2012-06-02 - Holly & Tom

It’s strange that I blogged for a Wedding I shot on the 20^th of June before I blogged for the Wedding I shot on the 2^nd :S

But! There are reasons behind it… lol

I don’t like submitting too much information/pictures about each Wedding until I finalise everything with each couple. Only once I submit the entire batch of images to the couples, do I then feel more free with displaying images from their Wedding. I do upload under roughly 5-10 images sometimes, just as a taster for the couples themselves also…

But it’s been difficult trying to find time to meet with Holly & Tom to deliver the pictures to them as right after their Wedding, it was honeymoon time, and then it was just crazy busy for the both of us once the pictures were completed.

However, I am pleased to say the pictures are finished and submitted to Holly & Tom, and that I received a text message from Holly on Saturday just letting me know that she is really happy with what she has seen… J

Holly & Tom’s Wedding was technically the first Wedding I ran by myself. I had previously shot at Weddings for the full day, but I was never the one really in control. Last year I worked for another Photographer, David Sherjan (www.davidsherjan.com), and had shot full day Weddings with him, and when I decided to work for myself, I had only really been commissioned for smaller jobs, like partial coverage for just the reception or ceremony.

When I shot at Michelle & Jeff’s Wedding, I was not the only Photographer, as they had Dan Catley as their main Photographer, however as Michelle is friends with my cousin, she allowed me to attend for some Portfolio work with the option to buy later.

When shooting as a second Photographer, as I did for David Sherjan, I couldn’t really go everywhere I wanted too. I had to keep in mind that I needed to stay out of his line of sight so I don’t get caught in the background of the couples Wedding pictures, and at times, I was told to cover specific things.
Shooting alongside Dan Catley I was free to do whatever I wanted, therefore it was very much like I was the main Photographer, except I did not direct and manage the group photos and portraits.
Holly & Tom’s Wedding however, it was all very much on my shoulders. Admittedly I felt a level of pressure I had not really felt before, as it was the biggest job I had ever taken on, and I was all by myself with no assistant, no secondary shooter, no nothing…

When I shoot, I move a lot… I don’t stop… purely because I try to seek out every angle possible, and I tend to push for various lenses to try and get different perspectives on things. So I even said it to one of the guests, I wear a black shirt for a reason! Just incase I start breaking sweats lol…

As before, I was pretty anxious about the shoot. I had slight worries that taking on a full Wedding Day by myself might be too much for one person, however as soon as I started shooting, it wasn’t much different to the smaller jobs I had done… I pre-envisioned what I would be going for, and only took out the essentials with me. For example, for the preparation shots, it was in Holly’s house, and there was no need for telephoto, tripod etc… just a Macro for the detail shots, and a mid-range Zoom, and a 50mm lens.

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm, 1/60sec, ISO400

D800 + 105mm f/2.8 Micro @ f/6.3, 1/60sec, ISO800

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO400

Likewise for the Ceremony, didn’t need the 50mm, I just needed the Ultra Wide for dramatic Venue shot, and Telephoto as my movements were restricted.

D7000 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO2000

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO2500

Holly & Tom requested some very specific shots. Some of the shots were impossible to attain unfortunately. They wanted close up of their hands, and have them looking at each other and so forth. However, the Vicar had instructed me to stay behind the last Pews at the back during the Ceremony, so that did put a serious obstacle in front of me as that would mean all my shots would be of the back of their heads.

Admittedly, I did break the rules… In the end I just ended up walking down the sides of the Church, and tried to capture the most side on angle possible, and thank god I made that decision in time to catch Holly turning back to look at her guests with a big smile on her face…

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO2500

After the Ceremony, for some reasons the guests did not smother the couple in Confetti, I think they were too shy to really get in there… so  I called out to one of the guests who had some Confetti left in their hands, and told her to chuck it all over Tom lol… But Tom is 6ft+ and the guest couldn’t reach, so he kindly crouched down to get some confetti on his head lol…

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/3200sec, ISO1600

What I love about Wedding Photography is looking out for the little things which make their Weddings specific to that couple. With Holly & Tom I didn’t have to look hard for one thing that definitely made their Wedding unique to them… and that was the massive Fire Truck that pulled up outside the Church to pick up some of their guests lol…

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/4000sec, ISO1600

It’s probably obvious, but I’ll explain anyway lol… Tom is actually a full-time Fireman, so some of his friends from work popped down in the fire truck. I’m assuming not all the guys could get the time off work, otherwise there would be no-one patrolling on his Wedding day lol… But it’s good to see that still made a mark on the day in some way or another…

I drove down to the reception Venue, and tried to get there before anyone else to snatch the Venue shots, and be prepared for the Bride and Grooms Arrival…

D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO800, 1/250sec

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.8, ISO800, 1/250sec

After which I propped up a Tripod, setup for the Group shots, and thankfully there was enough cloud to diffuse the light nicely.

