Sigma 85mm f1.4EX Lens

After much deliberation and reading of tests and respected photographer's opinions I finally settled on getting the Sigma 85mm f1.4 as my autofocus fast portrait lens.

To be useful to me I had to be sure the lens:

Was perfectly usable wide open at f1.4

Did not suffer from problematic focus shift

Had excellent overall image quality including resolution, colour rendition, bokeh and resistance to problematic chromatic abberations.

Had good performance at minimum focus distance for closer portrait work

Had reliable and accurate autofocus for fast-moving wedding work

Had excellent build quality

The general opinion from my trusted sources seemed to satisfy all these parameters but I was ready to try out and return the lens if it didn't do what I needed it to do, as I already have the Carl Zeiss 85mm f1.4.  The Sigma would have to offer something different in terms of its usability envelope to be truly useful to me in addition to the Zeiss lens.

Owing to being busy and the appalling weather I haven't had much chance to do what I'd call real photography but I have taken a few baby snaps and wandered out into the garden to take a few test shots.  The first proper outing was a brief trip to Breamore where I took a few shots at varying apertures.

Initial observations are:

Build quality; a cut above most other Sigma's I have seen and very close to the better Nikon lenses.  Sigma have really moved their build quality forward and are clearly trying to produce some truly premium lenses now.  The new lens barrel coating is a slightly soft, satin, rubberized material, which seems like it should last much better than the previous matte finish that was quite prone to wear and scratches.  There is no play at all in any components and even the focus ring seems much better than many lenses, although some way off the wonderful Zeiss ones of course.  The lens has a satisfying heft and solidity.  It isn't fully weather sealed, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue for what I need.

Autofocus; Really accurate and fast focus from the HSM motor.  It is fast enough to allow a degree of action photography, such as tracking moving people which is extremely useful for shooting kids for example.  When doing some indoor testing I did find that it was tending to back focus very slightly so I added a setting of -2 on autofocus fine tune on the D700 and that seems to have sorted it.  Obviously at f1.4 the depth of field is so small that you can have an eye in focus and the eyelashes out of focus, so one is never going to get a 100% hit rate.  Tests seems to indicate that the AF is much faster than Canon's f1.2 lens and at least as good or faster than Nikon's new G series f1.4 lens.  Its certainly plenty good enough.

Image quality; The lens is very usable in the central area at f1.4 (obviously as long as focus is nailed correctly).  There are some longitudinal chromatic abberations wide open, but they are nothing serious and well below what I have seen on website tests of other 85mm lenses, especially the Nikon.  At f1.4 images are very decently sharp, certainly in the center and even can be surprisingly good toward the borders (see first image below).  The look is very different to that of the Zeiss 85, which has considerable halation and residual spherical abberations at f1.4, that give a dreamy and surreal look, if you can nail focus.  Wide-open use is essential to me for portrait work and its nice to have a choice of a different look to the Zeiss...I'm not too concerned about borders at those settings.  On stopping down there is an increase in contrast, which is nothing like as dramatic as the Zeiss 85, when changing from f1.4 to f2.  The Sigma has a steady but small increase to perhaps f2.8, where after that there is little if any visible difference.  At f2 the lens is very sharp indeed and stopping down any further allows the borders to catch up.  There don't seem to be any nasty colour casts.  Bokeh can be more buttery than the Zeiss in some instances (especially with a close subject) but at other distances and apertures the lenses' bokeh can be quite similar.  The Zeiss has a bokeh character that has somewhat round out of focus elements that are very soft and appealing in their own way and the Sigma generates similar (but not identical) circular effects especially in the highlights.  The Sigma's image quality is super and different to the Zeiss, which has that slightly dark and edgy contrast about it familiar to Zeiss users.  Overall I'm pleased here as the Sigma does excellently but offers a different rendition to the Zeiss.

