On the beach (for a Kent wedding)

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent

A selection of photos from Susannah and Paul's wedding, photographed at Deal Town Hall, beach and pier on Wednesday. Please check out their wedding gallery.

1/40, f/4, ISO 1000, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm f/1.4L

The polished surface of a grand piano made a nice background for a shot of the rings.

1/250, f/2.8, ISO 1000, ⅓ EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Deal has a very fine town hall.

1/250, f/2.2, ISO 640, ‒ ⅓ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/100, f/2.8, ISO 800, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/100, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/250, f/2.8, ISO 320, ‒ 1 EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

Negative exposure compensation (EC) deals with the predominantly dark tones.

1/2500, f/1.2, ISO 100, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

Wandering from the town hall to the beach.

1/2000, f/1.6, ISO 100, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/1250, f/1.8, ISO 100, ‒ ²⁄₃ EV, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 50, ‒ ⅓ EV, 200mm, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS

1/200, f/14, ISO 50, 0 EV, -1 FEC, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

With such a dramatic sky it was the ideal opportunity to use my new Pocket Wizards.

For the above shot I put the camera into manual mode and set the shutter speed to the X-sync speed (in the case of the 5D Mark II - 1/200). This gives you access to your flash unit's maximum power output whilst minimising ambient light. Once the flash unit uses FP-mode the power output drops to 1/3.

5D Mark II's without a sluggish shutter can sync at 1/250 and 1/320 with PW's hyper-sync mode but it doesn't work with my set-up.

I set the ISO to 50 and then tuned the aperture to give an effect that I liked. It started looking interesting from f/11 but I plumped for f/14.

I also dialled in -1 stop of flash exposure compensation due to the predominant dark tones in the background. Canon's E-TTL II algorithm often struggles in this situation.

1/200, f/14, ISO 50, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/800, f/3.2, ISO 100, ²⁄₃ EV, 23mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Susannah and Paul were fabulous fun and up for everything - check out their beach-exiting strategy!

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

HDR (-2,0,+2) , f/8, ISO 400, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

A sky like this is begging for the HDR treatment.

1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 400, ‒ ⅓ EV, 27mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Before leaving for the wedding I twittered that we might need to rope down the bride!

Comments and queries welcome as ever.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Weddings in Deal, Kent

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent


I had the pleasure of photographing Susannah and Paul's wedding in Deal on Wednesday afternoon. The weather was stormy and windy but, remarkably, the rain held off for the 3.5 hours I was with them. In return though we had a wonderfully dramatic sky.

The ceremony was held at Deal Town Hall (which is magnificent) and then we wandered along the beach and on to the pier for a reception at Jasin's restaurant. Susannah and Paul are made of stern stuff and no adverse weather conditions were going to spoil their fun. Their exit from the beach was particularly memorable!

I've finished processing their wedding photos - please check out their wedding gallery.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Chilston Park Hotel, Kent Wedding

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent

A small selection of images from Julie and Michael's wedding photographed last weekend at Chilston Park Hotel, Lenham, near Maidstone in Kent. Please check out their wedding gallery.

HDR (-2, 0, +2 EV), f/6.4, ISO 400, 16mm

HDR (-2, 0, +2 EV), f/8, ISO 400, 19mm

A couple of cheeky handheld HDR shots to begin with. A great technique for adding a bit of drama to the sky on an overcast day.

1/13, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 16mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

What a fabulous staircase. Shooting with a shutter speed of approx. 1/focal length allows you some lengthy exposures with a wide angle lens.

1/160, f/3.2, ISO 800, ‒ 1 ²⁄₃ EV, 85mm, 85mm f/1.2L II

Notice the significant negative exposure compensation (EC) required because of the low key nature of the shot.

1/250, f/1.4, ISO 400, 0 EV, 35mm, 35mm f/1.4L

1/400, f/2.5, ISO 125, ‒ 1 EV, 85mm, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/80, f/4, ISO 500, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

The wedding breakfast room looked wonderful.

