What's In Your Bag

A question I get asked quite alot is "What lenses do you use?"

So, I'd like to introduce you to my little glass family!

The baby: 50mm 1.4
This was my first lens with my Canon 5D MkII. It costs around £300 and is a nice starter lens. It produces gorgeous bokeh and has a pretty big aperture which is great for shooting in darker places. I'm going to upgrade this to a 50mm 1.2f eventually.
Taken with the 50mm 1.4

The Mother: 85mm 1.2
This beauty is my most expensive lens to date, a whopping £2000 (priced at £2600 some places). I saved for months to buy it, and it is so worth every penny. The huge aperture (1.2f) means it's my best lens for shooting at night, it brightens up any room and has astounding bokeh perfect for portraits.
Taken with the 85mm 1.2

Little Sister: 100mm 2.8 Macro Lens
I bought this macro lens a couple of weeks ago as I'd been having trouble at weddings getting the nice close up shots. At £500 it's a fantastic buy, the depth of field this lens gives out is stunning and will produce some gorgeous shots.

Big Bro: 24-70mm 2.8
This lens was my 2nd ever lens and I bought it because I was sick and tired of not being able to get any full-room shots with my 50mm 1.4, and I didn't like the distortion of wide angle lenses. You can buy it for around £1400. This lens has served me very well and works fantastically for "wide" shots and full congregation shots at weddings, however the DOF isn't very shallow and if it was I think I'd love it just a liiiitle bit more.
Taken with the 24-70mm 2.8

Big Daddy: 70-200mm 2.8
This lens is probably tied favourite with my 85mm 1.2. It cost me £1000 (I did some serious bargain hunting online) and without it I would be lost. I borrowed my friend Ali's 70-200mm 2.8 for a whole year before caving in and buying my own when Ali went on holiday with it (that's right, couldn't last 2weeks without one!) This lens is fantastic in so many ways, it's my Ninja Lens in that I can be across the room from someone and still get a great headshot of them, completely unaware I am taking a shot. The DOF is nice and shallow and the zoom lets you have loads of fun and be really versatile. The only thing that would be great is if they had this lens come with a 1.2f, that would be heaven on earth!
Taken with the 70-200mm 2.8


And in some happy news, I am pleased to announce I am expecting!
Last night at 2.30 I ordered a Tilt Shift 45mm 2.8 lens!
Taken with a TSE 45mm 2.8 lens
(a gorgeous picture via Chachahavana!)

Let me know if anyone has any ideas for names :D

Have a great day guys!

Ultimate Wedding Photography How To: The Party!!

To save my own sanity, I like to edit in a random order, so instead of Part 2 here is Part 4: the Party!

Katy and Matt told me before hand that they wanted their wedding photos to be FUN more than anything else - and lucky for me, photographing their party was not hard at ALL. Alot of the time people can really freeze up infront of a camera, and the photos will look stiff and unnatural. A great way to avoid this is to ply people with alcohol as frequently as possible, and if that's not possible, then dancing is a great way to get people to loosen up! As early as you can, get in there and boogey with everyone else. Bring your camera and swivel dem hips - not only does it get people up and dancing with you, but it puts everyone at ease because you're the kid who can't dance, not them ;)

I was lucky enough to be snapped shooting in the background of some other guests' shots, which actually is quite useful!

So, once you're all geared up and ready, get your aperture set as low as you can (this is where it comes in handy to have some great lenses. Shooting at 1.2 is ideal, 1.4 is good, 2.8 is pushing it and anything above I wouldn't reccomend without a flash) and get your ISO high. Having a high ISO means you'll be able to compensate with a faster shutterspeed, which is VERY important as people will be dancing=moving faster! Ready? Excellent - crank up the music...





Kids are by far the easiest to photograph at a wedding, just ask them to show off some dance moves for you and you'll guarantee yourself some beautiful pictures!



One of the hardest things to come to terms with as a wedding photographer is accepting that there will be some moments you will miss - you can't be shooting every single person at every single angle all the time. there will an old couple slowdancing in a corner that you might not spot, someone throwing their head back and crying with laughter, kids having a cuddle right behind you. When I shoot a wedding, I HATE letting these moments go unmissed, and my camera is glued to my face like it's an extension of my eyes. Sadly, you will miss these moments, but if take as many photos as you can at ALL times you're more likely not to!














At this wedding I took 4000+ images and filtered them down into these. Sometimes it's just too hard to choose one, so instead, I choose them all!



This couple I took SO many photos of. Sometimes, when two people are so in love and totally oblivious to everything around them, it's worth forsaking 10minutes and just catching as many moments as you can with them. Later that night I went up to them (Simon and Samantha) and scrolled through the photos on screen. They were esctatic, and I remember Simon saying "We've never had professional photos taken of us before! I love them! How can I get them?!" Cue giving out a business card!! ;)









These two again :) Editing these pictures made me well up last night. They were just so, so in love and I feel so so lucky to get to see all this as my job. All together now... Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!







Another tip - when shooting a portrait of once person (when they are aware you're taking it) ALWAYS take two or three shots in a row. This is a prime example why: There's always SOMEONE who tries to get in the shot! :P

















Remember: weddings are about having fun!! Don't worry about feeling like you're intruding when taking pictures of people without their knowledge. Occasionally people will notice you're doing it - CARRY ON! The shots are always worth it!!

