I recently stumbled over a great tip from wedding photographer extraordinaire Jasmine Star. I thought I would share it with anyone reading this blog as it's a real scorcher. Granted, not a resident in Bristol, but she writes a great blog and regularly shares her inspiring work. I’m always after tips to improve the efficiency of photographing weddings, especially the formals. Formal shots can be fun to shoot and Bristol has some great traditional wedding locations. When you mix this with my modern style of photography the results are always great to look and make long lasting memories that I am proud of.


That said formal shots aren't traditionally a fun thing for the bride and groom or the guests. Understandably they would rather be spending time together rather than looking at me behind a black box! The one thing that slows the process down is the organisation of people. Up until now I have always started with the Bride and then worked my way up to the whole wedding party. This has worked well and I can get the whole thing done in about 30-40 minutes. My assistant ticks off the shots as we go and lets me know which shot comes next.

Jasmine recommends you do the opposite. Start with a big group. Pose them well and then strip away the guests, friends and then the family with each shot. This saves people hanging around who are not needed until the end. It also saves a lot of reposing with every shot taken. My next wedding has an unusually large number of formal shots. There are about 25 as the bride has a large number of relatives coming from overseas. It’s going to take a long time whatever method I use but I'm hoping this method will shave a few minutes off what will be a long session.

Doing new things is sometimes a bit scary but I'm relatively confident this will work wonders.

Labels: Bristol, Guide, Techniques, Thoughts, Web, Wedding Photography, Wedding Photography Locations

I got in to an interesting discussion with a prospective client about post processing trends. We were having a wedding consultation and he commented that he liked the 'cleanness' of my photographs (thanks!) in contrast to some of the other local Bristol photographers he has met. I asked him what he meant by this just as a talking point to make sure I understood his meaning and to get some feedback. He responded that the last photographer's images were very grainy.

Labels: Post Processing, Techniques, Thoughts, Web, Wedding Photography

I'm really looking forward to photographing a wedding at the Hotel Du Vin this weekend. I'll be taking a new second photographer along with me this time. It will be really handy to have him to carry my kit around as I plan on using some big lights for the formals. Shooting weddings in winter can be a real pain due to the lack of light. I'll be bouncing flashes off the walls and ceiling rather than counting on high ISO wide apertures. The quality of light can be very natural and lighting is what good photography is all about.

Labels: Bristol, Equipment, Gear, Guide, Techniques, Thoughts, Wedding Photography, Wedding Photography Locations

An easy way to be creative at a wedding is to change the backdrop and get away from the other people at the wedding. For example when going to the Bristol registry office for a ceremony there are some beautiful parts of Bristol that make a nice backdrop for any wedding photographer. All it takes is for you to get the bride and groom to plan this in to their schedule so that you get 10-15 minutes with just them. This really helps spice up the pictures.

Not only do the shots visually change, but getting the happy couple away from everyone else lets them relax. When they don't have a crowd looking at them they will be a lot more comfortable and relaxed. Then you can encourage them to play, have a kiss or just enjoy a few moments together sitting down talking.

Labels: Bristol, Guide, Techniques, Thoughts, Web, Wedding Photography, Wedding Photography Locations

Put simply, 'give it some wonk.' Two of the simplest techniques for creating an image that seems more interesting are very simple. Firstly you can use the rule of thirds. This works like a charm 95% of the time. You place your subject off centre and ensure the face, or the point of interest rests on one of the four intersecting lines. Secondly you can shoot at an angle. You don't HAVE to keep your camera straight, where it works, tilt it to either side and use this to compose at an interesting angle.

It helps make the viewer look for more components in the scene. It puts the viewers visual balance off centre and adds another dimension to the image. As a lot of photos are not composed like this it quite often stands out and I quite often have the bride and groom liking it more as a result. That said, like many techniques don't overuse it!

Labels: Bristol, Techniques, Thoughts, Wedding Photography

I know it's easily said that you should work your client to get the best out of them. Serious shots are nice, but grabbing emotion is what weddings are all about. Saying 'smile' doesn't work and just sounds lame. Encouraging people to play, have fun, be silly is okay for models but not so much for the average bride. This can be particularly challenging with just one person, with two they can play off each other.

Anyway, here a few things to do or say to lighten the atmosphere and make them feel comfortable.

