Wedding Photographers in Medway

Kathy and Lee's wedding gallery, photographed at Holy Trinity Church, Twydall and Gillingham Golf Club on Saturday, is now online.

My website: photographers in Kent

Weddings in Medway

I had the pleasure of photographing Kathy and Lee's wedding yesterday at Holy Trinity Church, Twydall and Gillingham Golf Club. There was a brief downpour making it my first wet wedding of 2009. Obviously the Wimbledon effect!

Their wedding gallery will be appearing shortly.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Weddings in Gillingham

A selection of photos from Kelly and Craig's wedding in Gillingham last Saturday. The church was in a built-up area so careful framing (and a bit of cloning in post-processing) was required.

The one green corner of the church. Unfortunately there were a couple of lamp posts and signs in the background which had to be cloned out.

If you look carefully you can see the best man being showered with holy water from the blessing of the rings!

Options were limited in the reception hall so I concentrated on close-in portraiture.

A very special relationship - one man and his pint!

My main website: wedding photographers in Kent

One lens to do one job really well!

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

I had a great question from a reader yesterday.

Hi David,

I hope you don’t mind me emailing you out of the blue, I always enjoy reading your blog and thought I would push my luck with the following question. Anyway, I have an interesting event coming up and if you can spare the time I would really appreciate any thoughts you may care to offer as you are without doubt the most qualified person I can think of on the matter!

My brother Rob is getting married next April and I'm hoping to get some nice pictures. I should stress that I’m only a keen amateur. I will be using a Canon 450D which has a cropped sensor, the lenses I have at present are the Canon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 and Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-4.6 (this may change to Nikon kit in due course but the principle of the question doesn't really change).

I know that there is nothing especially poor with my lenses, however I’m thinking that as it’s going to be such a special day I might hire a top-notch lens to firstly increase my enjoyment of the day and secondly to hopefully obtain some better pictures!

My thoughts are that I would only wish to carry the camera with lens attached as I don’t want the hassle of changing lenses nor do I fancy spending the whole day with the unused lens in my pocket or carrying a separate bag with it inside. Just a camera and lens seems right. I’m guessing at this stage your bracing yourself for the inevitable 'which lens to take' question however there is a bit of a twist! ….

I'm probably going to be concentrating on taking candid portraits and especially so of my 3 year old nephew and so I’m not interested in taking pictures of the same thing that everybody else captures. Things like the the wedding vows, speeches, aisle walk etc are not important as they will be well documented by others, plus it’s my brothers wedding and I want to watch the important bits with my eyes and not through a lens!

I’d rather come home with only a few pictures that stood out rather than 100s of pictures of the usual quality. Question is how do I achieve it!! Obviously an f2.8L zoom would seem to fit the bill for a great all rounder but I’m thinking one step ahead of that (or at least I think I am!). I'd rather have a lens that absolutely excelled at one particular type of picture than having a jack of all trades, master of none type lens and so I’m thinking of specialising in portraits with good bokeh on the basis that nobody else apart from the professional will have an f1.2 lens in their bag to achieve it and he she wont be pointing hers where I’m pointing mine. Therefore my plan should result in me producing portraits with unique characteristics, i.e. bokeh.

I think my plan a good one, at least in theory!!!

My thoughts are that the following lenses would fit the bill:

50mm f1.2L USM (80mm on cropped sensor)
(small, compact, light, inconspicuous, great for leaving camera with other people for moments I can’t hold it and comfortable when the camera is around my neck).

Or

85mm f1.2L II USM (136mm on cropped sensor)

I know that you must get hundreds of which lens questions but I really have tried to work it out myself, I’m just stuck on the last bit and interested on whether you think an amateur (and the AF) could handle an f1.4 with a 50mph kid or would I be better off with an f2.8 zoom.

Any thoughts you might have on a lens choice would be very much appreciated and obviously I appreciate that you are a busy man so there is absolutely no rush for any response you may care to give.

Best regards

Andy

Hi Andy,

Many thanks for your positive feedback.

I love receiving questions - particularly when they're as well-thought out and eloquently written as yours is.

I think your analysis is absolutely spot on. One lens to do one job really well.

However, rather than hiring a 50mm f/1.2 I would suggest you buy a 50mm f/1.8 - they're about £80 at the moment.

