Here begins day two of my London road trip. It’s going to be a blisteringly hot day from the look of it and I have a shoot booked this afternoon. Which probably means that I’ll be sweating like a donkey again. At least it’ll help me shed some pounds.
Yesterday I shot an engagement set with my friends Melissa and Fabrizio. I’ve known Melissa for ages, and it’s always great to catch up with both her and her fianceé. They’re a warm, welcoming, fun couple to be around and we had great fun shooting the set in Southwark park.
I really enjoyed the shoot. Beforehand, this was the most terrifying of all the shoots that I’ve been planning to work on this weekend, mainly, I think, because I’ve never shot an engagement set before. But having such a great, loving couple in front of the camera helped immensely. I know I’m not up to the standards of, say, Pieter van Impe, but for a first time effort it wasn’t too bad.
Lessons learned
- One lens really is enough; I shot the whole thing with a 70-200 and didn’t find myself wanting anything shorter.
- I need to be a bit more daring, more adventurous, to make the shoot come out the way I want it. This is a confidence thing; now I know I can do the easier stuff the more adventurous stuff will come with practice.
- Shade, shade, shade. And a reflector. Mid-day sun isn’t a problem when you have trees.
- Auto WB gets it wrong sometimes, but it’s worth shooting in auto mode when you don’t have a grey card and you’re shooting in changeable light conditions. It gives you an extra starting point when you’re trying to balance the images later in post.
Today
I’ll hopefully be shooting somewhere wooded and shady. If not, my shoot-through umbrella may see use as a parasol.
As McNally would say, more t/k.