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

1/160, f/2, ISO 1000, ‒ ⅓ EV, 85mm, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/160, f/3.5, ISO 1000, ²⁄₃ EV, 35mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

1/1000, f/1.8, ISO 800, 1 EV, 85mm, 85mm f/1.2L II

Positive EC deals with the strong backlight in the above two shots.

1/1000, f/1.4, ISO 100, 0 EV, 35mm, 35mm f/1.4L

1/1250, f/1.2, ISO 400, ‒ ⅓ EV, 85mm, 85mm f/1.2L II

1/60, f/2.5, ISO 400, ‒ ⅓ EV, 35mm, 35mm f/1.4L

Like a couple of schoolgirls!

1/1250, f/1.8, ISO 1600, ‒ 1 EV, 85mm, 85mm f/1.2L II

Any comments or queries welcome as ever.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Weddings at Chilston Park

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent


I had the pleasure of photographing Julie and Michael's wedding yesterday at Chilston Park Hotel, Lenham, near Maidstone in Kent. It was a bit breezy and overcast but the rain didn't start until we'd finished the group shots outside - thank goodness.

I was with them for 4 hours which gave 313 images. I've just finished my post-processing work - please check out their wedding gallery.

I'll publish a few more photos with EXIF data shortly.

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Kent Wedding Venues

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent

I've got almost 100 wedding galleries on my website now. To make it easier for clients to search I've just started creating custom pages for popular venues. They contain a bit of information about the venue and links to weddings shot there. Here are the first few to check out:

Chilston Park, Cooling Castle, Leeds Castle, Mount Ephraim Gardens, Rowhill Grange

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Wedding Photography at Buxted Park

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent

A small selection of images from Naomi and David's wedding at Buxted Park Hotel in East Sussex with EXIF data. To see more of their wedding photos please check out their wedding gallery. The couple were great fun to work with and hopefully that shows in the following shots.

1/250, f/4, ISO 400, -1 EV, 35 mm, 35mm f/1.4L

The comment that provoked this laughter would not be suitable for polite company. Notice the negative exposure compensation (EC) to account for the dark tones in the image.

1/80, f/1.6, ISO 1000, -2/3 EV, 85 mm, 85mm f/1.2L II

The bride and her entourage were on top form when I arrived - very 'jolly'.

1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, +4/3 EV, 25 mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

Light levels in the ceremony room were low and with the backlighting I needed to add plenty of positive EC. I only use flash during the ceremony as a last resort.

1/250, f/2, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35 mm, 35mm f/1.4L

A little fit of the giggles occurred during the ceremony - the bride was still 'jolly'.

1/160, f/2.2, ISO 2000, -1/3 EV, 35 mm, 35mm f/1.4L

1/50, f/2.8, ISO 800, 0 EV, +1 FEC, 16 mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

I used a 580EX II, softened with a Lastolite micro Apollo, mounted on a flash bracket for this shot.

1/200, f/2, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 35 mm, 35mm f/1.4L

I manged to lure everyone out into the cold for the group shots. Light was falling fast though.

1/125, f/2, ISO 800, +2/3 EV, 35 mm, 35mm f/1.4L

No flash for this one so I used positive EC to take account of the sky.

1/40, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 35 mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

A quiet moment before the wedding breakfast.

1/60, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 31 mm, 16-35mm f/2.8L II

No wedding would be complete without a shot of the cake-cut!

My website: Kent wedding photographers

Wedding at Buxted Park Hotel

My website: Wedding Photographers in Kent


The 2010 wedding season got off to a fine start last Friday with Naomi and David's wedding at Buxted Park Hotel in the Ashdown Forest, near Uckfield, in East Sussex. There was still plenty of snow on the ground but we nevertheless braved the outdoors for the group shots and bride and groom portrait session. I rarely venture outside of Kent for wedding photography but when it's a venue as fine as this it makes the extra journey time more than worthwhile!

To see a selection of their wedding photos please check out their wedding gallery.

My website: Kent wedding photographers