur. Most of the exposures were at least 2 stops under-exposed though. Keep an eye on your camera's light meter when you move to better lit areas - don't over-expose your shots! TTL flash metering (with FEC of between 0 and -1 depending on my distance from the subject and the background tones) then lit the subject. From now on I was using the CP-E4 battery pack to ensure good recycling times of the flash.

man, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 0 EV, -2/3 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

man, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 0 EV, -2/3 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

1/250, f/1.4, ISO 3200, -2/3 EV, -2 FEC, 35mm (35mm f/1.4 L)

A great example of the camera flash metering being fooled by the dark background. FEC of -2 stops to prevent the subject being completely overexposed.

man, 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 3200, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 23mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

No comment!

1/50, f/1.2, ISO 3200, +1/3 EV, 85mm (85mm f/1.2 L)

No flash - 1/50, f/1.2 at ISO 3200 shows you how dark the venue was. Fast lenses partnered with an EOS 5D are an ideal combination in low-light conditions.

man, 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 3200, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

Back to manual mode for the dance floor. Stopped down to f/4.0 for a bit more depth of field.

man, 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 3200, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

man, 1/60, f/4.0, ISO 3200, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm (16-35mm f/2.8 L)

I hope you enjoyed this detailed overview of Saturday's wedding shoot. Feel free to contact me with any comments or questions.

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The roving Kent Wedding Photographer

I'm just back from photographing Felicity and Dan's wedding at Newstead Priory in Brigg, Lincolnshire, and what a wonderful occasion it was. I don't normally travel so far for wedding jobs but it was a pleasure in this case, as Dan is an old friend. It was absolutely freezing! My batteries kept losing their charge - I had to pass them on to the ushers to warm them in their trouser pockets.

Above is image number 1 taken at 10pm on Friday evening. I then photographed from 11:30am to 9:30pm on Saturday and, even with plenty of breaks for food, refreshment and gossip, I took a huge number of photos. Processing may take some time.

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Kent Wedding Photographer - Canon 35mm f/1.4 lens

I bought the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L lens earlier this year and have no regrets for doing so – the image quality from this lens is stunning, in terms of sharpness, colour and contrast.

I wanted a very fast wide angle lens for low-light wedding photography to complement my 85mm f/1.2 L lens. I grappled with the dilemma of whether to buy the 24mm f/1.4 L or 35mm f/1.4 L and decided on the latter as it’s a more general purpose focal length – at 24mm perspective distortion becomes an issue. Although 50mm is regarded as the ‘standard’ focal length I think 35mm corresponds more closely to human vision – or mine at least!

The lens is beautifully constructed but is light. It features ultrasonic motors for rapid, silent focusing and supports full-time manual focus. The lens focuses very quickly in low light and I find it more efficient and reliable than the 24-70 f/2.8 L zoom lens. On the full-frame EOS 5D vignetting (darkening towards the corners of the image) is visible when the lens is wide open (f/1.4) but this is easily corrected in Lightroom or Photoshop. As the aperture is reduced from f/1.4 to f/2.0 there is an increase in sharpness but I regularly shoot at f/1.4 and find the results sufficiently sharp for my purposes.

I process at least 700 wedding shots using Lightroom most weekends on my 30” Apple Cinema Display (which is pretty unforgiving in exposing image flaws) and, as I work through the images in the development module, those from the prime lenses stand out. You would expect this from first principles, on the basis that the optics of the lens should be close-to-perfect for this single focal length, but it is reassuring to see it in practice.

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Kent Portrait Photographer in Gillingham

I had the pleasure of conducting a portrait photoshoot with Mia and her parents on Sunday - check out her gallery. Mia was an absolute pleasure to work with and behaved perfectly for over an hour - it made my life very easy.

All of the above shots were taken with the Canon 35mm f/1.4 L prime lens - a superb piece of glass - and used just window light. There wasn't much light, as it was overcast outside (ISOs ranged from 500-1250), but the quality of light was excellent. I shot at apertures ranging from f/1.4 to f/4.0 with exposure compensation for backlit scenes.

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Wedding Photographer in Kent - EOS 5D Mark II

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is now shipping in limited quantities and some stock is available in the UK. Keith Cooper at Northlight Images has done a terrific job of keeping everybody up-to-date with developments - check out his 5D Mark II news page.

I'm hoping for a call from Cameraworld about my pre-order today. Fingers crossed!

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