Some examples

Wide open @f1.4.  Slice of sharpness over the scar. Vey surprised how sharp the right border is which by coincidence appears to also be in the focal plane

Quick snap portrait @f1.4.  I took 3 shots here, all of which were in focus.  Very decent sharpness on the right eye, which was the focal point

At f2 the bite in contrast is greater and the lens seems have dealt beautifully with the subtle light  and delivers nice out of focus elements.  The rounded highlights at the back are similar to the Zeiss

Stopped down to f5.6.  Lovely colour, contrast and biting sharpness

The lens dealt with the harsh highlights well and the textures and separation of the trunk form the background seem very good indeed. f5.6

Indoor simple snap test portrait @ f1.4.  Focus nailed spot on and very sharp at right eye

Close-up shot @ min focus distance and f1.4. Very sharp where focus was aimed at the nodal point of the leaf ribs.  Nice contrast and colour

Seems great close up at f1.8.  Sharp where it matters and dreamy elsewhere

Initial impressions support what I have read.  This lens is capable of playing with the big boys and often betters them at half the price!  If it was clearly inferior I wouldn't have been interested, but I'm not prepared to pay over the odds for no purpose.  I do think the recent Nikon 85mm f1.4G lens is well over-priced, especially when you see that its not too different in price to the lovely 70-200VR 2 which is a big hunk of complex optical engineering.  Hopefully my user experience of the Sigma will continue to be positive.  I am happy to have a 3 year warranty, which to me is an important selling point and way better than the ridiculous 1 year offered by the major companies.

Further comment on Carl Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar

I have been using the Zeiss 85 Planar lens for well over a year now and have established its strong and weak points, from a combination of practice and reading good quality articles.

It has the typical Zeiss rendition, which is neutral colour with a well-defned micro contrast and ability to separate a subject from a background.  The lens seems to tame scenes of extreme contrast and delivers a punchy result straight out of camera.  There is a quality in the background bokeh I haven't seen from any other posted example shots taken with an 85mm lens.  Its not as totally smooth and buttery as some choices all the time but it has a rounded smoothness that makes it different.  Note the rounded and soft specular highlights in the below image.

Image taken at f2

In this image taken at f4 the bokeh has changed slightly.  It all depends on the aperture,  camera to subject distance,  subject to background distance, brightness of the background, detail of the background.

Image taken at f4

It is certainly a great character of a lens that one has to get to know to make the best of.

Its qualities suit photography where one has the time to set up and focus accurately and compensate for its major weakness in real-world use....focus shift.  This actually makes it very tricky to use for its intended purpose as a portrait lens.  You think you have nailed accurate focus, which is hard enough anyway at wider apertures, only to find that the plane of sharp focus actually shifted rearwards off the eye when you took the shot.  This is because of residual spherical aberrations (RSA) or non-coinciding planes of focus between light rays passing through the outer and central areas of the lens elements.  You focus at F1.4 where the light rays converge slightly forward and then as the lens stops down to say f2.8 to take the shot the focal plane moves rearward.  You do learn to compensate for it but its calculated guesswork and hardly infallible.  Basically you need to focus bracket or have a subject who is willing to hold pose while you check results.  Therefore its hopeless for shooting faster moving stuff like kids or most sections of weddings, but fine where time is less of an issue.  The RSA and focus shift isn't unique to the Zeiss and is common in many fast primes, but this lens does exhibit these characteristics clearly.

Its unsuitability for weddings is a bit frustrating seeing as I am developing this area of my photography and an 85 f1.4 is an essential lens to get those special shots.  It is making me look at an autofocus alternative for those occasions when the Zeiss is effectively impossible to use with a satisfactory degree of reliability.  There are a number of choices and a lot of research to be done before deciding if it is worth it.  There is the venerable Nikon f1.4D, the new 84 f1.4G and an interesting 3rd party alternative from Sigma.

Meanwhile I love the Zeiss for a walkaround lens, shooting landscapes at wide apertures, where its great spatial separation adds a surreal air to images.   As on all Zeiss SLR lenses the long throw, well-damped focus ring is sheer joy.

Another main asset or weakness, depending on point of view, is its wide open performance.   Apparently the lens has been designed with deliberate RSA wide open at f1.4, which leads to a kind of halation or lack of contrast.  This can look really amazing if focus is nailed correctly and the rest of the image dissolves in unique blur.  There is a central area of high resolution and some features have a 3D embossed look to them.  It can be awesome for portrait work, but for landscape work its better to stop down to f2 where the character completely changes in one stop.  The above image was taken at f2 and has high contrast and sharpness in the obviously narrow focal plane.

If you look at the specs of many of the 85mm lenses from the main manufacturers, they do not tend to focus close and the Zeiss is no exception at 1 metre minimum.  Its simple planar design means it is poorly corrected close up, where image quality takes a dive.  If I want tighter portraits I simply pop it on a crop frame camera for that extra magnification.