• Talk to them, ask her how she met the groom, plans for the honeymoon.
• Ask her what nicknames she has for the groom that no one else knows.
• Tell them a really bad joke. This works well if you build it up to be the best joke ever... they always crack up over it.
• Try grabbing a small kid from nearby and asking him/her to press the shutter - this normally gets some genuine smiles.
• Compliment them and tell them they look good - don't forget to show them the best ones on the LCD.
• Encourage them to move around - they don't have to be stiffs! This can lead to them doing stupid poses which is always good.
• Say - "now the bride and groom kiss and every laugh" *click* then, "now the bride and groom laugh and everyone else kiss!" *click*
• "Okay, look like you like each other." *click*
• "Okay, now bite his ear!" *click*

Labels: Bristol, Techniques, Thoughts, Wedding Photography

Being a photographer is all about being creative. That said there are many 'must have shots' you need to take on the wedding day. One of the photos a groom will like the most is a head and shoulders shot of the bride. This is the photograph that he will put on his desk at work or in his wallet.

It's best if you can photograph her veiled and unveiled. While you need to get close to her and get an intimate shot you might also want to try different kinds of light. Both soft light for a more dreamy look but also harsh light more contrasty punchy photographs. It's quite unnatural to be photographed so make sure you show her the back of your camera so she knows how good she looks!

As I've previously mentioned talk to the bride too - tell her how good she looks, and make sure she likes what she is doing. This will make her look (and feel) more relaxed and natural.

Labels: Bristol, Guide, Techniques, Wedding Photography

I thought I would put a quick blog post together to mention the focusing test chart. I recently played with it and was happily surprised to see that all of my lenses (except one) focussed perfectly.

I expected the 80-200/2.8 to not fare so well - as it seems to slightly back focus. I have been planning to upgrade this lens for some time and that day may be coming quicker than I thought! At least this gives me a genuine opportunity to test the micro adjust feature on my Canon 5DMKII.

I use this lens for a lot of my weddings in Bristol and do occasionally see a shot not being 100% when using this lens. It's a shame as the qualities of it are exceptional. This test chart is a great resource and I recommend trying it, if only for piece of mind.

Labels: Bristol, Equipment, Gear, Techniques, Thoughts, Web, Wedding Photography

There are few opportunities to practise shots on the wedding day, but one of the few opportunities we get as wedding photographers is the cutting of the cake. This is a great opportunity to get some 'safe shots' in the bag with no interruptions. Another reason is that sometimes the photographer is only booked up to a certain time and so they need the photographs of the cake cutting before they leave. Since my 'second shooter' days I was always taught to do a mock cutting of the cake for these reasons. However, last weekend I decided against doing this. The reason?

These 'fake' shots never make it in to the final portfolio of images I hand to the clients. When they do the real thing the expressions are too priceless to miss capturing! I always stay until the end of the night so there is no chance of me missing this great opportunity. I also find the same thing when throwing the bouquet. It can be photographically challenging, but doing it live and capturing the real thing makes for better, emotionally charged photographs.

This is part of my plan to reduce the amount of photographs I take at a wedding and concentrate on the quality. This is a time consideration meaning less photos to post process and more highly rated photos.

The only other 'fake' part of the day is the signing of the register. Normally the priest doesn't allow this due to the distraction, but it is his house so his rules... Okay maybe it's God's house but I am sure you understand what I mean!

Photography is all about capturing the moment!

Labels: Guide, Techniques, Thoughts, Wedding Photography

Living in Bristol, or the UK for that matter, unpredictable weather or just 'bad' weather is always to be considered. I suspect this is why most people schedule their wedding for the summer months, but all photographers must have a plan when it comes to poor weather. We all know that bright sunlight can be quite hard to work with, but what happens when you can't even step outside?

When you first meet for a couple for a wedding consultation always discuss their contingency plan regarding bad weather. It's not as if it doesn't rain here on earth from time to time. In most cases the contingency will be in the church or the reception under cover. However weddings can be outdoor events - or you may even want to embrace the weather for the feeling it can give to a photograph and the memory of the day.

Contingency
Check the weather forecast up to a week, every day until the day. This will help you plan in advance, including waterproofing to carry your gear in from your car to the wedding venue. Hopefully the venue will be nice enough for indoor photographs by using features such as the church alter, or if you are at the reception then use the buildings best features. This might be an old wooden staircase or a fireplace. If it doesn't have any good features then resort to your two best friends - window light and a plain wall with fresh flowers on either side of the group.

