Aperture – f3.2 Shutter – 1/60^th ISO – 1250

Photo by http://www.brianmullinsphotography.com

This was shot in a room with mahogany floors, green walls and a dark colored ceiling.  There were a few windows but nothing that would cover the group with decent light.  Introducing a flash to this scene would have been easy enough to do, but at the cost of the ambience of the room and dealing with the shadows from the light over the pool table.  The pool table has a florescent light over it that was, as far as light quality, good enough -  Soft, even and directional.  So, you guessed it, I used the florescent bulbs in the pool table fixture to light the subjects in this shot.  I just used this as I would any “natural” light source to get the levels, posing and positioning that worked with the light.  I purposefully shot the “flare” from the light as while you can’t smoke indoors, the scene definitely reminded me of a smoky pool hall, so that was an attempt to emulate it.

I positioned the people around the light to get the best results.  What can I say, I’m lazy.. moving people is WAY easier then moving lights.The trick to this shot was to cover everyone equally with a consistent amount, and color, of light.  I ended up catching some blue highlights from an open window on the left side of the frame so I made the photo sepia.  I had that in mind anyway when I shot but I would prefer to have options in color and monotone if possible.  I definitely would of closed the window next time.

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Camera : Nikon D3  Iso : 1600 Aperture: f3.5 Shutter Speed : 1/50 second Light : Tungsten ambient Light

Photography by Brian Mullins

As wedding photographers, we often do not have the luxury of waiting for that “perfect light” to get a great portrait.  In fact, many time are expected to get professional results in the most downright difficult of conditions.  I’ve used a saying I heard some time ago constantly when faced with difficult conditions that helps me get past the initial worry…  “The worse the light, the more dramatic it must become”.

For this portrait, the sun was going down, we had 5 minutes before my bride had to walk up the aisle and the “holding” area for the bride had very old tungsten bulbs and concrete walls.  So, in short, pretty terrible and contrasting existing light conditions,  no time to setup external lighting.  The solution I came up with was to use the existing lighting (tungsten) as my primary lighting source.  Adding a flash, besides shortening my time I could work with my client on, would add yet a third color temperature into the mix.  By using tungsten light, and making sure she was surrounded, as much as possible, by tungsten light, eliminated color casts on her face and added a unique balance of colors to the photo by showing the blue highlights coming thru the open air archways.

What would you Change if you were to do it again?

If I could reshoot this I would of brought in a video light and waited until later in the day to shoot to have more flexibility. As this was for a wedding however, you have to use what you have got and a good working knowledge of lighting, color temperatures and posing to accomplish your goals.

Camera : Canon 5D MkII Lens : Canon 135L f/2 Iso : 200 Aperture: F/2.8 Shutter Speed : 1/250 second Light : Natural Light

Photograph Submitted by Tony Hart Photo

This image was shot back in 2009 during a very small and intimate wedding at Great Fosters nr. Egham. I’m honestly not sure of the correct term for this garden feature, but it’s not dissimilar from a pergola – a covered walkway or boulevard comprised entirely of organic matter. It’s very cool.

I’d spotted the possibility of a shot like this on my recce of the venue but given the mood and nature of the couple it really didn’t fit the bill for an image of the Bride & Groom. This wasn’t the couples first marriage and it was very much all about the love and less about the drama. The bride didn’t wear a traditional wedding dress and there wasn’t an usher or bridesmaid in sight. To add to the complications, while incredibly cool to look at, the ‘pergola’, for want of a better word, is very low. It was definitely beneath head height for me and the groom would have been stooping if he’d tried to walk the length of it. Additionally it was shot in August, on a hot day, and the wasps were loving the fruit at the near end of the tunnel. All in, it had the promise, but none of the delivery of a great shot.

I’m not one for excessive direction, I rarely suggest ‘ideas’ to the Bride & Groom, but as the spot was close by, I resolved to keep an eye on it as much as possible. While it wouldn’t be possible to have the couple prom the length of the pergola, something might just happen. I’d worked out exactly how I wanted the image to look in my mind. It was to be shot fairly long on the 135L with a reasonably shallow depth of field. A few test shots told me that f/2.8 should fit the bill. As for placement, the subjects needed to be beyond the halfway stage of the walk and they simply had to be walking towards the large double gate – the other end presented a far less productive background. Having made a mental note of these elements, I went back to shooting the small reception.

