Photographing weddings is hard work and lots of fun. If it’s controlled, there’s a healthy amount of stress and physical exercise involved too—all that leaping, ducking, diving, crouching, climbing on the furniture to get The Shots.
Here’s a good way of avoiding that just-set-off-for-the-wedding-in-the-car “I did put my backup camera in the bag, didn’t I?” moment. It’s my non-singing, non-dancing wedding photography check list. It may help with photographers’ pre-wedding nerves but it’s guaranteed to stress your bank balance.
- camera body Nikon D700
- camera body Nikon D700
- Blackrapid DR-1 Double Strap
- camera batteries and spares
- cable release—Nikon MC30
- Lexar and San-disk memory cards x 6
- Nikon 14 – 24mm f2.8 lens
- Nikon 24 – 70mm f2.8 lens
- Nikon 70 – 200m f2.8 lens
- 70 – 200 lens collar foot/tripod point
- Nikon 50 mm f1.4 lens
- Nikon SB800 flash
- Nikon SB800 flash
- SB800 base x 2
- four sets of fully charged AA batteries.
- flash gels x 2 (half straw CTO)
- spare flash gel
- flash flags (black foam) x 2
- flash clamps x 2
- light stands x 2
- shoot-thru umbrellas x 2
- Whibal grey card
- white reference card
- rubber bands to hold above
- monopod
- tripod
- tripod quick release plate
- lens pen
- lens cleaning cloths
- microfiber travel towel to dry camera
- rocket blower
- walk stool
- rain umbrella
- rain coat
- rug for sitting on (for the couple to sit on!)
- white sheet (to place under the dress to keep it clean)
- Lastolite Tri-grip reflector
- Lastolite Tri-grip diffuser
- Laptop
- laptop power brick and cable
- card reader
- Mobile phone—charged
- photography schedule 2 copies
- phone numbers of key people on above
- signature mount
- gaffer tape
- business cards
- water
- paracetamol
- tissues
- energy bars
- Change of clothes—fresh shirt and trousers
- hand towel
- notebook and pen
- step-ladder
- watch (set)
- kneeling mat
- order of service
- reading glasses
- glasses cleaning cloth
- shower cap as rain cover
- AA battery charger
- and other stuff I’ve forgotten …
Is this a softbox, Daddy?
Why you might want to open a photo studio in a farm yard
Middle of the afternoon wedding photography—three weddings in the last few weeks—means I often have to make judicious use of TTL fill-flash from an on-camera SB800 Speedlight dialled down both on the flash and—because it is the Nikon Creative Lighting System—on the camera. Ideal results approximate to softbox/soft lighting or, better still, an it “doesn’t look like flash photography at all” look. Even better still, subtle use of fill-flash means not having to deal with shadowy eye sockets from top lighting and consequent Photoshop/Cameral Raw/Lightroom compromises of the fill light slider.
But never mind all of that geekery!
Last weekend was a bank holiday without a wedding, so we enjoyed family time (my wife’s emphasis!) and a much lighter than work-a-day camera bag to carry around. I did have a speedlight in the bag, but, after surveying the wonderful lighting conditions in the new “playbarn” at Greenlands Farm Village, I gave it the day off too.
Quick on the straw
The open-sided barn was facing away from the bright sun but was lit by beautiful defuse light from an expanse of fluffy cloud and blue sky. It gets better: the clean straw-filled play area is fringed by an expanse of utilitarian farm yard concrete—light, neutral grey. So that’s my two huge (too huge!) soft boxes sorted. And what about a nice warm reflector for the other side of the subject? How does many square metres of one-foot-deep golden straw sound? Well, however it sounds the effect was great natural lighting and a lot of fun.
Escape tunnel
UPDATE: Click here for a slideshow of the festival images.
Now in its second year in its new Yorkshire Dales location on the glorious south-facing flank of the Howgill Fells, Sedbergh FolkFest is a real early summer treat. It’s a small and as-good-as perfectly formed summer festival. I had a great time photographing it on behalf of the organisers. Check out the 2010 festival gallery by clicking here or on the image below. You can also see images from the previous year by following this link.