Protection
What happens if it is an outdoor event? The wedding venue is probably the best bet for finding shelter immediately after the ceremony. In honesty I think good local knowledge is essential here and one of the key reasons you should scout the location before the big day. If you have good knowledge of the local area you can find shelter in places such as picnic areas, underneath a porch or building overhang such as the church's entrance.

Gear
Again, this is perhaps another reason why a professional photographer needs professional gear. Basic weather sealing for your body and lenses means you don't have to be too concerned with some light rain or a few drops. Personally I'd be more worried about the bride's dress getting wet or people's hair do's than my gear because I know I am covered. I have seen other photographers use plastic bags with elastic bands around their camera. Whilst this is a legitimate way of protecting your gear I'm not 100% sure what it says for your image as a professional. Individual choice comes in to this but if you're shooting a wedding for £5,000 I'm not sure you can always get away with it. Even if you use a bag from John Lewis! When bad weather strikes I have my assistant hold the umbrella - that's all I'm saying...

If there is light rain and your clients are up for it then suggest shooting outside. I have managed this on one occasion and it worked well. Other times the weather was SO bad it couldn't have been an option but if I thought we could have got away with it I would have suggested it. One technical consideration is using flash in the rain. It can create specular highlights on raindrops in between you and the subject. You might want to do this for a few creative shots - but you probably won't want all of them to look like this.

Use it to your advantage
Now I don't want my clients to get absolutely soaked - unless they are up for it! But shooting in the rain can mean some really memorable, creative, fun photographs.

I would suggest buying some big umbrellas in preparation. Neutral colours work best as they don't distract but really it does come down to your style. Avoid logos at all costs and also be aware of any colour casts that might come from light shining through a coloured umbrella. Plastic see-through umbrellas may be another consideration for your funky brides... Again this is another opportunity to impress your clients with great service and creative thinking. When things don't go to plan I know you can really help make their day special in what might be quite a stressful situation. In some circumstances all you can do is embrace the rain and have fun.

You might be surprised at what you can create in such circumstances as thick clouds can be very atmospheric. Wet or poor weather isn't all that bad from a photographic perspective. Clouds add a lot of drama to a photo and I would prefer to have them in the picture than a plain boring blue sky. Recent rain can sparkle and make colours seem a bit more vibrant and certainly gives a very fresh feel. Bright sunlight just makes things looks washed out and flat.

One last tip is to try and calm the nerves of bride and groom. Having your one special day spoilt by gale force winds and torrential rain is awful, but a smile, joke and a laugh will ease the mood and the knowledge that you can produce good images inside or out should hopefully take some stress away - at least for them! Again, their feelings will probably come across in your photographs so it is very much your concern that they are looked after and treated as they should be!

Labels: Equipment, Gear, Guide, Techniques, Wedding Photography

One wedding photographer whose work I admire is becker. One technique he consistently uses is to capture the scene from a different perspective. Shooting at eye level works well for a variety of scenes at a wedding but shooting from a low or high position adds a certain dynamic to the shot. Using a different perspective adds a nice change of pace but another important reason is that it tends to simplify the background. One tip is to bring a stepladder with you, this can be really handy especially for group shots where people at the back can be blocked out. The other tip is to sit down on the floor, or at least crouch down. Finding a different perspective can really help make your images more interested and unique.

Labels: Techniques, Wedding Photography

One tip to save time in post processing is to make sure that all of your camera bodies have the same time and date. Not 'about the same', but exactly the same.

Labels: Equipment, Guide, Techniques, Wedding Photography

If you haven't photographed children before you might feel a bit of trepidation even if you're used to portraiture because there is a lot to learn.

First it's helpful to start the shoot at the right time of the day. This means avoiding meal or nap time. It's really hard to get smiles at these times, before a nap they are too tired, and afterwards can be bad too. Often food will help calm a baby down, but you need to be careful because it sometimes has a tendency to come back up! Most parents with a child of a few months know this, but just in case you don't.

Labels: Guide, Techniques

There are two good reasons to prepare, plan and prepare.

Firstly everyone has heard of 'pre wedding nerves.' This applies to the wedding photographer too. It's good to be on edge, you don't want to be too complacent about how good you are. Equally you don't want your nerves to affect your performance. An effective way to control your nerves is to PREPARE yourself as much as you can. You will need to adjust to the events of the day and if something within your control goes wrong you need to have a backup plan. What happens if your camera dies, you run out of memory or batteries for your flash. What happens if it rains outside where you planned to do the formal shots? What happens if the guests keep looking at their friends taking pictures of them rather than you. What happens if your camera can't get the right white balance between daylight coming through the windows and tungsten?

