Monday 3 January 2011

Joline & Rob's Wedding

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent

A selection of images from Joline and Rob's wedding at Howfield Manor, just outside Canterbury, on New Year's Eve. Please check out the Flash-based gallery on my website or the non-Flash gallery on Facebook.

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

Shooting HDR handheld means ensuring a sufficiently fast shutter speed at -2 stops exposure - hence the surprisingly high ISO speed of 800.

HDR (-2, 0, +2), f/4, ISO 1000, 22mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

I'm assuming that this is the work of more than one mole.

1/200, f/1.4, ISO 500, 0 EV, 35mm f/1.4L

It's all you need.

1/80, f/2.8, ISO 1250, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

The room for bridal preps was small, busy and dark. I cranked the ISO setting up, shot wide and bounced flash as best I could.

1/80, f/2.8, ISO 2000, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 24mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 2000, 0 EV, 31mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/80, f/2.8, ISO 2000, 0 EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Window light only for the shots above.

1/125, f/5.6, ISO 800, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 27mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

The boys. Notice the negative exposure compensation (EC) due to the predominant dark tones.

1/400, f/1.8, ISO 400, ‒ ⅓ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/400, f/1.8, ISO 400, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

A gargoyle ring-holder.

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

The ceremony room was also pretty cosy. I used the 16-35mm lens only.

1/80, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/80, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Emotions were running high.

1/125, f/3.2, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/100, f/3.5, ISO 1000, ⅓ EV, 0 FEC, 26mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Flash bounced off the wall to the left.

1/200, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 30mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 1600, ‒ ⅓ EV, 200mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

The sky was overcast but the sun would have been just above the horizon at this time of day, giving some directionality to the light. Quantity low, quality high.

1/160, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 135mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 70mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 400, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 22mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

A bit of fun with off-camera flash for variety. Camera in manual mode.

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 135mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

1/100, f/3.2, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 29mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/160, f/2, ISO 640, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 35mm f/1.4L

Mother and daughter. Flash bounced back left.

1/200, f/2, ISO 800, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 35mm f/1.4L

An alternative mother and daughter combo.

1/160, f/2, ISO 800, ⅓ EV, +1 FEC, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/160, f/2, ISO 1600, 0 EV, -1 FEC, 35mm f/1.4L

Bouncing flash was giving poor results in many rooms due to a combination of low ceilings, coloured surfaces and lots of mirrors. I therefore switched to using a 580EX II mounted on a flash bracket and softened with a Lastolite micro Apollo. This gives a butterfly lighting effect (so called due to the shadow cast under the subject's nose).

Any comments or queries are welcome as ever.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, you really don't need three exposures to shoo the HDR you are doing. Shoot RAW and the one frame will give you all the flexibility in the RAW converter.

David said...

Hi,

Yes, that is another way of doing it - and I have occasionally used this technique. My method just takes a lot less time overall as HDR shots can be batch processed automatically by Photomatix Pro.

All the best,

David

Duncan Pulin said...

Hi there, interested to hear why bounced flash gave you poor results in more detail?

David said...

Hi Duncan,

The ideal surface for bouncing flash is a white wall since it imparts no colour to the light and produces essentially a diffuse reflection (the reflected light is the same brightness regardless of the angle you view it at). In some of the rooms that I had to shoot in the walls were of dark wood, which impart a strong colour cast, plus the rooms contained lots of highly reflective surfaces (mirrors, metalwork, windows) which create direct (or specular) reflections - causing hotspots of light. This also caused mischief with E-TTL flash metering. I wasn't happy with the results I was getting so decided to switch to direct, diffused light.

A great reference for the above is Light: Science and Magic.

All the best,

David

Kris said...

Lovely imagery, excellent work.

James said...

Great work there dave and nice too see you rocking some off camera flash

Kevin Mullins said...

Lovely images David - particularly like the shot of the groom with the bride coming the aisle.

Tim Hind said...

Great work, love the natural shot of the couple in B+W