If Drew Gardner shot weddings......
My first full wedding shoot since 1981.
It was actually a lot of fun, but bloody hard work.
With so many bases to cover, the day just races by.
I now have enhanced respect for wedding shooters.
I shot the whole thing on a pair of Canon 5D MkII's and shot the vast majority of the day with the wonderful 'L' Series 35mm F1.4 and 85mm F1.2 lenses.
Even with the right focusing screens, in this case the Canon Eg-S super precision matte, the attrition rate of soft shots could be a bit worrying at times when shooting wide open with these lenses.
(If you own a fast prime lens and you don't have one of theses GET ONE! it is the cheapest way to get the best from your camera and lenses)
Like anything in life when you live to your 'Edge' it isn't easy.
But shoot wide open with these lenses and get it right, the angels sing.
Practice is the only course to take I'm afraid.
It's not all about primes though, and my general purpose lens to 'fill in the gaps' was the 'L' Series 24-105
F4.
I shot this rather 'Drew' ish shot with it.
I wanted to create something special and different that was 'me'
'Signature' is all in this world of 'Sameness'
There was this great view from Belvoir castle which dominates the valley beneath, and it came into my head to put the bride and groom at the centre of their own 'Painting'
Being part of but not totally dominating the scene, something which you could hang on your wall without being too cheesy....
Followers of this blog will know I gain much inspiration from the great painters
I lit the couple with a pair of Elinchrom Rangers, triggered with PocketWizard TT5 transmitter and ST4 receivers on the packs (no cables, and good range make them a very good choice)
I modified the light camera left with a Chimera Medium soft box and other on camera right just had a kill spill.
I mounted the set up on a pair of Manfrotto 'Stacker' master stands, which extend to over 3.5 metres. But thanks to their clever stacking design clip together and take up the least amount of space in your bag possible, with their very 'flat' profile.
A long but really lovely day.
I want to talk about the edit which I did in half a day.
Yes, 1500 shots edited and processed in half a day.
Am I a genius?
Certainly not, but with Capture One 6 and its fast and flexible local adjustments it enabled me never to go into Photoshop - at all.
This and a now sparkling sensor cleaned by Canon at Elstree.
Time IS money.
The less time I spend on the post production the more time I have to do other things.
So not having shot a wedding for 30 years, guess what I'm doing tomorrow?
Shooting another.