In summary...a great portrait and landscape lens with a few quirks, but huge character.  When you spend this kind of money on a niche lens you know it isn't going to work for everything, just as a Ferrari won't do  the weekly shopping run very well, but take it on a track day and yay!  You certainly can't pop it on the camera and expect it will do a day's varied shooting easily, but when it all comes together you know why you want it.  The Macro Planar 100 f2 is probably a "better" technical lens overall as its performance is predictable, sharp and without quirks from wide open, but the 85 has a unique character and is a classic portrait length.

This sort of result reminds me of why I love the Zeiss 85 f1.4 Planar.

Image taken at f2 

Metering in the snow

Today was one of those rare days in southern England when it snowed!  We can wait years, but so far its happened twice this winter!  Go out and you will likely meet a number of keen photographers at well-known local spots.

For those experienced in using a camera in all sorts of conditions the fact that metering will be somewhat confused by snow is no surprise, but it may well catch out those newer to the hobby.

Its a good idea to have some idea what your particular camera meter will behave like when shooting snowy landscapes. While exposure errors can be fixed relatively easily in RAW files, its always more satisfying to get it right in-camera and pushing a file too far can increase noise textures and damage image quality.

Camera metering systems are designed to give a 0EV (exposure value) for a typical image that contains a variety and balance of tones between white and black.  This is what we would consider to be a normal exposure, not too dark or too light.  It is commonly referred to as 18% grey.

However, if a scene contains considerably more dark or light tones than "normal" the metering will try to compensate to achieve a 0EV exposure.  If the tones are dark the metering will tend to overexpose the image to bring the tonal values up and if the tones are light it will tend to underexpose the image to bring the tones down.  In snow we have a similar issue to the bride's white dress...there is an imbalance in the tones owing to the large amount of white, which causes the metering to underexpose the image.

The exact amount of underexposure in snowy conditions will depend on the quality of light and how much of the composition contains the snow or other tones, like sky, buildings or people.

Today I found that the quality of the light had a huge effect on metered exposure.

Images taken in shade required 1.3 stops of positive exposure compensation to get a histogram pushing nicely up to the right and a correct exposure.  This was one of those.

Images taken in direct sunlight only required about 0.3 stops of compensation, like the following one.  I am imagining that much of the difference is because when there is direct sun, the blue sky is a more neutral tonal value than the white or light grey cloud.

In most exposure modes, such as shutter or aperture priority, the photographer would dial in the appropriate amount of exposure compensation using the dedicated button and command dial or the camera menu.

Even if the photographer shoots in manual exposure mode the camera is still using the same metering algorithms as in any other mode.  It will therefore continue to show a neutral 0EV exposure on the viewfinder meter when the final image will actually be underexposed just as much as in any other exposure mode.  Rather than using exposure compensation (usually unavailable in manual mode) the photographer should dial in the required amount of "overexposure" above the 0EV value....in the case of the above examples, the same 1.3 or 0.3 stops.

With a basic understanding of what the meter is likely to do we can set the camera up as soon as we start shooting and make any minor adjustments much faster.  The advantage of digital is that we can take a test exposure, check the histogram and by the second shot we should have nailed correct exposure.

Light & colour

This Autumn I have really noticed how certain lighting conditions seem to emphasise selected colours and really make them pop without any special enhancement in post processing.

On a recent trip to Stourhead, the wonderful National Trust gardens in Wiltshire, it was a dull and rather windy day with apparently little to commend it, apart from not actually raining!  However within a very short time it was obvious that the diffused light caused by the dull, grey overcast was making the yellows almost dazzling, so I concentrated on those in many compositions.  The reds were pretty outstanding too.

Today, it was a freezing cold day but I had to venture out as staying in all day drives me crazy.  It was again dull and overcast but reds and greens seemed to really zing beyond the norm as we wandered around Moors Valley Country Park.

While it is well known that sunny days that are pleasant to enjoy are often a poor choice for photography, some days really would appear to be hopeless because they are so dull and generally uninspiring from any normal perspective.  However this light can be ideal for highlighting colour and texture.  As the light levels are low its also a nice idea to try shooting a bit unconventionally for landscape, using a wide aperture lens to focus selectively on subjects to make them pop from the composition, while also getting enough light to avoid raising ISO.  It is perhaps wise to avoid including much of the sky in any composition owing to its unattractive appearance...despite loving the light that results from the grey overcast.