As the afternoon progressed I grabbed lots of fun shots of kids hiding in the walkway and chasing each other, but nothing that really encapsulated the shaded tranquility and sense of peace that I saw when I looked down the walkway. Eventually, shortly before the wedding breakfast I poked my head around the corner to see the makings of this image. Bride and youngest son strolling slowly down the walkway. They were already further than halfway down and my 5DII (the camera I wanted to shoot this image on due to framing proportions) was wearing something other than the 135L. I forget what, but it decidedly wasn’t the 135L. I had the lens in a pouch in my belt so quickly made the change, got down on one knee and dialled in the settings I discussed earlier. I waited a few seconds, mostly looking for a nice spot in the Bride’s gait. As her right foot swung forward, the little boy turned his head and looked up at his Mum. That’s the frame you see here. The tenderness, tranquility and calm of the scene was perfect and frankly far more touching than the Bride & Groom images I’d earlier envisage. It may not be a bride in a traditional white dress, and it may not scream ‘wedding!’ but it’s undoubtedly one of my favourite images.

The boat

Camera : Canon 5d Mkii  Lens : Canon 45mm TS/E    Iso :1000    Aperture: F/4.5    Shutter Speed : 1/250 second    Light : Natural Light

After the boat rides that Gill and Peter had organised we were walking back to the hotel and I saw a little path which I decided to investigate. It was there that  I saw this old boat and I wanted to create a photograph that had a boating theme for Gill and Peter to remember their boating experience by.

What drew my eye to this scene?

1) The light – the photograph was captured at around 7pm. The sun was low and the light had a beautiful quality to it as it faced Gill and Peter. The light caugh parts of the scene and not all of the scene (in particular it didn’t catch the trees to the left and high above)

2) I loved the rustic dilapidated look of the boat particularly the orange cover which really went well with the tones of the floor in the woods. The blue thing (not sure of the name) I could have changed the colour in post but I liked the contrast it gave to the scene even though the colours almost seem out of place in the photograph.

3) The greenery behind the boat really caught my attention. Im not sure what kind of bush/tree it was but it wasn’t something that we see everyday here and so this made it more interesting to me. How the greens of the leaves and the browns of the stems really caught the light. I really l

Why I used these particular settings and camera gear

1) The 5d mk 2 is the camera I always use for wedding photography. The 45mm Tilt Shift Lens as well as being a very sharp lens has the ability to draw focus and again make the image more intense. Do you see the top and bottom of the photograph? You can see the bokeh (the blurred out of focus part of the image) how it blurs the floor of the woods and the leaves of the trees. I like the Tilt Shift lens effect when its done mildly and its not too drastic.

2) Why f/4.5? The Tilt shift foes f2.8?  - I wanted the background to retain detail and not go out of focus too much. The greenery in the background was one of those things that caught my eye. If I had used f2.8 the legs of Peter and Gill, the floor and the top of the photograph would have been more blurred and the tilt shift effect may have been too drastic.    Iso 1000 was used because I wanted to keep the shutter speed fast enough to ensure that the image was sharp.

3) No flash was used for this shot as it simply wasn’t necessary and wouldn’t have added anything to the shot.

Its funny now I look at the photographs and process why I was drawn to take it, that you don’t realise how much thought process goes into the taking of one photograph in a matter of seconds.

The second image was taken just moments later with the same level of light but has a completely different look…

The Woods

Camera : Canon 5d Mkii  Lens : Canon 135mm f2    Iso :320    Aperture: F/18    Shutter Speed : 1/200 second    Light : Canon 580 ex ii

What drew my eye to this scene?

It was Laura that suggested this shot. She saw the shape of the trees and she suggested that we light it only from behind to give a silhouette.

This photo was to have a different feel to the last photo although a similar pose was used. It would be almost anonymous and at the same time romantic. The lack of detail on the front of Peter and Gill keeps it quite anonymous and the light from behind highlighting that they are about to kiss keeps it romantic. Its the sort of photograph that you wouldn’t feel vain for having large as a canvas on your wall.

Why I used these particular settings and camera gear?

The lens and camera were not such an issue hear however the 135L is one of my favourtie lenses and by using a long lens instead of a wider lens it compressed the scene somewhat here.

The flash we positioned behind Peter & Gill to give the Silhouette. This is a technique we often use and can be used in many locations. It was on full power.

The aperture of f18 wasn’t really neccessary here. We wanted to make the surrounding scene very dark so that the photo would have been nearly pitch black (apart from the sky behind Peter and Gill) and so the combination of a low iso and a high aperture meant that this kept things dark and only the flash was lighting the scene.

The shutter speed was 1/200th of a second as this is the maximum shutter speed for using off camera flash at its strongest power with the 5d mk2.

A different look from the same photo

To make this photograph lighter I could have increased the Iso and increased the aperture size say to f4.5 I may then have had to reduce the power of the flash. It is very quick to do this and create a new photograph with more detail on the front as you can see below.

Camera : Canon 5d Mkii  Lens : Canon 135mm f2    Iso :640    Aperture: F/4.5    Shutter Speed : 1/200 second    Light : Natural Light & Canon 580 ex ii

Tobiah & Laura of Tobiah Tayo Photography