It's not an L-series lens but the optical quality is absolutely stunning. In terms of value-for-money it's Canon's best lens. You'll be able to have a good go with it before the wedding - shooting at wide aperture close-up to a subject requires a bit of practice - and you'll be able to enjoy it after the wedding too. You may need to start using focusing points other than the centre - focus-recompose can leave your subject out of focus.

Keep me posted with what you do.

All the best,

David

Any other suggestions for Andy?

My main website: Kent wedding photographers

New look wedding galleries

I've had no time to blog this week as I've been busy working on my website - for the better I hope!

Check out examples of my new look gallery overview and gallery pages.

Any feedback is most welcome.

My main website: Kent photographers

Wedding photography in Medway

Kelly and Craig's wedding gallery, photographed at St Peter of the Apostle Church and Balmoral Masonic Hall in Gillingham, is now online to view.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Wedding photography in Gillingham

I had the pleasure of photographing Kelly and Craig's wedding yesterday at St Peter of the Apostle Church and Balmoral Masonic Hall in Gillingham. Their wedding gallery will be online shortly.

My main website: Kent photographers

Wedding photographers in Sevenoaks

Continuing from yesterday, a selection of photos from Kim and Stephen's wedding in black and white.

My main website: photographers in Kent

Weddings in Sevenoaks

A selection of colour photos from Kim and Stephen's wedding at Stansted, near Sevenoaks, on Saturday. B&W tomorrow.

My main website: wedding photographers in Kent

Wedding photography in Sevenoaks

Kim and Stephen's wedding gallery, photographed at St Mary's Church and the village green Stansted, near Sevenoaks, on Saturday is now available to view online.

My main website: Kent wedding photographer

My key photographic tips

I've gathered together what I think are the key technical posts I've made over the past year and published them on my main website - check them out here: key techniques

This should make it a little easier to read and print out anything you're interested in.

My main website: photographer in Kent

Wedding photography at Stansted, near Sevenoaks

I had the pleasure of photographing Kim and Stephen's wedding at St Mary's Church, and the village green, Stansted yesterday - and what a beautiful village Stansted is. It was sunny but with plenty of cloud cover to soften the light - perfect! The church was lovely and the vicar utterly charming - "there are no rules here, do what you need to do", he told me. Music to a photographer's ears! Kim and Stephen, and all their family and guests, were on top form - it made my job very easy.

Their online gallery will appear shortly.

My main website: Kent wedding photographer

Wedding Photographer in Bearsted and Lenham

A selection of photos from Charlotte and Steven's wedding at the Holy Cross Church, Bearsted and the Lime Tree Hotel, Lenham - see their full wedding gallery.

1/3200, f/1.4, ISO 50, -5/3 EV, 35mm (35)

A classic scenario where negative exposure compensation is required. If I had let the camera meter for this one Steven would have been massively overexposed.

1/1600, f/2.0, ISO 50, -2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 1600, +1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

The quality of light in the church was very poor with the couple being illuminated by a bank of tungsten lamps of differing colour temperature. 

1/60, f/4.0, ISO 1600, +2/3 EV, 16mm (16-35)

A good conversion to black and white removes this issue.

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 2500, +1/3 EV, 70mm (70-200 IS)

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 2500, 0 EV, 200mm (70-200 IS)

1/200, f/3.2, ISO 1600, -1/3 EV, 16mm (16-35)

I used flash to light them as they exited the church and got some good shots. The shot above is without flash as the unit was unable to recycle in time - they were lit nicely by window light, however, so I kept the shot. It's not often this happens and, if it does, I just discard the shot in my initial triage. Using a CP-E4 external battery pack makes it even less frequent, though I'm loathed to have it on my belt at summer weddings.

1/640, f/4.0, ISO 50, -2/3 EV, 16mm (16-35)

1/5000, f/1.4, ISO 50, -2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/3200, f/1.4, ISO 50, -1/3 EV, 35mm (35)

The sun was nicely softened by clouds which made it a lot easier with the group shots.

1/125, f/6.3, ISO 50, -1/3 EV, 16mm (16-35)

I always like to do a full group shot and it's much easier if I have access to an elevated spot. I had to think hard about where to do this one because of the scattering of old headstones in the church's grounds - there's one hidden behind the couple!

1/3200, f/2.0, ISO 50, -2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

I got some really fun confetti shots. I always ask the couple to try and fight the instinct to clamp their eyes tightly shut during the ordeal.

