The first of the 3 was at Parley Manor, which is a really attractive venue and the whole wedding was to be held there. Jenny took on the bridal prep shots. On arrival I had the job of shooting the groom, ushers and best man, which was interesting as the weather was changeable and it began to rain. I managed to persuade the guys to remain on the bridge just long enough to grab this shot with authentic rain falling, which I liked, especially in B&W. When working fast and especially alone I keep my workhorse lenses on the cameras...the Nikon 24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 VR2 as they pretty much have everything covered. I put the long zoom on the Nikon D700 and the short one on the D300 in this case.
We all sprinted for the cover of a small porch and I saw this shot, which I liked above the standard ones I took of the buttonholes.
I thought the usher playing with his phone while waiting to welcome people under a brolly was a shot not to be missed, especially as I could frame it decently and got a splash of colour from the flowers.
The wedding service was held in a dedicated marquee in one section of the garden. I checked out the exposure and decided I would expose for the ambient light at ISO 800 or 400 and then bounce some flash off the ceiling or walls to lift the rather flat lighting and add some life to skin tones. Before the service began I saw this delightful little girl against a bright green and coloured background and took a snap on the fly, which with a little cropping I really liked later. A little bounced fill flash really lifted the skin tones against the difficult light, making the image really pop. Setting the camera up in manual mode for the ambient light makes it much easier to shoot like this as I can control the ambient light with a quick flick of the shutter speed (up to max sync of 1/250th) and the TTL bounce flash sorts itself out wherever I point it.
Regarding the flash I often use a piece of art foam hair-banded onto the end of the speedlight and positioned to stop direct light going where I don't want it, like a half-snoot. This way I can bounce the light toward the subject off a nearby wall or window while ensuring all the light is indirect and getting more effective power from the flash. Its great inside wedding service and reception rooms as it reduces flash power requirements, reduces recycle times and stops the flash blinding and annoying people.
The actual wedding had to be held under a solid building, so there was a small structure a bit like a greek temple at the far end for this. There was a row of pillars lining the front of this structure, which made my shooting position pretty hopeless while the couple were in there, but Jenny was shooting from the back of the marquee and so I held out and managed to get some much better shots when the couple emerged for the exchange of rings and the rest of the service.
After the service Jenny took on the groups while I headed for the large marquee where the reception was to be.
The bride had chosen an unusual and very vibrant circus theme, which went very well with the marquee and was very uplifting. I quite like this section of the day where I have a little while to take wide angle and detail shots of the reception venue in all its glory before the hungry hordes descend! I try to catch some so the couple remember it well, using a variety of apertures for selective blur. This is where the Zeiss 100 f2 and Nikon 14-24 often come out to play, to capture the extremes of view I need.
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| I always try to get detail shots of the bride & groom's place settings to really personalise it |
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| A jolly waiter or waitress adds a nice sparkle to the reception images |
While I was getting these shots the bride and groom sneaked away from their duties for a quick peak at the reception venue. Obviously delighted they grabbed a very quick kiss and I managed to get a shot on the manual focus Zeiss, so was happy when it was sharp!
During the meal I leave people alone as eating shots are not flattering and take the chance to eat, especially where the couple have kindly ordered us a meal. I may take some table groups or look for interesting moments so I never relax. This shot took a while to get perfect as kids don't stay still but I thought it was worth it...the same little girl who made a nice image earlier. This was taken on the Sigma 85mm f1.4 @ f2.5. This is a star of a lens indeed and I was very impressed with it on its first wedding.
After the usual speech and cake cutting shots we headed out for the formals. By this time the weather was perfect with characterful clouds but lots of low, warm sun. The grounds at Parley Manor are so nice a photographer is rather spoiled for choice...a nice problem to have!
Having Jenny along too made me choose to take the Sigma 85 and 70-200, knowing that I couldn't shoot anything wide, but she could to give the shots some variety. I used some very gentle fill flash on the D300 and 70-200 shots but used ambient light alone on the D700 and Sigma 85 shots. It was actually hard to keep below flash sync speed as the light was quite strong.
