Nikon D800 for Weddings… Really?!

I’ve been shooting Weddings since May/June 2011 and have gone through a fair bit of gear within this short period of time. I cannot actually believe how much gear I’ve gone through considering how long I’ve been shooting.

Without boring you all with the extensive list of what I’ve bought and sold for my various silly and calculated reasons, I began shooting with a Nikon D7000, and 16months later, I’ve ended up with two Nikon D800’s :S

I won’t go into detail with why and how in such a short period of time I’ve ended up with two D800’s, but you may know that some of the reasons are justified, and the other reasons my logical side just blames GAS.

Since the release of the Nikon D800 in January, many people have discussed in forums, reviews, blogs etc. that the Nikon D800 for Weddings is just absurd! Very few that I have seen, have said that you could use a D800 for Weddings.

The people who say shooting a Wedding with a D800 is the wrong decision to make. I can put my hand on my heart and say… “I can see what you mean”. However, most of the people saying the D800 is bad for Weddings are people who are judging it via Paper specs.

There is only one reason why you wouldn’t want to shoot the D800 for Weddings/Events, and that is purely because of the file sizes. The 36.3mp RAW files come out at around 70Mb per RAW, 40Mb when using Lossless Compressed.

As a result of the large file sizes, and with the known issues of LR4 being a bit sluggish, my post-production has slowed WAY down. I’ve also had to buy more HDD’s to accommodate the files, back-up and storage, and I’m still in the midst of accumulating more Memory Cards.

Other than the large file sizes, the D800 is a brilliant camera choice for Weddings. Not only can you resolve high detail images when you’re at low ISO’s, you can crank it up to high ISO’s and scale the image down to 16mp and have a file which is very comparable to the Nikon D4. The Nikon D4, based on UK prices, is 2.5x more expensive! Yes there are other benefits to the Nikon D4, but don’t forget that the D800 shares a lot of its parts with the D4 and offers basically the same features, excluding it’s speed and buffer. In some ways, the D800 offers more! With it having a Pop-Up Flash ;)

I know, I know... Professionals don’t use Pop-Up Flashes, but I was actually referring to the Pop-Up Flash as it has Nikon CLS ability, so you can control you other Nikon Flashes with this Pop-Up Flash.

The benefit also to the 36.3mp is the fact you have the ability to crop images. Again, I know of many Photographers out there who will make a point about “crop in camera”. Where I agree, if you can crop in camera, you should do it. There are many benefits to cropping the image correctly in-camera, however, allow me to paint you a picture…

You’re at a Wedding, you’re shooting the ceremony, standing on the grooms side, you look just behind the bride to see a Bridesmaid crying, you want to capture it, and there’s not enough time to switch camera bodies with a longer lens mounted, or switch lens, what do you do? With the D800, you could shoot it, then crop it for a tighter framing.

Now, to all those who say that this is cheating or still don’t agree with crop, I’ll accept your opinions provided you never suggest to someone to buy DX camera as it helps you get closer to the action. This is effectively the same thing.

I could go on and on about benefits and negatives to using the Nikon D800 for Weddings or Events, but the main point of the article is to emphasise, there are some benefits. If you care about workflow and have the mentality “time is money”, then this camera may not be for you. If you are willing to put a little bit more work in, and spend a little more time, why not invest in this camera for Weddings?

2012-08-18 – Danielle & Daniel

It feels like so long ago from when I got that phone call from Danielle enquiring about Wedding Photography, so long ago that I can’t actually believe I have already shot her Wedding and a month has gone by???