English long bow
Photography workshops and business planning have prioritised-out my processing of images from last month’s splendid Sedbergh FolkFest. But I’ve managed to put in a few [after] hours tonight. So, for anybody waiting, here’s a preview page of the first day of the festival. Days Two and Three still to do, as well as captions and further thinning out plus a Flash video slideshow …
Base man
I am spending today preparing to lead one of HF Holidays’ Make the most of your Canon EOS workshop holidays at Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. My regular guests, students and clients will know that I can usually be seen toting Nikon D700s. So a big thank you to Jennifer who, in return for a day’s one-to-one tuition/photo walk, has lent me her Canon EOS 1000D. I’ll be blogging in detail about my experience with this entry-level DSLR from “the opposition”. Enough now to say that, so far, I’ve found it a pleasure to use. It handles well and its menu system seems more logical and accessible than those on the Nikon D200, D300, and D700 that I am used to. So, after updating the Canon’s firmware to iron out a nasty bug, I am out for a fun day’s shooting.
In case you are interested, here’s the workshop information and programme:
Introduction
This holiday is an opportunity to learn how to get the most out of your Canon EOS camera in beautiful, photogenic surroundings. Obviously, it is only for guests who use a Canon EOS camera.
If you always use your camera in the ‘green square’ Automatic mode or in Programme mode, you may be holding back your photography creatively as well as technically. Our aim is to overcome technical and jargon barriers so, in future, we can concentrate on making and sharing memorable images.
There will be some indoor workshops, but we’ll be making the most of the splendid Newfield Hall and the stunning Yorkshire Dales landscape around us. The holiday will involve some walking over ground that can be rocky, and muddy. Walks will be no more than three miles.
Programme
As far as possible, workshops will be tailored to suit the experience, needs and aspirations individual guests and we’ll keep in mind that this is a photography holiday, not a course you have to pass. We’ll aim for quality of understanding rather trying to tick off all possible topics. So we’ll be covering as much of the following as is comfortable:
• Canon EOS automatic, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual modes—how they work and when and how to use them
• an exploration of the interdependence of the three corners of the “exposure triangle”: shutter speed, aperture and ISO
• landscape photography using your wide-angle, standard or telephoto lenses
• creative technique for photographing moving water: soft and silky versus frenetic energy
• general camera-handling technique including hand held and tripod mounted photography
• using some of your camera’s custom settings
Wednesday
Afternoon tea and a chance to meet your leader and fellow guests. After dinner we’ll meet to introduce the holiday and talk about what we know or would like to know about photography.
Thursday
After breakfast, depending on the weather, we’ll spend more or less time inside and in the grounds of Newfield Hall talking about and practicing camera technique. This will set us up nicely for an afternoon photo walk alongside the River Aire. The walk is a leisurely two-and-a-half miles with minimal ascent. But it may be muddy in places.
Friday
We travel by coach to the nearby village of Malham, from where it is just under a mile to walk to the base of the magnificent Malham Cove. If you are feeling energetic, a 280-foot climb up steps and path to the top of the cove is rewarded by a photographic exploration of the famous limestone pavement, which makes for excellent photography foreground interest. We may also visit the cavernous Gordale Scar and the beautiful Janet’s Foss waterfall.
Saturday
Departure after breakfast
About Your Leader
David Barrett is a photographer based in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. His photography is informed by his conviction that the best images are those that provoke an emotional response from the viewer, which, he demonstrates, can be achieved as much with landscape photography as it can with portrait or social documentary work.
David teaches digital photography and post-processing privately and through the adult education service. He is also an HF Walking Leader and has previously led overland expeditions with Exodus Travel. David is a professional photographer covering event, commercial and wedding and portrait photography.
You can see some of David’s work and contact him by visiting his websites:
Photography website: http://david-barrett.co.uk/
Blog: http://david-barrett.co.uk/blog
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chapelbeckmill/
After the holiday, David will set up an online Flickr gallery where guests can upload and share their images with fellow guests and David will provide constructive feedback.