So take the camera out on those dull days and do things differently.  You will enjoy it, even though you may get chilly fingers!

October Wedding

Another month and other venue and a completely different style of wedding.  Two great friends of mine, Claire & Dave, asked me if I wouldn't mind "taking some snaps for them" at their recently arranged, civil ceremony, which was to be on a small scale.  Of course not, it would be a pleasure, but I could never take it that lightly!  I took a fair bit of kit but only really used the D700 with 24-70 lens and SB900 flash and the D300 with 70-200 lens.

I offered to visit them at home during preparations to get some shots of them and their lovely and photogenic children.  I set manual exposure to deal with ambient room light coming in through the end window then popped some bounced fill flash in from the same direction to reduce the flatness.

D700, 24-70 @ F3.2 & ISO 400 plus TTL-BL bounced flash

I like to try and get this or a similar shot of a bride getting ready as it is something that most people would never take themselves and has a certain fun element to it.

The venue was the lovely old guildhall with its large airy space and light flooding in through the large windows from camera left at 10 o' clock in the next image.  I varied exposures from time to time to either brighten the interior or hold more of the highlights as it was easy to let the windows and sections of floor blow out.   The light was fine for ambient shots at ISO 400 but was a bit flat where the ceremony was to take place, so I decided to bounce fill flash up and to camera left so it was from a similar direction to the natural light.  The white paint certainly helped and did not introduce any nasty tones.  

I took this image over the ceremony table in anticipation of the couple entering through the doors at the end of the hall.

During the ceremony it was important to meter on the couple and let the background blow out where it would.  I didn't wish to use harsh flash and smaller apertures just for the sake of holding the background highlights and I rather like the effect of a bright backlight for some images, especially as it adds a more romantic or dreamy look.

D700, 24-70 @ F3.2, 1/125th sec & ISO 400,  TTL-BL bounced flash

After being constrained at the previous church venue it was nice to be given full freedom to move about here to capture different angles.

D700, 24-70 @ F5, 1/200th sec & ISO 400 plus TTL-BL bounced flash

.......even to the extent that I shot from behind Claire & Dave.  I thought it would be nice to get a shot more from their perspective for a change.

Another example of exposing for the subject and letting the background over expose.   Claire reckons she isn't photogenic...I have to disagree!

D700, 24-70 @ F4.5, 1/200th sec, ISO 640 plus bounce flash

For the register signing I took a number of shots that were a mix of more formal ones and others with all the kids crowded around, to give them some variety. This was one of the former.

Outside the sun was beating down on a lovely day, which is great for everyone...except the photographer!  There was a lovely double stairway from the hall to street level, with half brightly lit and the other half in diagonal shadow.  I took some shots of the couple on the sunny side then tried some more on the shaded side.  I exposed for the background to retain detail and colour in the sky and trees, then popped in direct fill flash to try and balance the exposure contrasts.  While I hate using direct flash to control this level of contrast, owing to the inevitable shadows, it did work well in balancing things up and the couple remarked later how they really liked the colours on these shots...after all I am taking the images for them!  I set the shutter speed to max sync to maximise flash power, while reducing ambient exposure and set the widest aperture I could to try to hold the background exposure and allow more flash light in.

D700, 24-70 @ F6.3, ISO 200, 1/250th sec, TTL-BL direct flash

Some other shots taken at the same location at wider angles required much smaller apertures of F11-14 and therefore much more flash power.  They looked somewhat artificial but not wholly disagreeable.  Maybe using reflectors and an assistant would have helped deal with this contrast problem more subtlely, but I had neither.

I took some snaps of the couple getting showered in confetti, which I hope captured the fun aspects of the day.  I could say that I was trying to connect myself to the photo by allowing my shadow to creep in here along with many others, but I was just shooting away and trying to capture the action!

The sunny side was fine for fun shots of these little girls running down the steps because the colours really pop and I wasn't too concerned about the subjects squinting or harsh contrast here.  I think the coatings on the latest lenses give awesome colours...virtually nothing was done to this after download.

I liked this almost mirror-like view of the girls together and shot it on the D300 with 70-200 lens in ambient light.  I spot-metered off the skin tones so the girls did not disappear into shadow.