1/2500, f/2.0, ISO 50, -2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/1250, f/1.4, ISO 50, -1 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm (35)

1/500, f/1.2, ISO 50, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/800, f/1.2, ISO 50, -1 EV, 85mm (85)

1/400, f/1.2, ISO 50, 0 EV, 85mm (85)

1/200, f/2.8, ISO 50, -1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/200, f/4.0, ISO 200, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

1/50, f/1.4, ISO 50, -1 EV, -2/3 FEC, 35mm (35)

1/200, f/1.4, ISO 400, -1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/640, f/1.2, ISO 400, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/200, f/1.2, ISO 400, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

Comments and queries welcome as ever.

My main website: wedding photographer in Kent

David Fenwick Photography is now on Facebook

I'm joining the party a little late but I've finally got round to creating a profile for myself and my photography business on Facebook. The pages are a bit rough-and-ready at the moment but I'll try and sort that out in the near future.

My profile: David Fenwick

My group page: David Fenwick Photography

Please come and say hello and add me to your list of friends!

My main website: Kent photographer

Wedding Photography in Bearsted

The wedding gallery of Charlotte and Steven, photographed at the Holy Cross Church, Bearsted and The Lime Tree Hotel, Lenham on Saturday, is now online to view.

My main website: wedding photography in Kent

Wedding Photography in Bearsted and Lenham

I had the pleasure of photographing Charlotte and Steven's wedding yesterday at Holy Cross Church, Bearsted and The Lime Tree Hotel, Lenham. For the first time in two months there was a bit of cloud cover which made my life a lot easier!

Their wedding gallery will be appearing shortly.

My main website: wedding photography in Kent

Children's portrait photography in Kent

I've taken thousands of photos every month so far this year but, to my regret, hardly any of them have been of my gorgeous daughter Emily. She's almost 2, and not the easiest model to work with at the moment, but with a bit of effort it's possible to get good results. It helps if she's immobilised - the above shot was taken in her high chair after dinner!

My main website: portrait photographer in Kent

Mount Ephraim Gardens - Wedding Photography

A selection of photos from Emily and Che's wedding which I shot at Mount Ephraim Gardens and Chilham Village Hall last Saturday - see their full wedding gallery.

1/60, f/2.2, ISO 800, +5/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/500, f/1.4, ISO 800, +2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 500, 0 EV, 35mm (16-35)

1/200, f/4.0, ISO 320, 0 EV, 16mm (16-35)

1/100, f/4.0, ISO 400, 0 EV, 16mm (16-35)

1/400, f/2.8, ISO 400, 0 EV, 35mm (16-35)

The main building at Mount Ephraim has a glass roof. Unfortunately it was sending a shaft of sunlight on to the wedding proceedings last Saturday. Other areas of the interior were not illuminated which meant I had an absolutely huge tonal range to try and capture. I chose not to use flash during the wedding ceremony as I was very close to the couple and felt it would be too disruptive. My main priority was to preserve highlight detail so I underexposed my shots - for the shot above I'd normally have dialled in positive exposure compensation.

1/80, f/1.4, ISO 640, +2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

As I wandered around whilst they signed the register I noticed this girl being lit by a lovely pool of soft light. It's all about the light!

1/250, f/3.5, ISO 640, -2/3 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm (35)

1/200, f/3.5, ISO 400, -2/3 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm (16-35)

This is the same sunlit scene with the benefit of flash just before the couple were due to exit.

1/1250, f/4.0, ISO 100, -2/3 EV, +1 FEC, 16mm (16-35)

The sun outside was intense. As I walked in front of them as they exited I dialled the ISO down to 100 and FEC up to +1. This reduces the contrast of the shadows on their faces. To have eliminated them I'd have had to take off my Lastolite micro Apollo diffuser and zoomed the flash head into their faces only - the sun was that strong.

1/200, f/6.3, ISO 160, -1/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/2500, f/2.0, ISO 200, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

Fortunately the steps of the main building were shielded from the sun and the light was beautiful. A lot of reflected light reaches this spot from the light gravel driveway.

1/4000, f/1.4, ISO 200, -1/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/500, f/4.0, ISO 200, -2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/800, f/2.8, ISO 200, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 50, -4/3 EV, 190mm (70-200 IS)

I'd normally have dialled down exposure compensation by -2/3 for this scene due to the darker tones - due to the strong sun I dialled in a further -2/3 to preserve details in the dress.

1/400, f/1.2, ISO 50, +1 EV, 85mm (85)

Under the protective shade of a tree. Fortunately there was a spot of solid cover amongst the dappled areas of sunlight.

