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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