A take on Abbey Road
A brilliant Couple who emigrated to Australia, and wanted something British in their photography..
A brilliant Couple who emigrated to Australia, and wanted something British in their photography..
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Jun, 2013Views
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Awards
Contest Finalist in In Their Own World Weddings Photo Contest
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Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Exceptional Contrast
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Behind The Lens
Location
One of my personal favourites, River Green, Norwich provided the amazing setting for this image. I scoped out the location the day previous, it was just down the road from the wedding celebrations venue, and I initially thought of it because there is a lovely red telephone box by the river and the wedding theme was red (all the bridesmaids wore red dresses, eye-catching but technically challenging so as not to overpower the bride) Taking the wider view I saw the crossing, my minds eye just went, "I wonder if?", and I became really excited about the possibility, Abbey road was in my mind, but I needed to make sure that the image didn't look too contrived or 'too modern', I knew the bride was using an old route master bus and this offered the opportunity to reinforce the illusion my mind had seen.Time
Thursday 16th August at 13:46hrs provided the ideal opportunity for something just a little bit different.. the mobile signal in this area was poor, I borrowed my 4 year old's walkie talkies to stay in contact with my second on the bus, this gave me the opportunity to get to the location and try and manage all the elements to make this happen. Traffic had to be controlled from three directions, I didn't have too much time as pushing your luck with drivers can be a bit of a gamble! thankfully everyone was brilliant with many getting out of the vehicles to see what was going on. Behind me and to the left was a Barbers and Cafe, patrons of both came out to lend their support and voices, cheering 'abbey road' the reaction to this by the bride and wedding party was captured in the final shot. I wanted a slightly wider shot, but vehicles on the left were edging forward down the road for a closer view, I was prepared to accept the new mini in the shot (behind the bride) but any more would have meant too much post processing, In all I think I had 2 minutes to get it all together whilst remaining relatively 'safe', I got as much as I could then ran...Lighting
The sun was behind me, quite high, but thankfully diffused through the clouds, metadata reminds me this was shot at f/10, 1/200 sec at ISO 400. Lighting... that was a challenge, three lamp-posts had to be taken out in post processing that had magically grown out of the bridesmaids heads!!Equipment
Canon EOS- 1D Mark III, provided the body, Canon EF17-40mm F4L USM provided the glass, with me behind it, and also acting as the road-block for the traffic- yes I could do with losing a few pounds. The Bus counts as equipment too, it was big enough to hide what was behind it (lots of modern cars) and the wedding party of course, they had to be up to it, and they were..Inspiration
The cover of the Abbey Road album inspired this, something so normal, yet iconic. I wanted a modern twist, but not too modern, the image in my mind that I wanted was always going to require a lot of post work, not least because of the confusion of colour, from a BIG red bus, red dressed bridesmaids, and blue, blue skies I always create a 'signature shot' for each of my wedding, something that is going to challenge me, push my skills, and get me just a little out of my comfort zone (where we learn the quickest). This image captured the quickest and longest 2 minutes of my career, quick because 2 minutes is short, long because when you find the 'flow' everything comes to you, your training kicks in and you do have enough time, you do just get it right first time.Editing
The original shot was a cornucopia of colour, each fighting for primacy, following RAW processing in Capture one pro, I turned to Photoshop and Nik Silver effects, to bring order to the image that my mind had seen. Nik uses really handy zones to allow adjustments over a localised area, you can build these up in layers to really enhance your images. I used selective colour for the bus, blue skies and the crossing lights. This is a really good tool if used carefully, and when combined with layer masks is very accurate. The whole concept benefited from a yellow filter and vignette, that sorted the 'heart' of the image, now I had to do quite a lot cloning and repairing to remove some of the clutter. Two modern Lampposts had to go on the right of the shot, a telegraph pole and parking sign also magically disapeared, oh and the zig-zags in the foreground of the crossing.In my camera bag
My main bag... I have two Canon bodies, the 1D MkIII and the 5D MkIII, two lenses, the 17-40 and the amazing EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM. The bag is a Lowepro rucksack which means I can pack both cameras with lenses attached ready to shoot, It is always available, goes over my shoulder with me, and quite comfortable as a pillow when laying on the ground! I have 3 flashes, a Canon 550ex, A Nissin Di866 MkII and a Yongnuo TN565 EXII. I also do a lot of off camera flash with A Yongnuo YN622C-TX flash trigger and 3 receivers, modified by a couple of light benders. Third party gear has really come up in the world lately, and gives some serious competition to the big boys, I would recommend everyone to have a play with some of the alternatives and save yourself a packet. Lexar memory cards capture the important data, both Compact flash and Secure digital (SD cards twice the capacity of the compact flash), this helps to minimise the loss of that important shot, gut wrenching when it happens, and you have no backup. I still have a couple of Sandisk cards, the Lexar a just a little bit faster at a lower price point.Feedback
If your minds eye can 'see' it then seek to capture it, play with it, learn with it, challenge yourself and embrace the nerves. Every single shoot that I do, I am nervous, it gives me an edge, a respect for my art, complacency is dangerous, comfort is for sitting in front of the television with a cool beer, not for behind the lens. Don't get me wrong, there will be times when things just appear to be going right, your in the 'flow' you are controlling your art, but practice, nerves and challenge will put you there, you are directing the scene, managing the elements, you will create your art, and it will be beautiful, you have an edge and your clients will love you for it. Use plugins, they can save you so much time, they are tools which when used sparingly can give amazing effects, the big rule for me is less is more, my image created a lot of internal struggle because I chose to work with three distinct colours, the red, blue and orange, more than I would normally ever do, In this case they provided the keys for your mind to imagine the other colours, the black and white is not quite so black and white, your mind is almost constructing the full colour image for you, getting to this was very difficult, and it was very tightly selected, but boy it was fun. You know that you have got it just right, when you see the image, and you smile, you can remember all the elements, I still hear the cheers and clapping in my head when I look at this shot, the excitement and overcome fears for the bride and groom are still there, enjoy the moments you capture, love your art and challenge yourself out of your comfort zone.