You need to have answers to these kind of questions. Preparing your gear and researching the location will make you feel more confident about the event and rather than being distracted by your nerves you will be able to 'focus' on the job in hand.

The second reason is that if your plans go wrong then you have a physical backup or a backup plan. This is not psychological but very real! Having a backup for everything may seem like overkill but let me assure you it is not. Weddings only happen once and you can't even think about photographing one without serious preparation.

This is why if you drop your main portrait lens you have an alternative. Obviously you don't need to carry two of every lens, but if you crack your 70-200/2.8 then you can whip out your 100/2.8 macro and shoot with that. In short, do your best to be fully prepared so that if something happens you can rest comfortably in the knowledge that you were as prepared as you could possibly be.

As I mentioned previously things rarely go to plan on the day and you have to expect the unexpected and go with the flow. Whilst you need to memorise your list of formal shots keep a note of them and check them at the end of the wedding. If you forgot to take a shot of the groom and bridesmaids then you can check your list before the end of the wedding and organise an impromptu shoot.

The schedule often changes. Don't be surprised if the bride arrives 15 minutes late for the ceremony. This will impact on your 30 minutes of allocated time for a photoshoot and you will only get 15. Get the important emotional shots during and after the ceremony make sure you explain to the organiser or bride what has happened. They will help you to organise people and explain what has happened and ease the pressure on you so you can do the best job in the circumstances.

Don't get irritable if things don't go to plan. This doesn't help anyone and it is so true that the person in front of the camera mirrors the person behind it. Joke and have fun with them. Provide positive GENUINE feedback, chimp and adjust your subjects as necessary so that they feel good about themselves. Remember the more practice you have the less stressed you will be. The less stressed you are the less mistakes you make.

Labels: Gear, Guide, Techniques, Wedding Photography

If you shoot weddings one skill that you need to master is exposure compensation. There's a good reason for this as you will generally find yourself shooting in many different lighting conditions. Ambient light, window light, door light, flash light are all factors to consider - when people exit or enter buildings you will have to manage your exposure and not rely on the camera.

There are a number of ways to achieve this - the first of which is to use fill flash, but you could also use centre weighted or spot metering. However if you try the last two methods you have to fiddle around with your gear wasting valuable seconds so for me a flash with -2 exposure compensation does the trick in providing light to the 'silhouetted' subject.

Shooting in RAW obviously adds greater flexibility in drawing out the shadows or hiding the blown highlights but you lose a lot of detail and clarity.

Labels: Techniques

Ensure you get a schedule from the bride and groom at least one month from the wedding date. You need to know what's going on and to check the formal portrait and group shots have been allocated enough time. Normally they haven't.

Sequence of Events (Photo opportunities are in bold.)

Get to the location of the ceremony beforehand to check for locations both inside and outside for formal shots. You need to know what the light will be like and check the weather forecast. Take some test shots and scout out good locations for the formals.

Getting ready with the bride:

1. Makeup application - (before, during and after shots)

2. Get dressed - (after shot)

3. Hair styling and and decoration - (during and after, mother putting on vale)

5. Final Check.

6. Leave for the ceremony - (car/getting in)

7. Arrival at ceremony in transport - (getting out)

8. The ceremony - (rings/tears/people in the front rows and the aisle walk)

9. Leave ceremony venue - (confetti/formal photographs/candid opportunities)

Arrive at the Reception:

1. Arrive - (arriving (if possible))

2. Food - (shots of table decorations, cake, buffet or meal before being eaten)

3. Speeches - (at least one good shot of each speaker, different angles etc)

4. Cutting of the Cake - (full/half and close up shots)

5. First Dance - (lots of angles, crowd as background)

6. The party - (lots of candid shots)

7. The end - (shots of people leaving)

Normally a lot of alcohol is consumed at weddings and it's highly likely that someone will offer you a drink - especially if there is an open bar. You need to be very careful here and I recommend you don't accept if it is early on in the day. If something goes wrong with your gear or memory cards and someone says they saw you drinking at the wedding you will have some serious explaining to do. Just say something like 'sorry but I need to make sure that everything is in focus. Maybe later!" and don't accept the offer. Only when you have had time to make a backup on the laptop or a harddrive do I suggest you accept at the end of the evening.