D300, 70-200 @ F4 & ISO 200

Then it was inside the pub next door for a quick drink.  The relatively low light meant I set ISO 1600 to allow the ambience to register and used bounce flash from the direction of the windows to add some sparkle.  Therefore many shots have a subject but the background view is obviously that of a pub.

A relatively small group then set off to share an informal meal with the couple at a local restaurant.  It was a really relaxed and fun time so I wanted to capture that with some of the images.  Even the cake was fun and very rich too!  I had some interesting exposure issues again, with Claire and Dave sat right in front of a big, sunny window!  I set exposure for my subjects and used fill flash bounced from the ceiling and wall to the left.  Miraculously the camera did hold the highlights on some higher angle shots like this first one but others were totally impossible.

 I also tried to get shots of guests, most of which were snaps, but one or two more formal.

D700, 24-70, F5.6, ISO 400, 1/100th sec, bounced TTL-BL flash from window direction

Overall it was a really great day that I enjoyed hugely and the pressure of doing the photographs did not detract from that.  Indeed it was great to be able to do such a different wedding with different challenges and file it in the experience drawer.  

August Wedding

Here are a few thoughts on the experience of photographing this wedding with Jenny, a good friend and colleague of mine, who has already done quite a few weddings solo.  We bring slightly different techniques, style, knowledge and experience together and the two of us can photograph much more of the day than if going it alone.  Jenny is great with people, with poses, thinking on her feet and her studio lights.  I'm keen on mixing flash and ambient light, wide aperture lenses and taking my time where I can.

Jenny had already hooked the job and had organised much of what was to be done.  She specifically asked me to help with the groom arriving at the church, the ceremony, the reception venue shots, the receiving line and anything I got the chance to do.  I believe its very wise to recce the venues first and meet the couple, which gives us confidence and means there are no nasty surprises...well fewer!

I went with a Lowepro Commercial all-weather shoulder bag packed rather full, with Nikon D700, D300 and D80 bodies, 14-24 F2.8G, 24-70 F2.8G, 70-200 F2.8G VR2, 50mm F1.4G, 35mm F1.8G, Carl Zeiss 100mm F2 Macro Planar, SB800, SB900 Speed lights, Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe and stand, tripod, spare batteries...yes it was heavy!  I never want to get caught without a backup if something goes wrong and if you don't take something you can guarantee that you need it.  Undoubtedly the workhorse kit is the D700 body, 24-70 lens and a quality Speed light.  One could probably shoot a whole wedding with that, but it would get rather dull.

Groom's arrival: I tried to shoot the groom, his best man and ushers in some conventional and more funky poses that would help make it fun, and at a variety of apertures to use depth of field.  This was one of the more "Reservoir Dogs" style shots where stern poses, a low shooting position and tilted angle create a certain look.  The light was pretty good outside;  overcast, no harsh contrast but not too flat, so features and contours were picked out ok.  I shot this with the 24-70 in ambient light.

I wanted a few detail shots too, hence the buttonhole taken at wide aperture.  As more guests arrived I captured a fair number of reportage style snaps outside.

The ceremony: Wow, it varied between dark and very dark!  Jenny specifically wanted me to do much of the shooting as I am lucky enough to have a D700.  Even with a fast zoom like the 24-70 F2.8 I was struggling to keep ISO values down.  For me flash is not an option, even if allowed, in a traditional church.  To me it ruins the ambience and is unpleasant for the guests...its meant to be wedding after all!  As always one has to balance a number of factors in deciding how to play it...

1) I was restricted to the south aisle (to one side of the couple) only so needed a zoom to get different compositions
2) Using a zoom wide open has its risks...DOF and field curvature tends to lead to a fair few misses, particularly with off-centre subjects.
3) Image quality, especially contrast can be worse wide open.
4) Closing the aperture even 1-stop meant a worsening of quality due to higher ISO and the risk of using lower shutter speeds.

While I would have loved to use a fast prime I had to settle for the 24-70 as the most versatile lens on the D700 as it covers such a useful range.  You need to watch the field curvature and distortion at wider angles.  I popped the 70-200 on the D300.  I trust that awesome big zoom lens totally, even wide open, but to be fair the D300 was struggling to get brilliant quality at the 3200 ISO often required.  I even used the D80 at about ISO 1000 (rather grainy) with the little 35 prime wide open at F1.8.  I tried to capture all different aspects of the service and those involved, including some of those smile and laughter moments.  I set the D700 on Auto ISO so I just had to set the shutter and aperture values I wanted without worrying about major exposure changes.  If the light is more constant I tend to use manual but it varied a lot here as both I and the couple were changing location throughout.  If you spend lots of your time fiddling with settings you miss the moment...the first kiss, for example is always very brief indeed!