After a very brief conversation on the phone with Danielle, we arranged a time to meet up and discuss the Wedding Day. At this point I had no idea of what the Groom’s name was, and when he said “Hi I’m Dan”, I was a little confused as I thought that was the Bride’s name. However, in an attempt to not look like an idiot and thinking I forgot the Bride’s name etc… I just went along with it, and avoided saying any names at all lol…

We took the time to get to know each other a bit better, and discuss their Wedding Day. Danielle and Daniel mentioned to me that they had to make a few last minute changes to their Wedding Plans, and one of them was the reception Venue, and that they had selected this venue purely out of the Lake view, which was an amazing view. This view can be found at The Inn On The Lake in Gravesend. She put forward an idea for a Sunset shot that she envisioned when she viewed the venue, and at this point, I became a little nervous as she chose this venue for a specific shot and I did not want to disappoint.

On the day of the actual shoot, I arrived a little early, but I used this time to capture the Preparation shots casually rather than having to rush. Which was good, because during the schedule, we lost a little time trying to chase her cats lol… Danielle and Daniel are Cat lovers and wanted her two cats to be a part of the Wedding Photos. With the help of her Bridesmaid, and a lot of crawling around on the floor, we managed to snatch a couple of shots of her Cats. (I’ve always heard “don’t work with kids or animals” but that saying never really hits home until you experience having to work with them lol)

I am thankful to the Vicar at this Wedding to allow me freedom of movement. Whenever I shoot a Wedding, I do move a lot, hunting for the best angle and perspective. I tend to shoot a lot from various places, and the Vicar allowed me freedom to walk wherever I liked, and all that he asked was that I do not get into the couples face, and thankfully I have telephoto lenses which allow me to capture facial expressions from a distance… Although this shot was a little cheeky :S

The last couple of Weddings I shot, they were all hosted within the same Venue, so it was a slight change shooting on Church Grounds. I almost forgot how beautiful they can be. Christ Church in Chislehurt was a lovely building. I began my Photography life by shooting architecture and night cityscapes, and when I saw this Church, I seriously thought it was a beautiful building. I really wanted to include the building in as many shots as I could, and for this Group Shot, I needed to use my Ultra Wide Angle to squeeze everyone in along with the building. I attempted to keep the guests as central to the frame as possible without losing too much of the building, as towards the edges of the frame, it is more likely to get distortion and I did not want any faces stretched out.

For the past couple of Weddings I have attempted to use the Brenizer Method within the Portrait Shots. Ryan Brenizer is a NYC Based Wedding Photographer that has made a name for himself by shooting the likes of President Obama, Muhammed Ali and a number of other famous figures which I cannot remember right now… He made a Photographic Technique Famous, and many Photographers have called it Bokeh-Panorama, however over time it be linked to Ryan Brenizer and is now well-known as the Brenizer Method.

In short, it allows for a wider shot, but still retaining the shallow depth of field from a close-up shot. This is a very useful technique to really put focus on an image.

I used this method to capture two Portrait shots with them, it requires around 50 shots with a shallow depth of field, and stitched up. A lot of post-processing involved. However, my favourite Portrait shot of Danielle & Daniel has to be this one.

Although the Brenizer Method demonstrates a strong technical ability to piece together a shot, my favourite shot from their Portraits is the one with pure emotion. The pose is not complex, nor was it the way I shot it, however it was their genuine smiles which I love the most.

We moved onto the Formal Group shots at which point, it was a little difficult to round up as we had called some people out, but they were no-where to be found lol… I’m very thankful to the Bridesmaid’s and Groomsmen who helped out in trying to round people up for me.

I followed the Bridal Car down to the reception Venue, at which point, I had to immediately check out the Lake with my own eyes, and it did not disappoint.

We went for a couple of Portrait Shots at the Lake, but I did not want to keep them for too long as we had done some Portraits at the Church, and have it scheduled for a Sunset shot in the evening. It is important to me that Weddings do not turn into Photoshoots as I want the couples to enjoy their actual Wedding Day and be there within the moments and not have too many staged Photographs.

