Monday 26 April 2010

Wedding photography at The Burlington, Folkestone

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent

A selection of images with EXIF data from Lucy and James' wedding on Saturday at The Burlington Hotel and Kingsnorth Gardens, Folkestone. Please check out their wedding gallery.

HDR (-2, 0, +2), f/4, ISO 800, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

The interior of the ceremony room was surprisingly dim, but the windows and exterior were blindingly bright. Time for a high dynamic range (HDR) shot (handheld since I don't take a tripod with me).

1/320, f/2, ISO 200, ⅓ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

I thought I might obtain evidence of icing-licking with this shot but he managed to restrain himself!

1/400, f/1.4, ISO 200, ⅓ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

Upstairs to see the lovely bride Lucy. Her room was reasonably spacious and well-lit.

1/320, f/2.2, ISO 200, 0 EV, 35mm f/1.4L

The ladies spend hours on their meticulous preparations whilst the boys pull their suits on and are ready in 5 minutes. Only right therefore that the photographer should pay slightly more attention to the bride!

1/1250, f/1.2, ISO 200, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

Some negative exposure compensation (EC) due to the slight predominance of darker tones.

1/640, f/1.8, ISO 200, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

1/640, f/1.8, ISO 200, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

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

1/160, f/2.8, ISO 400, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

The groom was being illuminated by window light and, for some of the ceremony, his shadow was being cast onto the bride. The primary source of illumination on her was from tungsten lights. In this situation it's impossible to achieve a satisfactory white balance. One option would have been to use flash (which is balanced for daylight) to light both of them but I'm reluctant to do this during a ceremony. Coversion to B&W obviously removes this problem.

1/400, f/2.8, ISO 400, 1 EV, 22mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

If possible I do try and move position very discreetly during the ceremony to get shots from other angles.

1/125, f/3.5, ISO 800, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Due to the design of the room the couple were very close to my position which meant I could only shoot at wide angles during the ceremony.

1/500, f/2.5, ISO 50, ‒ 1 EV, 35mm f/1.4L

The sun was ferocious but I managed to find one shady spot for the group shots. I had the sun shining directly into my lens so I asked one of the hotel staff to shade my camera with a huge piece of card that was conveniently found nearby!

1/1000, f/1.2, ISO 50, 0 EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

We moved to Kingsnorth Gardens for the bride and groom portrait session. We started at the shady end of the park to get some safe shots in the bag.

1/1250, f/1.2, ISO 50, 0 EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/320, f/2.2, ISO 50, ‒ ⅓ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/2000, f/1.2, ISO 50, ‒ ⅓ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

We then ventured out into the bright sun. I did shoot at apertures other than f/1.2!

1/1000, f/4, ISO 50, ‒ 1 EV, 25mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

I put the camera low down to capture their reflection. I had to be careful about my own shadow falling into the frame.

1/3200, f/1.4, ISO 50, ‒ 1 EV, 35mm f/1.4L

Negative EC protected highlights in the dress.

1/3200, f/1.4, ISO 50, 0 EV, 35mm f/1.4L

1/200, f/3.2, ISO 1000, ‒ ⅓ EV, 23mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/640, f/1.4, ISO 400, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

No, I have not used Photoshop's liquify tool. This baby does have huge blue eyes!

1/200, f/3.2, ISO 640, ⅓ EV, 0 FEC, 35mm f/1.4L

I held a 580EX II in my left hand, fitted with a PocketWizard flexTT5, which I triggered with a PW miniTT1 on camera. I bounced the flash off a white wall to my left to act as a fill light to the window light behind the bride.

Any comments or queries are most welcome.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

3 comments:

Wayne Prankard said...

Love the blue-eyed baby!

Sara Reeve said...

This is a gorgeous collection of photographs, and really interesting to see how you've balanced the light and found solutions! Any use of that Apollo XL in this wedding or was it just too sunny?

David said...

Hi Sara,

Many thanks for the lovely feedback.

Yes, I did use the Apollo XL for a couple of shots - but only indoors. You're spot on - when it's really sunny a Speedlite fitted with a diffuser has limited efficacy outdoors.

All the best,

David