What to Bring
• your Canon EOS camera
• camera instruction manual if you have one
• spare batteries/battery charger
• a tripod if you have one
• a comfortable bag for your camera gear
• digital photographers may want to bring a laptop computer for downloading, backup, processing and display
Your transport
A vehicle will be supplied for your holiday transport. Please help to make the journey more comfortable for all by stowing your luggage so that it doesn’t block an aisle or exit route.
Please note it is now a legal requirement that adult coach passengers wear a seatbelt wherever these are provided.
This time last week I was preparing to photograph Jenny and Chris’s wedding at St James’s Parish Church in Staveley near Kendal.
A glance at the weather forecast indicated that the soon-to-be newlyweds were due a large helping of luck; there was going to be rain, lots of rain. Happily, many cultures including ours see rain as a sign of good fortune for the marriage. Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata (a wet bride is a happy bride) say the Italians. Mariage pluvieux, mariage heureux (rainy marriage, happy marriage) for the French, and “Ēka gīlā gām̐ṭha khōla karanē kē li’ē kaṭhina hai” (a wet knot is harder to untie) from Hindu tradition—hindi speakers, please forgive the Google translation.
Lucky bride arrives in the rain
Luckily for me, my assistant had packed a large umbrella. But we do need to arrange a “keep the cameras not the photographer out of the rain” training session for her. No matter because the two Nikon D700s seemed not to mind the rain at all, and not having to change lenses in such soggy and humid conditions is a real advantage of two-camera shooting. Having said that, dripping wet inside the Church, I had swiftly to remove and clean a steamed-up viewfinder glass from the older of the pair. That camera is now in a sealed bag with lots of silica-gel sachets having any remaining dampness removed.
Purrrfect wedding shoes!
Jenny and Chris had requested informal reportage with a few set-piece but relaxed family and friends group and portraits outside the Church. But the luck-bringing deluge rained on that parade. Instead, we concetrated on reportage and, later in the day, we comandeered a couple of Stonecross Manor’s sofas and I improvised with two off-camera SB800 speedlights with on-camera CLS commander for some family group shots in the dry.
Sunshine in the rain
I shot the wedding breakfast speeches from dynamic distance through a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VR with the help of an on-camera, black-flagged, bounce-but-no-direct-flash-on-the-subjects Speedlight SB800. I have been thinking of adding an SB900 to make up a flash threesome with a bit more oomph, but the two SB800 are doing quite nicely—we’ll see.
I just knew he was going to bring that up
Leaving Chris and Jenny’s guests in un-photographed peace to enjoy their celebratory meal, I downloaded my 8 GB Lexar Professional cards to a Mac Book Pro and backed that up to my handy, small enclosure external 350 GB drive. I stashed the latter seperately from the computer—can’t be too careful with people’s most important memories.
Dance!
The evening reception/party was great fun captured through a nifty 50 mm f1.4, a 24 – 70 mm 2.8 and, just for fun, a 14 – 24 ultrawide—again all with lighting assistance from flagged and bounced light from a single on-camera SB800 flash.
No rain, no rainbow. Thanks and lots more luck to Jenny and Chris.
Who are you calling cupcake?
On Saturday morning, after a frenetic photography fortnight, our daughter talked me into parking the cameras to “Bake bread with Daddy!”
Right now we are in the middle of moving just about everything in the house for a renovation that is finally gathering pace, so the cliché of a cast iron range cooker that usually provides heat for warming the dough was switched off. With flour between our toes and most of the dough back in the cavernous mixing bowl, we wondered where the sticky stuff was going to get the warmth needed to, er, prove itself. That’s when I came over all Ray Mears and Bear Grylls. Why not cover it with clingfilm [Glad Wrap for readers from my wife's side of the family] and put it out on the terrace to bathe in all-too-rare Yorkshire Dales sunshine? That’s what we did. I sold it to the toddler as the dough needing to “have a sleep” before going to work. Whispering and on tip-toes, we retraced our floury footprints into the kitchen.