The speeches were hilarious, the Groomsmen tried to play Psyke Out on the Groom and at this point I had no idea what to do as they really caught me off guard! Do I capture them Psyking him out? Or do I capture the Groom being Psyked out? Lol… The Groom held it together during his speech though, and did not let his Groomsmen get the best of him… Even when one of the Groomsmen’s Phones went off lol…

After the Speeches, we saw that the sun was on its way down, so we quickly ran out to snatch the Sunset shot… As I shoot alone at these Weddings and do not have lighting assistants etc… I didn’t want to lose too much time setting up the light stands themselves, they are prone to being blown away in the wind also, so I quickly enlisted the help of the Brides sister to hold the Flash for me.

I under exposed the shot to bring in the detail from the Sky, but in turn all that would do is underexpose Danielle & Daniel. I did not want them to be Silhouettes in the shot as I had grabbed a Silhouette of them earlier, so I asked Ashley, the Bride’s sister/Bridesmaid, to stand next to them holding the flash as high as she could, but aimed at them. It was a Bare Flash directed at their faces, just to give them some exposure in the shot.

After the Sunset shot, I left the Bride and Groom to interact with their Guests, and during this time, I tried to get as many guest photos as possibly could.

Danielle and Daniel told me they would not be having a first dance, however after the Cake Cutting, they were on the dance floor and having a first dance lol…

I’m glad they did end up having a first dance as the first dance photos for me are one of the best ones from the day. There’s always a moment during the first dance where the couple look at each other or hold each other in such a way where it shows a lot of passion or happiness, and this Wedding was no different in that sense. I love how caught up they are in this moment, and it really looks as if they were in a world of their own, not worrying about their guests, or the fact there’s a big camera aimed at them, they were just in the moment.

After their dance, the Groom and one of the Groomsmen also had a First Dance of their own, then another Groomsmen came out to rock the dance floor and got the party started for sure!

Shooting Danielle & Daniel’s Wedding was an absolute pleasure, minus the fact it was the hottest day of the year! 31 Degrees! During the group shots I had to find a spot to put them in the Shade to better lighting and less squinting for them, but in turn, it put me directly in the sun which after the shoot, when I came home, my family came up to me and said “You have a tan!” lol

But otherwise, the Wedding was a great day. I saw plenty of smiles, which makes my life easier as that’s what I look for at Weddings, and both Danielle and Daniel were the main smilers!

Throughout the day I could really see that Daniel adores Danielle like no other, as I found Daniel lovingly holding Danielle a lot, and that Daniel also makes Danielle laugh like no other. Their chemistry for each other was very apparent throughout the day, and I wish them nothing but happiness for the future.

2012-07-20/21 - Tuan & Judith

I never know whose name to write first… It makes sense “Bride and Groom” that I would write “Judith & Tuan”, but I don’t want to keep relegating the Groom! Amongst my filing system at Home it’s “Tuan & Judith”, but online it’s Judith first… Doesn’t really make a difference! And I probably just wasted 2min of your life by reading that… but hopefully you’ll find the remainder of the Blog interesting…

Judith & Tuan are close friends with my cousin Robert, and they approached me last year when I had just started out doing Wedding Photography. They were engaged (obviously lol) and saw some shots I took at my cousins Wedding. These shots were done relatively casually as I was actually just a guest, but it was enough for Judith & Tuan to at least enquire with me.

We met up for dinner and to discuss their Wedding Day, but not only their Wedding Day, but to hear funny stories about my cousin and his Usher Days lol… I found this immensely hilarious as my nickname amongst some of my friends was also “Usher”. Yes, even I went through the phase in my life where I constantly listened to Usher and tried to pull out his moves in the clubs… So Robert, you’re not alone!

The gist of the conversation that I got from Judith & Tuan, was that the most important thing they wanted was natural photos. Nothing too staged, and they just wanted to feel comfortable with whoever they were going to have document their Wedding.

They mentioned that their ceremony was going to be across 2 days. They were to have a Tea Ceremony on the 20th July, and then their main Wedding & Reception on the 21st July. Not only did they want their Wedding Photographed, they wanted some engagement photos.