As far as I can remember that is the general trend at most weddings in the UK. Obviously it depends on the couple so make sure you study that schedule.

Labels: Guide, Techniques

As I mentioned in my previous post it's a good idea to stop down the aperture on a telephoto so you get more depth of field to capture a story. This is where the wide angle lens excels. Essentially you can capture everything in the scene but the photographer!

Labels: Equipment, Techniques

I'm considering upgrading my telephoto lens to the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens because this focal range is extremely important. At the moment I use a Canon 80-200mm f/2.8 L lens but I would welcome the quicker focusing and another 10mm on the wide end.

Shooting with this lens has several advantages. Firstly it helps isolate your main subject from the background by using a shallow depth of field to blur the background. There are lots of opportunities for this kind of image and creating dreamy bokeh in the background is a nice look to create.

Using a telephoto lens also allows the wedding photographer to go unnoticed because you can stand far away from your subject. This helps keep them at ease as no one can not be self conscious with a bulky DLSR pointing at them.

Having a wide aperture is incredibly important in low light conditions and makes a wedding photographer's job easier. However, there are advantages of using a medium aperture such as f/5.6 - f/8. This is why:

The added depth of field allows you to put more than one subject in focus. This is important when trying to tell a story - as this often involves more than one person. if one of them is blurred it often doesn't work quite as well. Stopping down to this aperture obviously depends on the amount of available light - but keep it in mind! The small depth of field look is great - but don't think every shot has to be like this.

This is why having Image Stabilisation would be an advantage and is one of my reasons for thinking about an upgrade.

Don't forget that many candid photos are about a story and so you must control that depth of field to get everything of importance in. This is a big consideration when shooting with a telephoto lens as your subjects can be a few feet apart. If you don't get them all in focus you won't be telling the whole story.

However when the whole story is simply the expression on someone's face this is a great lens to use.

Labels: Equipment, Techniques

One great tip I have learned is never to forget about the other guests at the wedding. The whole event, especially the ceremony is focused on the bride and groom and one can sometimes forget about keeping a careful eye on the other wedding guests for photographic opportunities. Trying to capture your top ten shots leaves a lot of time to find other subjects that the bride and groom with thank you for. The parents, grandparents and friends sitting in the first few rows make excellent shots especially if they are showing any emotion.

One favourite idea of mine is to shoot behind the parents with them in focus and the newlyweds in the background out of focus. It is even better if you manage to get the parents interacting - looking at each other, hugging or holding hands. This is one great way to make sure your ceremony work stands out when there is so much competition. I can't stress how important this point is: Rather than trying to do something too different the ceremony is a great opportunity to capture peoples expressions. The guests tend to be so engaged in the ceremony that they will often ignore the photographer. A long telephoto with a wide aperture will be your lens of choice and will ensure you are not a distraction.

I use a Canon 80-200mm f/2.8 L lens for this kind of work. It means you can capture some beautiful candid portraits of people when they are at an emotional peak. Positioning yourself is important but standing on either wide out of the way is usually your best bet.

Your clients will appreciate that you managed to capture every smile and tear and will love to see people laughing as well as crying.

Your work during the ceremony will not be judged on how different it is but by how much emotion you managed to capture.

Labels: Techniques

I recently went to a friends wedding and saw the photographer using indirect flash outdoors for the group shots. I didn't want to correct him at the time - but unless you have something to reflect this light off it is a complete waste of your time and battery power. Any light that you emit that is not aimed at the subject is a waste.

This is definitely true for bouncing your flash where the light would have to be reflected from the nearest planet before it can return to your subject. Don't forget that modifiers such as the Gary Fong Light Sphere and Omnibounce will also be prone to this problem. I used to use these outside with the idea that the light will be softer and more diffused but this really isn't the case. The light certainly looks less intense but only because most of it is being wasted. You can easily create the same effect by dialing in -2 or -3 flash exposure compensation. I have heard some people say that the light modifiers add softness because they are larger in diameter than the flash head. If you are using a two foot soft box then this would be the case - but the difference between this and a 3 or 5 inch wide flash head is too small to be worth the trouble. Don't forget that a diffuser will aim light in the wrong direction - wasting your valuable batteries. The trade off of getting a slightly softer look compared to the amount of battery power wasted simply isn't worth it.

Save the light modifiers for indoor use where they really make a difference and use flash exposure compensation outside.

Labels: Equipment, Techniques