1/2500, f/2.0, ISO 50, -1 EV, 35mm (35)

This is what I call hard light - check out those shadows.

1/800, f/1.8, ISO 200, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

1/1000, f/1.8, ISO 200, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

1/1000, f/1.2, ISO 50, -1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

I shot this at f/1.2 to lose distractions in the background. They were constantly swinging so I switched to AF-servo mode. I chose her eyebrow as an area of good contrast for the AF system to get a lock on.

1/60, f/2.8, ISO 640, -2/3 EV, 200mm (70-200 IS)

Her lovely eyes catching the light from an open doorway caught my interest here - honestly!

Any comments or queries are welcome as ever.

My main website: Kent wedding photographer

Flash photography - The Hot Shoe Diaries

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

I've just finished reading The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally and highly recommend it to those who love lighting with flash. It's written in a very casual, chummy style (in a similar vein to Scott Kelby's books) which I found a little grating at times, but it's packed full of useful information, with plenty of case studies and detailed notes on set-ups. Joe comes across as a very likeable, down-to-earth chap.

He has a no-nonsense approach to shooting: aperture priority with evaluative metering, letting the camera get him into the correct ballpark for exposure and then using exposure compensation to adjust; using TTL metering for flash and then flash exposure compensation as required. Those who regularly read my blog will know that that's exactly how I like to shoot.

One last observation. As I always suspected, but never liked to explore in too much detail, Nikon's creative lighting system (CLS) seems to have a real edge over Canon's system. One feature I would love to have with my Canon set-up is a single button to be able to disable flash for a shot, as opposed to having to turn the flash unit off - simple but incredibly practical. If there is a way to do this, please feel free to enlighten me!

Check out my main website: photographer in Kent

The Blazing Donkey, Ham - Wedding Photography

A selection of photos from Amy and Matt's wedding at The Blazing Donkey in Ham last Friday - see their full wedding gallery.

1/125, f/1.8, ISO 400, 0 EV, 85mm (85)

1/80, f/1.4, ISO 400, +2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/200, f/1.4, ISO 400, +1/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/400, f/2.0, ISO 800, -2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/2500, f/4.0, ISO 100, -2 EV, +1 FEC, 35mm (35)

Reducing the ambient exposure by 2 stops recovered the background from the highlights. My Speedlite had to work hard to provide suficient fill-flash in high-speed sync mode at f/4.0 but it managed it since I was so close to the subjects.

1/2500, f/1.4, ISO 100, -2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/1250, f/4.0, ISO 50, -4/3 EV, 35mm (35)

Exposure compensation preserves highlights and shows off the lovely blue sky.

1/2000, f/1.4, ISO 50, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

1/640, f/1.8, ISO 50, +2/3 EV, 35mm (35)

1/640, f/2.8, ISO 50, -1 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm (35)

1/3200, f/2.8, ISO 50, -4/3 EV, 16mm (16-35)

1/2500, f/2.8, ISO 50, -5/3 EV, +1 FEC, 16mm (16-35)

Strong exposure compensation to preserve highlights in the dress and FEC to diminish those shadows on their faces. 

1/320, f/2.8, ISO 50, +1/3 EV, 200mm (70-200 IS)

Whilst taking candids during the pre-prandial drinks I tried to get as many shots with the sun backlighting or sidelighting subjects - much more flattering.

1/800, f/2.0, ISO 200, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

Fortunately I spotted some soft-lit areas in the gardens for portraits.

1/2500, f/1.2, ISO 200, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/2000, f/1.4, ISO 200, -1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/4000, f/1.2, ISO 200, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/4000, f/1.2, ISO 200, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/1250, f/1.6, ISO 50, 0 EV, 85mm (85)

1/1250, f/1.6, ISO 50, 0 EV, 85mm (85)

1/3200, f/1.2, ISO 50, -2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/250, f/2.0, ISO 400, +2/3 EV, 85mm (85)

Any comments or queries are welcome as ever.

My main website: Kent photographer

Wedding at Mount Ephraim Gardens

I had the pleasure of photographing Emily and Che's wedding on Saturday at Mount Ephraim Gardens and Chilham Village Hall. Their wedding gallery is now online to view.

My main website: photography in Kent

Wedding Photography at The Blazing Donkey, Ham

I photographed Amy and Matt's wedding at The Blazing Donkey in Ham on Friday - their wedding gallery is now online.

My main website: photographer Kent