We completed their Engagement Photos earlier this year and I could tell Tuan & Judith were happy with these shots as not only did they tell me direct, I saw the photos I took for them very much a part of their Wedding!

The Tea Ceremony was unfamiliar territory for me, seeing as I had never shot one before, and although I was briefed by both Tuan & Judith on what to expect, you never really know until you have been through one yourself.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted by Judith’s family with a Chinese Li Xi, I think it’s called that lol, but basically, it was the red envelope they give as a gesture which contains money and represents good luck and fortune. That’s how I understand it at least lol… But I was genuinely touched by this gesture, and although the gesture may have seen small to Judith and her family, it meant a lot to me that they thought of me for this…

The shoot began with a very familiar Bride Preparation, which then moved onto some games for the Groom. These games were to test his worthiness! Lol… It was actually quite funny to see Tuan walk into his own place and pretend he had never seen it before…

The Bridesmaids had some embarrassing games in-store for the Groom. One of which entailed a very difficult Yoga Move, which Tuan Pulled off magnificently and had perfect form! :S lol

The move actually was assisted quite largely by a little stool, and then Photoshopped out by a photo re-toucher I met in Thailand, Samina Hossain.

The past couple of weeks have been immense with editing, shooting, and work, so much so that I just didn’t have the time to do this photo myself. It is quite a difficult task for me to remove the stool on Photoshop, so I hired Samina who managed to remove the stool perfectly.

The shoot for the Tea Ceremony was very relaxed as nothing was too formal. The challenge on this shoot that I came across was the very restricted space. The Tea Ceremony was held at Tuan’s Parents place in Peterborough, and their house is not small, but when you take into account the number of guests, it was extremely hard manoeuvring around whilst trying to remain like a Ninja. I failed at that miserably as throughout my manoeuvrings, my lens poked Tuan’s back :S

Judith was wearing a tradition red Oriental Dress, and I did want to do a shot that was a bit cliché, and I did unfortunately nudge Judith into doing a shot which she wasn’t comfortable doing as it was very posy. It’s not usually something I like doing myself, but I just saw Judith in her Red Dress, and holding the Red Umbrella, I did pre-envision a very old classic looking photo. By the end of that photo, I think it was safe to say Judith wanted to burn the Umbrella lol… But we did go back to the usual clowning around photos to really bring out their true personalities… ;)

Tuan’s Parents whipped out the old photo album and reminisced a bit, and came across a photo of Tuan’s Great-Grandad who had a striking resemblance too………. Myself lol… It became the joke for the day, that it was somewhat ‘meant to be’ that I am there documenting their day as I looked like one of their family members lol…

On their actual Wedding Day (21st July), I felt more at home with what I was doing. I had shot full-day Weddings before so I really had a much better pre-vision to what would be happening.

I left my house 1hr earlier than I planned to leave, as this was roughly when the Olympics was starting, and there were scares of traffic. All that ended up happening was that I was 1hr earlier than expected!

I was scheduled to start shooting Tuan’s Preparations at 9:30am, however as I arrived at 8:30am and we had finished his Preparations shots before I officially started, we went for a walk around Tower Bridge for some Portraits of him and his brother, the Best Man. It was quite unexpected, and we had no props to play with, not even the Red Umbrella that Judith loved so much :S lol… But we managed to knock out some ‘normal’ Portraits lol… (Sorta lol)

I then had to go to meet Judith for her preparation shots. During the preparation shots, Judith had quite a few of her guests arrive there for a Wedding Day lunch. It was very sweet of her to include me in on this as I wasn’t expecting this at all. It was scheduled that they would have a lunch, but I didn’t realise I would be a part of it too!

I made my way down to the Ceremony Venue, and earlier in the year when I met up with Tuan & Judith for their Venue Visit, I was praying for good weather as the staircase on this Venue is amazing. It made for a lovely Group Shot.