For entire Group shots, I don’t like to organise them too formally as it would consume too much time away from the actual celebration, so I just quickly round them up, and wherever possible, try to keep an eye out for that one person who likes to hide behind someone else (there’s always one! Separating the Bride and Groom from their party, bringing them to the front away from the group, for me shows even more than they’re the focal point of the image.

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/4.5, 1/1250sec, ISO200

During the speeches, from a technical stand point, it was pretty difficult to shoot as there was strange lighting. Don’t get me wrong, the lighting was pleasing to the eye, not to the camera. At certain points of the wall, there were small, but immensely powerful lights and it was messing up the exposures as the camera did not know where to meter. Because of the High Dynamic Range, it sometimes caused silhouette’s, so I had to check the back of the camera constantly to make sure the exposure is set right for each shot. For instance, with this shot, if you look behind the best man’s head, the wall has completely blown out, and the camera at times would try to compensate for that bright light and under expose a bit, which would in turn, make the best man a lot darker.

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO2000, 1/125sec

At a Wedding I normally fire in Aperture Priority due to the constant changing lights from indoors, outdoors, sunny, cloudy etc… however for this, I just had to flick on Manual as the camera’s automatic settings had no clue in this environment.

After the speeches, it was time for the dancing, and now here’s what a Confetti shot is supposed to look like! Lol… Mid-way through the song the venue organised a Confetti rainfall… It properly covered everything and enabled me to capture this incredible moment, I’m not even sure if Holly & Tom knew it was going to happen for them.

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/80, ISO6400

After the first dance, the guests came on the dance floor and for some reason, love took over the dance floor as all the guests started coupling up and smooching lol…

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/320, ISO6400

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/100, ISO6400

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/100, ISO6400

But all in all, it was a great day. Holly & Tom had a beautiful ceremony, both of them were clearly so into each other as they were rarely lips apart… I forgot to mention then even kissed before they were supposed to during the ceremony lol…

I am sincerely wishing them all the best for the future... and I'm sure I'll see them soon... ;)

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www.leophoto.co.uk
@LeoHoangPhoto

2012-06-20 - Benjamin & Elizabeth Branch

It’s weird how some things work out in life…

I was at Michelle and Jeff’s wedding, a few months back, and I received a message from one of her friends as she is looking to get married sometime in July. She had already booked her Photographer, but was interested in potentially commissioning me as a second shooter.

We discussed the dates, venues etc… and her chosen venue is Knowles Country House in Kent. I just randomly I sent the Knowles Country House a quick Email, asking them if they have a preferred Photographers list to show clients. I sent them some of my work and a link to my website and then agreed that they would put me on their list.

I always envisioned most venues would have a regular Photographer that they regularly refer, as I have approached venues in the past, but this venue was happy to include me as they wanted to provide a variety to their clients.

I then received a text message from Ben roughly 5days later enquiring for his Wedding day at this venue, so it’s amazing how things work out.

Because of the distance between us, we mainly dealt over the phone, however before the Wedding, I do try gain some face time with the couples as it would be good to gain some level of comfort with each other, especially for the Bride and the Bridal preparations.

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4, 1/100sec, ISO100

We met in Greenwich, which seemed like a good idea at the time seeing as it was very central between us in terms of travel time, although I underestimated how much traffic and how difficult it would be to park. I just assumed there would be a Pay-On-Foot NCP Car Park or something, but there wasn’t… everywhere was Pay & Display!

Even after leaving 30min earlier than Google Maps said I needed too, I unfortunately ended up being super late because of the traffic/parking issues, but both Ben and Elizabeth were very patient with me and understanding.

On the day of the Wedding, I then left an hour earlier than needed, and you know what? I ended up being an hour earlier lol… I offered to start shooting earlier, but Eli wasn’t at the stage where I was able to cover the Bridal Preparation. I therefore decided to have a walk around to familiarise myself with the venue, and look out for little details I could find.

I just remember walking around Knowles Country House thinking the surroundings were stunning…

I wanted do get a nice silhouette of Eli by the large Window in her room, however she was planning on getting dressed in the Wedding Dress downstairs, as the stair case was immensely narrow!