D700, 24-70, F4@ ISO 4500

D300, 70-200, F3.2@ ISO 1800

The below shot was a pre-planned one based on the recce and knowing that it would be impossible to hold the highlights in the backlit stained glass while retaining detail in the church.  The couple specifically wanted a shot showing the window and church interior so I had discussed what I needed them to do for me.  While Jenny shot the register signing, I set up my tripod and when the couple emerged, I took the 5 bracketed exposures required to combine them in Photomatix later.  I also paused the couple closer to the camera for another bracket.  I used F5.6 and ISO 400 to keep exposure times reasonable.  Love it or loathe it, HDR is a viable way of capturing a tonal range that is otherwise impossible.

D700, 24-70, F5.6@ ISO 400, merge of 5 exposures in Photomatix pro

After the service I did take some formal shots outside, but mainly left those to Jenny as I tried to get some of the more spontaneous goings-on. 

Reception Venue:  As the reception was held in a lovely old characterful school hall, the couple had specifically requested some shots to include the tables and hall details before the guests entered.  Jenny dealt with the task of the formal group shots while I got stuck-in with the 14-24 and Zeiss macro.  I took brackets of the shots where contrast range was impossible due to the bright windows, knowing I would merge them in Photomatix.  I shot many aspects including very wide shots of the ceiling.  It was nice to take my time and doing this job almost felt like a break from the hustle.

Controlled motion blur of the waiter setting bottles on the table

Top table with the Zeiss Macro

For the receiving line I set up an SB800 flash in my softbox to add to the limited amounts of natural light coming in through the porch.   I was able to manually expose for natural light at ISO 800, so set the flash to manual and triggered it remotely after a few test shots to find the correct flash exposure.  Nikon creative lighting by remote control is a wonderful tool.  Using TTL here would not have allowed lighting consistentcy.  There were a couple of real "gotchas" here....there was a big mirror on one wall that dictated my position and the queue formed in a very awkward position, snaking right across my shooting path.  Even so I got some reportage style snapshots of the spontaneity of things, though no masterpieces for sure.

After that there was a bit of respite as I don't believe in photographing people eating!  I then took some informal shots of guests and kids within the dining area before shooting the speeches.  The latter were a bit awkward as it was getting darker and the ceilings and walls were a no-no for bounce (too high, too dark).  So I boosted the ISO and used a tiny touch of direct fill.  Not ideal but ok. I also had this shot in mind during the reception so popped out to get it when I had a mo.

Order of service and reception venue

Outside Formals:  After dinner we grabbed our chance and took the couple outside for the formal shots in the grounds.  The light was lovely with low, warm sun and a blue sky.  I had decided to use very gentle direct fill flash for most shots, to add life to faces and eyes and in some cases kill contrast a bit or deal with backlight.  I set TTL-BL (balanced fill flash) on the SB900 and dialled it down by over 1 stop.  I shot in manual exposure mode with fairly wide apertures on the D700 and 24-70 both for DOF effect and to maximize the flash power.  I was aware that to maintain ambient exposure for quite a few shots I would have to stray over the sweet spot of max sync speed (1/250th sec) and use higher shutter speeds and FP sync.  Here the flash burns for a longer duration as the shutter curtains pass over the sensor, allowing use of the flash at high speeds but seriously reducing power and range.

D700, 24-70, F4.5 & max flash sync speed of 1/250th sec, plus an obliging swan!  Background deliberately underexposed by about a stop

D700, 24-70, F5 & max flash sync of 1/250th sec

Natural light only and speed limit sign successfully cloned out!

Ambient evening light only with exposure set to retain a nice sky

The below shot was one of my favourites of the day owing to the spontaneity of the moment and because my love of using ambient and flash light seemed to work very nicely here in balancing the lighting without looking obvious.  The couple were in shadow and there was still sunlight falling on the buildings and sky behind.  I therefore had to expose manually to retain detail in the far background and the shaded middle ground, while popping some gentle flash onto the couple.  To hold those highlight details I had to up the shutter speed to 1/320th sec into FP sync territory.

