David's photography blog: Salmestone Grange Wedding Photos

My website: Wedding Photographer Kent

A selection of images from Caroline and Ben's wedding at Salmestone Grange, near Margate, on Saturday. For more, please check out the gallery for their wedding at Salmestone Grange or view this alternative non-Flash based gallery.

1/250, f/1.4, ISO 400, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

1/100, f/3.2, ISO 500, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 800, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 23mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Salmestone Grange is a 14th century monastic grange and was not designed with wedding photographers in mind. It's very dimly lit inside and the light is very directional due to the thickness of the walls - there's also very little reflected light around. These features, however, can be used to your advantage. In the shot above I asked Caroline to stop in a pool of light as she descended a staircase.

1/250, f/2.8, ISO 400, 0 EV, 22mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 2000, 0 EV, 28mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

You have to shoot very carefully when people are wearing glasses to avoid reflections. I asked Caroline to lean her head a fraction forwards for the shot above.

HDR (-2, 0, +2), f/4, ISO 200, 24mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Salmestone Grange is in a gorgeous setting.

1/800, f/2.8, ISO 200, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 170mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

1/2000, f/4, ISO 200, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/200, f/1.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

A lovely candid but you can see reflections on Caroline's glasses from the window she's facing. Clearly though, this is not the time to ask her to lean her head forwards slightly!

1/160, f/1.2, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 2000, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/200, f/2.8, ISO 1000, ⅓ EV, +1 FEC, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/4000, f/2.8, ISO 200, ‒ 1 EV, 21mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/2000, f/2.8, ISO 200, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 70mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

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

1/640, f/2.8, ISO 200, 0 EV, 200mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

1/200, f/6.3, ISO 200, 0 EV, 23mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Initially I set up the group shot of everyone directly in front of the grange but, just as I was about to take the shot, the sun came out from behind a cloud and sidelit them all, causing really strong shadows on their faces - it looked awful. The path of least resistance would have been to continue shooting but I think it's preferable to do the best job you possibly can at the time, under the given conditions, rather than thinking that you'll be able to fix it later in post-production. I therefore explained the problem to everyone and moved them all with the sun behind them.