D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/20sec, ISO320

But downstairs there was a full length mirror where Eli was dressing in front of, and the mental shutter in my head knew that this shot would look amazing in B&W. I have no idea what possessed me to use this angle, but I was shooting the standard angle and it didn’t jump out at me, then this one shot after experimenting, it really stands out to me…

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/60sec, ISO320

Thankfully the weather was good! I didn’t realise it would be an outdoor ceremony until a few days before the Wedding, and I was constantly checking the weather forecast and Ben and Eli were so lucky as the day after it was raining!

D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/7.1, 1/2500, ISO320

The challenge I had at this Wedding was trying to stay unnoticed. I previously been at Weddings where the guest numbers were in the 100’s region, however I believe Ben and Eli decided to keep it a small ceremony amongst 30ish people. I wanted to try get some candid’s of the guests, but me and my big self and big lens was just too obvious and had no-one to hide behind lol… I still managed to get a few ;)

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/5000, ISO320

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/200, ISO800 (SB900 @ TTL)

During the group photos, I was shocked to find that they wanted me in the shots too… I didn’t have my remote trigger, but I did see that the best man was a keen photographer himself, so got him to hit the shutter button for us… I was actually really touched to find that they wanted a shot with me amongst their Wedding Photos.

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/4, 1/320, ISO320

We decided to go for some Wedding Portraits, and the first shot I wanted to do was the Brenizer Method.

(Brace yourself if you’re not a Photographer as I’m going to bore you with technical talk!)

Focal Length, Distance, and Aperture all play a part in Depth of Field (DOF). When shooting with a f/2.8 lens @ 200mm whilst framing to get a wide shot of the background included, it’s actually impossible to gain a shallow DOF. The further the subject, the more things are in focus.

The Brenizer Method allows you to isolate the subjects on a wide shot by using the method of Photo Stitching. 

I would shoot at 200mm @ f/2.8, getting closes up of their face, shoulders, waist, legs and feet, then piece up the background areas to stitch up later in Photoshop, and this is the result. A few attempts to stitch the photo was done on my PC at home, which literally took hours to render, and it was painful to find at times it wouldn’t stitch properly. But I found out that 3500px seems to be the optimal size for stitching, and Adobe CS3 has a better stitching algorithm.

Brenizer Example 6/62 shots

(Example of what I aim for when I shoot to stitch the Brenizer)

Brenizer Method Complete

(62 Photo's Stitched = D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO100, 1/1000)

I’m not even sure if many people appreciated this shot for the DOF… I asked a few people what they like about it and they simply said “The colours look so nice”, which means I could’ve just whacked on a 24mm lens, at f/5.6 and snapped the same shot! Lol… Ah well… I personally like this method… it’s something a bit different, a bit unusual, and not your typical Wedding Photograph, and I just hope Ben and Eli like this shot (or shots lol).

We then moved onto a secret garden type area! I walked around the venue earlier in the day, but I didn’t realise certain gates could be unlocked, and to my amazement, we found a beautiful garden with a little pond.

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/800, ISO100

I spent some time with the DJ whilst the guests had their meals, and it was inspiring to hear that he’s doing what he loves, and living off of it. You can still tell he’s passionate about what he does, and he was genuinely a top guy.

After the meal, it was time for the speeches, and in the speeches was done in a non-traditional sense, as anyone who felt they wanted to speak, would speak. It was actually really sweet to see the mic get passed around, and people were unprepared and speaking from the heart.

Ben also shocked me a bit with his Spanish lol… He shocked me twice when he started doing his Salsa… It’s always nice when there’s a little touch to someone’s Wedding which really make it unique and their own, and Ben & Eli decided to do the Salsa as not only it’s a fun dance, it would get their family involved too.

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2, 1/60sec, ISO1250

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2, 1/50sec, ISO1250

I decided to shoot at f/3.2 to give me a little more breathing space with their dancing. I wanted a Shallow DOF, but was concerned they might sway towards me or away which might bring them out of the focus area. In addition, I shot at a slightly slower Shutter as I wanted to allow some motion blur to show some movement with the image.

Overall, it was definitely a great ceremony. It wasn’t panicky at all, very relaxed, everyone there just seemed very chilled out. Weddings are usually very hectic, but this was a very calming and beautiful day. Both Ben and Eli were really sweet, really down to earth and genuine people. Sincerely wishing them all the best for the future…
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www.leophoto.co.uk
@LeoHoangPhoto

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