More wedding shots.

First off apologies for the terrible formatting of the last post - not sure what happened but some of the text got a bit squashed up alongside some of the photos - I`ll try not to let it happen again.

So this weekend we was over in West Wales (Aberystwch) for the wedding of Jenny and Dylan. Had a great time and managed to get some lovely shots. I actually experimented a bit with something a wee bit different and tried to capture a few of the formals in a  1970s lazy summer quality. So the lens flare* in the following image is wholly intentional and the post-processing is kept to a minimum.

We (Kevin & I) stayed until 11pm for some great fireworks shots then decided we would chance the drive home instead of checking into a Travelodge or similar five-star establishment. So I finally rolled into bed at around 04:20 this morning - very tired but dosed upto the eyeballs on Redbull and ProPlus.

I also notice in the last thread that I said I was going to show you an example from Susan & Jonas wedding at Crondon Park Golf Club. As mentioned we didn't have favorable conditions to replicate the silhouette, however with a bit of creative thinking and off camera flash we did manage to pull of this little beauty.

All it takes is an (under)exposure off the sky, a couple of 580ex MKII flashguns and use of the spot meter to tease just enough flash onto subjects. A great effect achieved with the minimum of ease!

*Lens flare is the light scattered in lens systems through generally unwanted image formation mechanisms, such as internal reflection and scattering from material inhomogeneities in the lens. These mechanisms differ from the intended image formation mechanism that depends on refraction of the image rays. For good optical systems and most images, flare is a secondary effect that is widely distributed across the image and thus not visible. But when an image includes a very bright lightsource, flare generated by a bright image region can have enough intensity to become very visible. The light produced by flare mechanisms superimposes broadly across the image, adding light to dark image regions and reducing image contrast.

Lenses with large numbers of elements such as zooms tend to exhibit greater lens flare, as they contain multiple surfaces at which unwanted internal scattering occurs.

Quick update.

Just a post to show off a few of my favorite images over the past few weeks. All images are clickable to see larger versions.

OK, First we have this great silhouette from Crondon Park Golf Club in Essex, this is actually an image from a pre-wedding shoot for Susan & Jona (married on the 5th June) - taken at around 7pm the sun was just in the right position to use their head to block it out, creating a wonderful halo of light around them.

 Using a small aperture and fast shutter speed allowed me to shoot directly into the sun bringing out all the details in the sky you can't usually see - contrary to several comments from friends, the couple were not superimposed over the sky afterwards - in fact there is minimal photoshop work on this image - the main thing I had to do was tilt the image slightly as Susan & Jona were standing on a hill - this is evident in the slight slant of the clouds. This is a lovely shot and something we wanted to replicate on the wedding day - we didnt manage it, but we got something a whole lot better! More on that later.

Next up are a few shots from a recent Wedding at Mulberry House in Ongar. Marelize & Colin were married on the  29th May and the weather inthe morning was frightful - the heavens opened at 10am and it continued on until about 3pm that afternoon - thankfully we managed to get enough of a dry spell to get outside and grab some lovely portraits - we even had a chance to try some off camera flash for something a bit more dramatic. Here are a few shots from the day. 

The following day I had another wedding in East Sussex, a smaller affair so I was on my own for this one (I usually have an assistant on hand to get drinks, take abuse, stroke my delicate ego, carry cameras and even take some photos). Whilst there I bumped into Emily whose wedding I shot last year and as I mentioned before in this blog, Emily has her own company designing and create custom bridalwear.  She was wearing one of her own creations (as was the bride) so we took a few minutes out for a quick impromptu photoshoot in a quiet corner of the garden. I have attached two images from the day, one of Gemma & Mike (Bride & Groom) and one of Emily looking FABULOUS DAHLING! I guess I should link to the Emily MacDonald Bridal website here..