D700, 24-70, F5 & 1/320th sec

While Jenny took a few more groups who wanted photos I tried a different angle on the same groups to offer something different.  This is one such shot taken at F 7.1 to increase depth of field a bit owing to the number of people.  Yes the people are not looking at me, but the angle captures the sky and an unusual aspect and I have managed to indulge mixing ambient with FP sync flash again! Does the shot work?

D700, 24-70, F7.1 & 1/320th sec

I saw groups of guests milling around enjoying the late sunshine and because it captured an element of the day and the light was nice I took a couple of shots.  I used some fill flash to light the foreground as the sky was still bright and the contrast needed balancing.  This sort of shot is hardly a masterpiece but is a nice memory of the day and I try to shoot what I think the couple will want to remember.

Evening disco:  The great high ISO performance of the D700 allowed me to take some shots in near darkness at the disco and capture a few memories for the couple.  I took some shots to capture the first dance and nice moments like this little girl doing a solo in front of the DJ.  They were never going to be technical marvels of image quality but we are all lucky we can take photographs at all, as it would have been impossible a few years back.  I used a high ISO to let ambient light register and a tiny bit of direct fill flash on the couple to add life and texture to the dress, while trying to avoid casting a shadow.  In some shots a shadow was visible, but others were fine.  Ideally I would bounce but couldn't see it working here owing to the huge ceiling and dark wood panels.  Having since read more on bounce flash, particularly by the very helpful Neil van Niekerk, I may try it in future, even when it looks pretty hopeless.

D700, 24-70, F4 @ ISO 3200 with very gentle fill flash

D700, 24-70, F2.8 @ ISO 6400

The main things I learned from doing this wedding were;

1) Plan in advance:  visit the venue and couple.  That way you all know what to expect and you have an idea of the kit and settings you will need.  Make a written plan with timings and agree between photographers, what you will each be shooting and check your kit bag at least twice before leaving for the day.

2) Learn the exposure limitations of your gear and what the reasonable limits are for holding detail in highlights and shadows.  Always expose for the relevant tones...i.e. that of your subject (white dress!)...who cares if some backgrounds blow out for example?  When I step outside, I will initially set my shutter speed to max flash sync, ISO to 200 and aperture to F4, depending on brightness.  I know that is a good base for me when combining flash and ambient light.  If its brighter I will generally stop down the aperture (to a point) rather than increase shutter speed to retain the power sweet spot of the flash at max sync speed.

3) Get fast lenses...at least F2.8 to deal with the low light, to maximize flash performance and allow creative use of depth of field.  Image stabilisation may be useful for some shots but is no substitute for a wider aperture in many circumstances, such as using subtle flash or FP sync flash at wide apertures.  Even a £100 50mm will open up the possibilities well beyond a slower, more pricey lens.

4) KIS...keep it simple.  For lots of the stages in a wedding you don't have time to set up kit and get people to wait...you have to keep up with events.  Use one lens, set up the camera and flash to what you know will work in a particular scenario and keep shooting. 

4) Make sure you and your camera can focus accurately as you will have minimum depth of field to play with at fast apertures.

5) Use manual exposure mode for much of the time.  It allows you to compensate for the inevitable failure of the meter to deal with extreme tones like white dresses and black suits and allows you to lock the ambient exposure when adding some flash.

6) Get a full-frame camera body with good High ISO performance and place this above getting more megapixels for most kinds of wedding work.  The crop frame bodies may be way better than we ever had with film but you may still need the constraints of a tripod to get decent image quality.  I'm sure many shooters do weddings better than me with crop bodies, but FF does hugely extend the possibilities and flexibility of the shooting options.

7)  Get a backup camera body, lens and flash at least.  Ideally of the same quality, but anything is better than nothing.  I can't imagine how it might feel having your only camera, flash or lens pack up!

8) There never seems to be enough time.  You may not get some of the shots you wanted and you certainly will not get time to mess about with kit...finding your way around your camera has to be intuitive.  Don't worry if all doesn't go to plan...move on.   I found this especially with the groom shots at the church.  I had lots of ideas and managed to use a few but had to let the day progress naturally rather than interfering once I had got some key shots.