When I walked into the Ceremony room, I found out that their Registrar was the same Registrar from a previous Wedding I had shot last year. I found that his style for performing the Ceremony last year was great! He is friendly, funny, and does not steal the lime light away from the couple, but performs the ceremony in such a way where he does make the guests smile with his subtle jokes. When I saw that he was performing the Ceremony for Judith & Tuan, I knew they were in good hands. I also like the fact that he allows me freedom to walk wherever I wish, and does not restrict me in anyway.

After the Ceremony, Judith & Tuan were lucky to have 2 Confetti sessions lol… They had one just as they exited the Ceremony Room, and then another walking down the stairs outside the Venue. I personally love the Confetti shots as it always seems to bring out the best smiles for the couples. My jokes are unfortunately not good enough to bring out a smile as genuine as Confetti does lol…

Prior to the Wedding, the Group shot list was extremely intimidating. It was a large list, and I feared I would not be able to complete the entire list. The list was large to the point that on the Groom’s side, there were 17 separate groups listed. I’m used to doing Group Shots for the Wedding which totals to around 15ish total for both Bride & Groom, however with the help of Bridesmaids, Maid of Honour, Bestman and Grooms Cousin, we managed to rustle up everyone with ease. It was incredibly efficient… When I was done with one Group, the next was ready for the shot and just stepped in. It was amazingly efficient… I actually couldn’t believe it when I checked the time and we were on schedule.

During the meal they had a few speeches, and during the Speeches, it’s quite difficult to shoot as you cannot take pictures of the words that were said. So the best I can do is shoot in such a way where it reminds the Bride & Groom of how it looked during the Wedding, and I shoot at angles which veer over peoples shoulders, and try find angles where it looks as if you can see from their point of view. Sounds like an easy concept, but pretty hard to execute whilst trying to not make the guests or speakers feel uncomfortable.

After the speeches they hosted a slideshow presentation of pictures from their lives. This is something I had not seen before and it was amazingly sentimental. It brought out laughter and I heard a few “awww’s” lol… They even included the engagement shoot that I had shot for them in the slideshow.

I forgot to mention earlier that they had the engagement photos printed in a photobook, a large print of one of their shots in a frame. It was amazing for me to see that they made their engagement photos very much a part of their actual Wedding Ceremony.

In closing I would like to take the time to say Judith & Tuan were so laid back, easy going, and immensely caring and considerate to everyone on the day… they did not make the day all about 'the wedding day' but made the day about their lives together overall...

These two days were two of the longest shoots I have ever had, but at the same time, it was the smoothest I have ever had. It is an amazing honour to be a part of their day with them, and I am just wishing them all the best for the future!

2012-07-15 - Rachelle & Theo

Rachelle & Theo’s Wedding began with Bridal Preparations at Kink’s in Putney. This was a first for me as most Bridal Preparations were done either at the Bride’s home or in a Bridal Suite at the Venue.

This to me was a great experience shooting, as I really try to avoid being noticed at a Wedding, and getting in front of people with a big camera, it does throw people off and distract from their true emotion. However with the amount of floor space I had to play with, it made it a lot easier for me to move around. Although with the excess amount of mirrors, I was never out of sight :S lol

Nikon D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2, 1/60sec, ISO 250

We moved onto Pembroke Lodge in Richmond, and this was a stunning venue. The thing that caught my eye the most about this venue was the view at the back. The venue seems to be on top of a hill almost, and there was a brilliant skyline view.

Since I arrived earlier than everyone else, I took this time to capture the decorations for the table. Samantha Warren, which is the sister to the Bride and also a good friend of mine, managed to make up these amazing table pieces. I personally think she should look into being a Wedding Planner as her creativity and organisational skills for this Wedding were astounding.

Nikon D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/4.5, 1/60sec, ISO100

The actual ceremony was beautiful, with a glass ceiling, it allowed plenty of light to fall through and bathe down on everyone. It was a bright and beautiful place to be married in. I loved shooting in this venue as it allowed me to shoot without flash to not distract from the ceremony and also keep my ISO down.