As a rule, I charge my camera battery for 20minutes while everyone eats at the reception (nobody wants pictures of themselves shovelling their food in their mouths) and then continue to shoot till my battery dies at the end of the night (unless I'm asked to stay for a specific time). It's like a non-guity way to say "Okay, nature has told me I am now officially knackered and need to go to bed." I finished shooting this wedding at 10pm, and these were my final shots:



So there we are - 192 final images from the party section!

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER:

• You will be exhausted. Keep smiling, take 20minutes to eat to recharge your camera's batteries as well as your own
• Shooting at with a fast shutterspeed/big aperture (low fstop number) and high ISO is essential unless you're using a flash.
  
• The lenses I used to take these pictures were the 85mm 1.2 (which lets in alot of light, and also allows me to be far enough away from people for them not to notice me whilst still getting close shots + shallow DOF) and the 24-70mm 2.8, for the wider shots.
• Enjoy yourself! It puts everyone at ease
• Tripod tripod tripod! I accidentally left mine at Katy's house but with one it makes images alot less blurry/can shoot at a slightly lower shutterspeed/slightly lower ISO (which means less grain)
• Taking pictures of people taking pictures is a great idea - people aren't posing stiffly and it's a nice general reminder of how much fun everyone was having!
• Add as many people as you can on facebook etc after the wedding. It gives everyone a chance to get in touch with you and see your work/better chance of being hired for future work!

And remember - it's great to be paid, but even better to be able to give someone something completely special! Silly as it may sound, but seeing people put a photo I have taken of them as their profile picture seriously makes hours of editing SO worth it!!! XD

Still to come: Speeches & Cutting the Cake, To the Church & Ceremony, Formals, Bride & Groom Portraiture!

Wedding Photography - two words designed to distill fear into the heart of any photographer. And rightly so - a wedding day is one of the most important days of someone's life and shouldn't be taken lightly. As their photographer, it's your duty to make their day as badass and wonderful as you possibly can, as well as providing the best photography you can provide! :) So no pressure, guys...

Here we go!
with abit of background music! ;)



Step 1, of course is to meet your bride and groom prior to their wedding day, to get a feel for their personalities and squeeze as much juicy information out of them regarding the wedding as you possibly can!

Today's case study is the wedding of Katy and Matt Linley. I went to primary school with Katy, and was drafted in 3months prior to the wedding - though many people will wish to book you up to a year in advance. I met with Katy, her mum (and my former maths teacher!) and her sister/bridesmaid Shauna the week before her wedding. She filled me in on her plans - themes, colours, amount of bridesmaids (nine, yes really, nine) and other details. We arranged my transport, timings and durations all prior to the Big Day - just to save on any questions.

I arrived at 11am, spent 20minutes having a big "oh my god you're getting married" session (which is great, not only because it's super fun but it puts everyone at ease). Then out came the camera....











These pictures were all taken within the first 30minutes. You want to interject photography with conversation, keep it relaxed! Get to know everyone around you. Leanne, one of the bridesmaids, worked in a prison with Katy providing aftercare when the inmates were released. Get to know people so it doesn't feel like they are being photographer by a complete stranger. The best lens to start off with here is a 70-200mm 2.8 (paparazzi lens!) because it let's you keep your distance from everyone and doesn't make them feel their space has been invaded by a camera wielding maniac!

The above shots were taken with the 70-200mm 2.8 and the 85mm 1.2.

Then I headed downstairs to say hello to everyone else...








Some examples:

Taking a random photo to get my settings right:

And shooting at a high ISO and getting a "film" look:

Back to the wedding preparations! I then spent the last 45minutes bobbing about upstairs and downstairs taking pictures of anything that caught my attention (which was alot!)....










...and there we go! 144 images (there are a few b&w conversions I did of some of my favorites) of everyone getting ready. One of the reasons you can feel okay with charging alot for wedding photography is that it takes a LONG time. I have been editing each of these photos since 9am this morning, and it's now 11.45pm.

I charged £500 for this wedding, as Katy is an old school friend so I gave her a big fat discount, plus it's only the 6th wedding I have done so far. For the wedding itself I was there for 12hrs, and today's editing has come about to approx 12hrs and I'm about 1/5 of the way through. That's around 72hrs total work with each wedding. At £500, I'm earning around £6p/h, which isn't all that much when you look at it that way. So when it comes to pricing, don't feel bad for charging what sounds like ALOT. I did a wedding the other day for £200, which was my first booking, same amount of exhausting work. Let's just say I'm never charging that low again! ;)

Another thing to remember is that you HAVE to stay enthusiastic and enjoy yourself! Boogey round while you're taking the dancing shots. It makes the world of difference, as Katy very lovely-ly pointed out!!!:


I think one of the reasons I love wedding photography so much is that I get to see people on the happiest days of their lives, and I get to see love everywhere from everyone. I genuinely LOVE doing it, to the point where sometimes I well up a little to myself while editing the photos afterwards (and occasionally during the ceremony!!). Keep smiling, have fun and notice the little things which really make the day what they are.
“When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track.”

Stay tuned for part two of this wedding with some more How To commentary! :D

Rosie xx