9)  Study other photographers work for poses and ideas to try as well as your own and visit some helpful websites on technique, such as Neil van Niekerk's Tangents.

10)  Try to produce a variety of shots ranging from formal poses to venue and reportage style.

11)  Learn how to use a flash gun both off and on your camera, in manual exposure mode, to enhance the ambient light already there.  Avoid simply shooting from the hotshoe with direct flash and little thought to exposure, as the light will be harsh, lack direction and be unflattering.  Generally try to bounce the flash behind or to the side.  Use direct flash for gentle fill light when shooting outdoors, but its use should be almost imperceptible unless you desire a certain look or you have to overpower serious contrast.

12) Be careful with your gear.  Its easy to bump, fumble or drop expensive kit in the rush to get a shot or change cameras and try not to leave it unattended while you are distracted.

13)  Enjoy the day.  Don't get stressed and pressured to a detrimental degree and don't panic.  Communicate happily with the couple and guests as the day progresses.  They will be happy to help you but will not have infinite patience and it is their day after all!

14)  Take water and some snacks for on-the-run nose-bagging.

15)  Personally I prefer to do weddings with a trusted friend photographer.  You feed ideas off each other, can troubleshoot each others problems and have more kit redundancy, plus you share the fun and stresses.

I really enjoyed it and look forward to more jobs.  It was an 11 hour day during which I don't remember sitting down once!  Then all the processing of proofs.  

Overall, a satisfying way to use photography outside of a hobby and where there is a lot to learn technically, artistically and in managing people respectfully, so as not to affect the progress of the day.  Jenny would no doubt have her own stories and worked every bit as hard as me, but it all worked out well for everyone.

RAW File exposure latitude

The following image was taken using a Nikon D300 and the modest little Nikon 35mm F1.8 prime, that I reckon is a seriously good bargain in today's world of hugely expensive new and exotic optics.

When visiting Kingston Lacy today I wanted to get a few snaps of my wife and baby with the sunlit house and other nice features in the background, to give the images some context.  It was such a lovely sunny day that I was faced with the usual dilemmas in deciding how to deal with the huge dynamic range presented by most techniques.

Choices (or at least the ones I thought of!):

1) Place the subject in the sun and take the shot so the exposure was largely even on the subject and background...I hate this as people squint painfully or wear sunglasses.

2) Place the subject in the shade and expose for the subject, while accepting that the background will blow out totally....far from ideal if we want to retain some background detail and context.

3) Place the subject in the shade and expose for the background, then pop in some flash to throw fill light on the subject and balance the exposure....I love this option, only I didn't have a powerful speedlight on me.  My built-in flash was not capable of putting enough light in at the max sync speed of 1/250th sec and the necessary aperture to hold the background exposure to near normal.  An SB800/900 speedlight could overcome this by entering high speed FP sync mode, which enables shots to be taken at any shutter speed by emitting a continuous burst of flash for the duration of the exposure, rather than a single pop for a short period during the exposure (more on this another time).

4) Take at least two exposures optimized for both the background and subject and merge them using layers and erasing in Photoshop....I didn't have a tripod to keep the camera aligned between images and I don't like spending hours on software post-processing, especially for family snaps.  In any case I'm simply not clever when it comes to PP!

5) Compromise on the exposure and adjust it once downloaded....This is the option I chose through knowing my camera and how far its RAW files are capable of being pushed.  At a 0EV exposure the background was mostly ok with a few blown highlights but the subject was vastly underexposed.  I chose to overexpose the image by 1 stop so I blew out more highlights in the background and lifted more detail from the subject.  In Lightroom 3, I simply dragged back the highlights into the range of the histogram and introduced fill light into the subject.  I then increased contrast and added a modest curve.  Hardly any time at all.  I therefore placed the exposure between the extreme values in the image at time of capture, knowing that neither would be exposed correctly at capture, but I could work from that point later to bring the detail out.

Obviously its no masterpiece but I quite like the effect of the bright background and much more detailed subject as it enhances the separation already in place from the choice of aperture.  It illustrates what can be done with a fairly ordinary image when taken in RAW and when some thought is given to exposure at the time of capture.   The headroom available in the highlights and the detail recoverable from the shadows does vary between cameras (the D700 is stunning, D300 is good) but its surprising what can be achieved and pseudo HDR images are often composed by pushing a single RAW file above and below 0EV by a stop or two.