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| Really liked the way this shot popped. D300 & 70-200 plus very gentle fill flash |
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| Becoming one of my trademark favourite shots |
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| The lovely Sigma 85...oh and a lovely bride! |
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| Sigma again...super sharp lens @ f4 this time |
Then it was evening reception time and I always stay to get some shots of the disco or band and the first dance of course. Despite the risk of noise and loss of definition in the images I feel its important to capture the ambience of this time so I tend to use a high ISO and get close to ambient exposure while using some really cranked-down bounce flash to lift things the tiniest bit. I use ISO s of 3200 on the D300 and 6400 and above on the D700 where I have to. I'd rather have a bit of softness and noise but retain the colours and light levels that were present.
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| D300, ISO 800 & bounce flash |
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| D700, Sigma 85 @ f2.2, ISO 3200, ambient light only |
Having started to believe that only full frame cameras could give really good results at a wedding, I decided to try and trust the D300 more to make life easier (e.g. less lens changes and having 2 focal lengths available simultaneouly) and was actually very impressed with it. Especially in combo with bounce flash it takes great shots at ISOs that are perfectly OK in lighter indoor venues and even at up to 3200 for evening reception dances etc. The D700 really comes into its own when shooting ambient light in really low lighting or where the dynamic range or lighting is tricky. This time I tended to use the D300 as an equal rather than a backup and didn't regret it. Common sense and a bit of experience in knowing the kit helps to decide the satisfactory performance envelope.
Having had a car accident last year I wasn't enjoying carrying huge lenses and cameras around my neck for 8-12 hours. Handling them is tricky too as the straps tend to get entangled and there is more chance of dropping one as you pick up and put down so often. I am already converted to the Optech pro loop straps, which consist of a broad, soft and elastic neoprene neck pad, that clips into short sections of strap that fit to the camera strap eyes. You can unclip a camera for easier storage or when straps get in the way. I decided to try the dual camera harness from Optech. This has a broad neck pad that extends onto the back and straps that form a harness over your shoulders and under your arms. The same straps that are already on the cameras clip straight into this harness allowing you to carry 2 bodies, one each side. The weight is spread over your shoulders and upper back with nothing significant on the neck. Its usable all day and great for weddings. Two bodies and lenses can go with you ready to grab and shoot straight away. For £30 its a bargain.
The black half-snoot for the flash is a brilliant bit of almost free kit as it enables you to flag the light at will and stop any spill into areas you don't want illuminated by direct light. Its especially good when you have to angle the flash forward to get the reach or a suitable bounce surface. This would normally cause direct light to hit the subject, but you can mask the flash to fire it in a very specific direction.
As for techniques, I am retaining what I did at last year's weddings as the formula seems to work......A combination drawn of my own experience and reading Niel Van Niekerk's excellent books and blog. I tend to try and keep settings simple so there is less chance of errors and find that an aperture of f4 works well for most images using flash, as it its a stop down from full aperture, gives a useful bit of depth of field and decent subject isolation. It also means the flash works at well less than full power so is more subtle and recycles faster. The combination of manual settings for ambient exposure and a bit of bounce flash seems to do exactly what I want...retaining ambience, while lifting the flatness. I soon learned that a working understanding of exposure and flash has to be intuitive...you can't keep people waiting or miss moments faffing with serttings. It gives me a base line I can easily adapt and return to without getting in a mess.
I tried a trial version of Silver Efex Pro (plugin for Adobe Lightroom) for doing B&W conversions and loved it. There are loads of preset choices and simulation of many film types that can all be previewed. All can be customised or you can start from scratch. I'm buying it for sure. It adds so much more variety to the B&W images I supply and is fast in use.
I didn't feel intimidated by this wedding...the first of 2011 for me. The benefit of having Jenny along can never be underestimated. Not only is she capturing her own images but she is someone to bounce ideas off on the fly, share a laugh with and for kit security and backup. We seem to naturally gravitate to different parts of the wedding depending on our kit, experience, and comfort zones and never have a cross word. It just works.