An hour later and the mix was more than twice its pre-snooze size at which point I had to break the photography embargo for the sake of the Grandparents.
You’ve heard about plumbers’ taps and cobblers’ children? Leaking and shoeless, respectively. Well, HF Holidays, for whom I lead photography holidays and workshops, asked me for a photo of myself to use for a profile piece in their 2011 brochure.
The truth is there are precious few good photographs of me—OK just plain “few” because none of them are remotely precious. I am that photographer guy in the cliche who just hates having his photo taken.
Did I leave the lens cap on?
In a former, more corporate life, when I was a [self-]important marketing director for a global company, a number of photographers tried to get me to look relaxed in front of a camera. It never worked. This is one of the reasons why my recent forray into the wedding photography genre has been even more fascinating and enjoyable. I am learning—or realising—a lot about the relationship and trust-building side of photography. I’ll be blogging about that soon. Meantime here’s the portrait I talked myself into “posing” for the brochure. And it’s true: you have to run very fast to take a picture of yourself holding your own camera.
Ninja morrisman
July and August is a busy time of year for a photographer, what with the wedding season and back-to-back music festivals to cover. But I am pleased to say just how pleased I am with my images from this year’s Beverley Folk Festival. My photography has come a long way since winning the festival photography competition in 2006.
You can see all of the images from this year’s festival by clicking here or on the image above. Previous years’ festivals can be found in my music gallery.
Lots of great images to process. But some sleep first. UPDATE: Because, post festival, lots of people are searching for this year’s images I am uploading to Flickr as I process them. Please be patient since I have prioritise my photography day job paying clients ahead of festival images.
Demon Barbers Roadshow
I was invited back to the Old Gaffers’ Lake District HQ at Glenridding to photograph another of their annual regattas on Ullswater.
Regular visitors to this site or my Flickr stream will know that there are more than enough images of old boats to see. This time around I decided to do things a little differently. First, to concentrate more on boat owners and crew. Secondly to discover if a black and white, grittier process would have a worthwhile less-is-more effect on what was a very bright over-contrasty day. See the full set of images here.
Skipper
Returning from a client meeting, we stumbled upon an exhibition of historic and contemporary wedding dresses at Middleton Church between Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale. It was a great opportunity for me to hone essential wedding photography techniques of capturing the detail and subtlety of white or near-white silks and satins against white walls in a lovely but dimly-lit church. Not to mention unobtrusively mixing ambient and flash lighting.
Click here or on the image below to see more examples from this impromptu shoot.
Wedding dress central at Middleton Church
Technical and technique info: In this low light situation I did use flash. And, believe it or no it was an on-camera Nikon SB800. The pleasant off-camera-big-soft-box-directional effects were achieved by flagging the flash with some black foam to ensure no light from the flash hit the subjects directly and bouncing off white walls usually over my shoulder. Credit for this technique should rightly go to Neil van Niekerk who is a master of this and at demystifying flash photography.
* Middleton Church is located on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in Cumbria between Kendal, Sedbergh Kirkby Lonsdale and Barbon.
This is “the other” dead tree, just off the A82 where Rannoch Moor meets Glencoe. It is supposed to be the most photographed in Scotland, if not the UK. It is effectively a site of pilgrimage for established and aspiring landscape photographers. Is it a photographic icon or a cliche?
Icon or cliche
The boulders at Lochan na h-Achlaise on Rannoch Moor are often under represented while that most photographed of trees grabs all of the twilight—redressing the balance.
A rock and a clam place
Sunrise over Glencoe at this time of year is at 05:15. Getting out of bed at 04:00 doesn’t come easy. But this was the reward this morning at a deserted Lochan na h-Achlaise on Rannoch Moor. I’ll put more images in my gallery and on Flickr after I’ve had some sleep. [A siesta in Scotland: imagine that!]
The good news for my guests on the forthcoming HF Holidays Adventure Photography break is that mid-September dawns aren’t quite so early.
Lochan na h-Achlaise