Nikon D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO400

Nikon D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO400, 1/640sec

After the Ceremony, we went to do the Group Shots and Portraits. It was quite a difficult session as the ceremony started late, and ran into the time allocated for the group shots, but we ploughed through and got there in the end!

Nikon D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f6.3, ISO100, 1/250sec

With every couple, I do try to do their Portraits in a very natural setting, and try to get them to be as natural as possible without everything looking too staged, and then I try to give them a Portrait using the Brenizer Method.

If you haven’t read any of my other Blog’s where I’ve discussed the Brenizer Method, it’s a method which allows for a wider angle shot, but with a shallow depth of field. This method really allows me to isolate the subject, and keep the focus on them for a full body shot. It also adds a little something different as it does make them look miniature also.

Nikon D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO100 (36 shots stitched)

The Brenizer Method can be quite difficult, as you don’t really know whether it has been nailed until you go home to edit and try stitch them together. For Rachelle & Theo, it somewhat failed. There was a building in the background behind the bushes, however I miss-shot one part of the building which would’ve completed the stitch, however I decided to remove the building altogether and give the final edit a slightly vintage feel, and added much more green to the highlights to give it more of an old faded image.

I was very happy to see Rachelle use the image as her Facebook Profile Picture.

Their first dance was very much the traditional dance, no remix, no funky moves, just them two, the song, and a dance floor. You can feel the love from them from their dance as they were more or less hugged up a lot of the time, and this allowed me to capture what I feel is one of my best shots. The body language and facial expressions caught within this image to me just really shows how much they love each other, and this is my new personal favourite.

Nikon D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/2, ISO1250, 1/60sec

Rachelle & Theo came to me with the idea of light painting for their Wedding Photos. They wanted to use Sparklers to spell “Love”. Light painting is not something I had shot before, but I knew the theory of the technical aspect of getting the shot, but never had actually put it into practice before.

I decided to go buy Sparklers a few days before the Wedding to practice, as I envisioned a shot of the light painting, but have them in focus, with no motion blur. I had a few practice sessions at home before the big day, and the biggest issue I had was the white balance difference between the flash and the light from the sparkler, but otherwise successful runs at home. Didn’t need to test too much and had sparklers spare.

On the actual Wedding Day Rachelle tells me she couldn’t find Sparklers, so luckily these spares did not go to waste!

I think it was safe to safe Rachelle & Theo were fairly intoxicated as it was quite difficult rounding them both up for the shot. So I thought it was best to get setup before trying to get them out, and with the help with the brothers from both sides of the family, we managed to get them out, and they helped out with holding up the flash stands.

I suggested that instead of “Love”, they should paint out a heart instead. Symbolises the same message, but less movements lol… I think to spell out a word sober would be quite difficult, but they were both pretty intoxicated, so I feel a heart would be more realistic, and even at that, it wasn’t a perfect heart lol… We tried twice, and this was the second attempt. I think they were both keen to get back to the party, so I just wrapped up the Sparkler shot here, and I still think it makes for a very sweet image, even more so now that the heart isn’t perfectly done. It’s very unique and personal to them.

Nikon D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/14, ISO100, 8sec

I absolutely loved shooting Rachelle & Theo’s Wedding. This Wedding meant a lot to me as my good friend of mine is sisters with the Bride, and not only that, the best man to the Groom is also a good friend of mine. The amount of thought that went into the details of this Wedding was amazing, and definitely I had a lot to capture.

I could be writing all day about this Wedding as there is so much to say, although I have written a fair bit already I feel I should wrap it up here.

I will close off by saying it was a beautiful ceremony, Rachelle & Theo are both genuinely great people, and without a doubt, I thoroughly enjoyed being there documenting their day for them. Wishing them all the best for the future, and I’m sure I’

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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@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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@LeoHoangPhoto

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