Building a portfolio

I started my business with Julian Clune in the summer of 2011 and we had the same problem many people face when starting a new Wedding and Portrait website. We needed images. I had already photographed at my girlfriend's mum's wedding and some of the finished images made our portfolio, but we needed more. We needed images from different venues featuring different people. This was proving tricky as no one knew us, and our website was somewhat lacking because of this, the proverbial vicious circle. We decided to enrol on a 2 day wedding photography course in Norfolk, where we were taught how to pose the bride and groom and understand the mechanics of the day, from bridal preparation, detail shots and formal portraits of the loving couple. We both learnt a great deal from the two day course, became more confident at directing the models, and really started to understand when and how to use flash, not to mention how amazing and powerful reflectors can be. I believe that in the majority of cases, it is the bride who will pick the photographer that she wants to capture her big day, so images of brides on the website are of vital importance. We concentrated a great deal of our time in capturing beautiful images of the model in a gorgeous wedding dress, utilising the beautiful architecture and gardens of Norwich Cathedral. These were amongst the first images that graced our homepage of C&G Photography's website and undoubtedly drove traffic to our site which in turn has allowed the business to flourish and grow.

Nikon D90 with Sigma 50mm F1.4. ISO 200,  F1.4 @ 1/400, -0.7 E.V

The image above was underexposed by 0.7 E.v to control the highlights on the dress, which was very reflective and tried to blow out at every given opportunity.

Nikon D300 with Sigma 24-70mm F2.8. ISO 1000,  F2.8 @ 1/40, -0.3 E.V 

This classic image by Julian Clune was quite a tricky exposure to nail. Exposing for the model's skin tones blew the background and resulted in a dreamy, ethereal capture.

Pretty Panache

It's always a good idea to try to get to know a few local businesses who may have similar interests to your own. It can provide a vital source of networking, information and contacts to help you and your business grow. We had the opportunity to work with local business 'Pretty Panache' recently, one of Lincoln's premier Bridal Wedding dress an accessory shops. They provided pretty much everything we needed, models, dresses, accessories, and for once the weather was pretty much on our side. We decided to shoot around the historic part of Lincoln, both the Cathedral grounds and the Usher Gallery. Unlike a Wedding day assignment, the pace of a fashion shoot, while brisk, is a lot more relaxed. We try to pose the models and manipulate the light, something that can be very difficult and completely out of our control during a Wedding couple's big day. Jules and I try to use natural light only, with the aid of reflectors to bounce light back towards the subject. We do sometimes use speedlights if we feel we need to inject some light into the scene, and we do use small softboxes to diffuse the light where necessary. A combination of full frame and DX sensor DSLR cameras were used, a Nikon D3s, D700, D300 and D200 with 50mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm Nikkor and Sigma lenses. We all had a great time throughout the shoot and drew quite an audience at one point. The models loved dressing up, and we loved photographing them. 

The final image in this set is courtesy of Julian Clune. It has been used by Pretty Panache on their flyer at Wedding Fayres and has certainly given www.candgphotography.org some extra publicity. 

    









Never work with animals or children

You're always looking for new angles and locations when photographing the Bride's big day. When the bride in question mentions in passing that she owns several horses, and the evening reception is being held in a field right next to the paddock, you just know that the two elements have to be combined somehow. When I suggested to the Bride the idea of photographing her and a horse together, she was well up for giving it a go. As we walked towards the paddock across the muddy fields, cameras and reflector in hand, I kept telling myself that Jules and I would nail a shot, all the while trying not to look at the beautiful white Wedding dress taking on a disturbing brown hue, as it was being dragged through the mud. At this point, I have to mention that it's quite a good idea to ensure your Wedding couple have downed several glasses of Champagne prior to embarking on mad ideas like these. It really does seem to help. We climbed into the Paddock and waited for one of the horses to trot on over to us. Of course, it had to be the largest of the beasts, all 25 hands of him. ( Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but he was huge ). It's at this stage that all posing ideas go out the window. You may be able to direct the bride, but the horse, forget about it. It was quite late in the evening and the Sun was low, casting lovely soft, warm light across the Bride and the horse. Off camera Flash was a big no no, we couldn't afford to spook our furry friend, so a reflector was used, just to push some ambient light back towards the subjects and lift any shadows. Then I started shooting, waiting for the one moment when it would all hopefully come together. When the horse tried to eat the bouquet, and failing that, the dress, and with the Bride in fits of hysterics, I pressed the shutter and knew I'd nailed the shot. Images like this can't be posed, they just happen, and I have to be in the right place at the right time to capture them. This is why I'm a photojournalistic Wedding Photographer, and why I love my job. "Never work with animals or children"... I couldn't disagree more.  

Never work with animals or children

        

Nikon D3s

1/2500 sec @ F4, ISO 800

Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8 @ 70mm

The Nikon D3s has such exceptional high ISO performance that ISO 800 is considered a very low setting. This allows very fast shutter speeds to be employed without losing quality or dynamic range in the captured image, perfect for fast moving equine subjects. 

'Gigi'

 Gigi looking fantastic on her Wedding Day last September.

Nikon D3s with Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 mk2 @  F3.2, 1/1000, ISO 800 at a focal length of 160mm. I was the second shooter at this moment as Julian was taking the main image to my right. Some times the candid shot seems to work that little bit better, and this was one of those occasions. Gigi's attitude is fantastic. It was bright but overcast so we had lovely soft light for the majority of the day and there are lovely catch lights in Gigi's eyes. I love shooting wide open, especially with longer focal lengths as this causes shallow depth of field and really draws the viewers eye towards the sharpest areas of the frame.