Monday, January 10, 2011

Shooting in December's rainy season!!

So we have had a very wet December and a lot of us have been really busy with weddings and family shoots as all the UK based South Africans come home for the "Sunshine" and to be with family over Christmas.  Not ideal for us, because December doesn't have the greatest reputation for great weather.  Shooting in tricky weather conditions can prove to be challenging, but see it as an opportunity to produce images that the client would never expect.  Look for light in places that you wouldn't ordinarily expect to find light. Whatever you do -  don't panic and let you client see that you are stressing about the weather.  When you do manage to get great images in poor conditions, show the client on your LCD, this will lift their spirits and get them to be more co-operative, resulting in better results. In the following images I have used an off camera flash(Ranger or your speedlights) to create  great backlit images in the rain.  The couple were covered with an umbrella right up to the point where I am ready to fire.









In the next image I looked for great light indoors, obviously it helps to have the right gear as I shot this on a D3s  4000 iso @ f2.8 1/160sec.  Having the 70-200 2.8 was essential as it is not only good for shooting in low light, but is has a shallow depth of field making this image look like it was shot for a fashion spread.  I found a wonderful spot in a passage with a skylight pouring available light all over Kirsty, the Bride.


Monday, January 3, 2011

London Sessions back in stock

I am overwhelmed at the response to my latest DVD and have managed to get more stock onto Amazon.com - Thanks to everyone for your support!

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Wedding-Photography-Florens-Sessions/dp/B004DFHXPS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1294051498&sr=8-4

Shooting in December's rainy season!!

December was a very challenging month weather wise. Although we have longer days there are often late afternoon showers and then there's extreme humidity, wreaking havoc with make-up and senses of humour. I shot a great wedding at Tala where the rain was threatening all day and finally arrived just before the ceremony.... Shooting the Bridal party after the ceremony proved to be tricky, but thanks to the Ranger I managed to pull it off. Whilst setting up for the shoot I realised that I had left one of my Pocket Wizzards back in the studio. I managed to trigger the Ranger with my SB900 but battled when I wanted to use it as backlighting as line of sight was an issue. Sam my assistant suggested using my other SB900 as the "Middle Man", this image was the first shot from the test - the bride was ecstatic and I was relieved and amazed at the result - Thanks Sam!