(1)  5D w/35mm f1.4L, ISO 400, f1.8, 1/3200, TRA2 "Grandma's Tap Shoes" @ 50%. For this shot I had Norbert just hold Jenny from behind and waited for the smiles happen naturally. The ultra shallow depth of field is a stylistic choice that draws you to your subject's eyes.

(2)  5D, 70-200mm f2.8L IS, ISO 400, f4.5, 1/1250, TRA2 "Bullet Tooth" @ 50%. My favorite and easiest pose: I instructed Jenny and Norbert to take a stroll, hold each other and ignore the camera.

(3) 5D, 70-200mm, ISO 400, f4.0, 1/640, TRA2 "Pool Party" @ 60%. I like poses like this and have done them for as long as I can remember. The downside is that I'm beginning to see this same pose done by almost every other photographer these days.

(4)  5D, 70-200mm, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/400, Kubota "X-Process Combo" @ 40%.  X-Process Combo is probably my favorite action for color images. It really makes blues pop and ads color and intensity to nearly any image.

(5)  5D, 70-200mm, ISO 400, f4.0, 1/1000, TRA2 "Brooklyn" @ 100%. It's hard to tell here but for this one I had Jenny and Norbert run through this field. As I said in my "Posing 101" post, if your couples don't smile when running, they're zombies. "Brooklyn", by the way, is my favorite b&w action.

(6)  5D, 35mm f1.4L, ISO 400, f1.8, 1/6400, no actions - temperature was lowered in LR. You might be wondering why I didn't adjust my ISO lower on some of these images - why I kept it at 400 when this image, for example, could have easily been shot at ISO 100 due to my wide-open aperture. I could have switched it lower, but I didn't see any reason to. ISO 400 on my 5D is essentially noiseless, so rather than switching my ISO to keep it as low as possible for every shot, I simply left it at 400, which is my normal default ISO for cloudy days. That gave me one less thing to think about so all my concentration was on getting the shot I wanted, not fiddling with my camera.

(7)  5D, 70-200mm, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/1000, Kubota "X-Process Combo" @ 40%. The expression on Jenny's face makes this shot.

(8)  5D, 35mm f1.4L, ISO 400, f4.5, 1/1250, TRA2 "Brooklyn" @ 100%. This one is kind of the opposite of #1 - groom in front, bride in back. What you don't see is that in order to make the image work I had to ask the groom to squat down a bit. f4.5 is normally a small enough aperture on a wide angle lens to get two heads in focus, even if they're not in the same plane.

(9)  5D, 70-200mm, ISO 400, f4.0, 1/500, TRA2 "Lux Soft" @ 60%. Placing your subjects in tall grass is always a winner.

1) I asked Bruce to sit down on a bench with Mabel standing behind him. Then told Mabel to put her arms around him and snuggle.  I stood back and shot this with my 70-200 @ 173mm. Pretty simple pose, simple shot. 

 2) A similar shot, except this time with Mabel in front. I just told them to lie on the grass in this position and asked Bruce to give Mabel a kiss.  I'm lying on my stomach to get this angle. This was direct 3 pm sun. Normally, I don't like to shoot with front light at this time of day, but you can make this light work. To avoid ugly shadows your subjects need to have their faces tilted upwards. Shot with my 70-200 at 170mm.  No actions used on this image, although I warmed up the white balance in LR to simulate early-evening (rather than mid-afternoon) sun. 

 3) Shot with my 24mm lens at f5.0 to get a big depth of field. For this image I wanted them both in focus. I asked Mabel to pull Bruce along the road. I was walking backwards right in front of them shooting continuously.  There's nothing like real movement to add life to an image. On a side note, shots like this are one of the few times that I wish I had a "pro" camera like the 1DmkIII, because of the faster shooting speed and larger buffer. On my 5D I have to take a few frames, then wait....and wait.... and wait...for the buffer to clear.

4) I asked Mabel and Bruce to be quiet, relaxed and contemplative for this shot. Even though it was extremely bright, I needed to bump my ISO to 800 because I was shooting at f22. Even so, my shutter speed was only 1/100. Remember, if you want sun stars you're going to have to shoot at tiny apertures.  

5D, 70-200 f2.8L IS @73mm, ISO 400, f2.8, 1/100 sec

5D, 35mm f1.4L, ISO 800, f2.2, 1/30 sec

5D, 70-200 @ 170mm, ISO 400, f2.8, 1/200 sec

5D, 70-200 @ 73mm, ISO 250, f3.5, 1/2000 sec

5D, 70-200 @ 120mm, ISO 250, f3.5, 1/3200 sec

5D, 35mm f1.4L, ISO 320, f1.8, 1/1000 sec

5D, 35mm f1.4L, ISO 100, f10, 1/25 sec

While in Boston last week shooting a big corporate event, I hooked up with DeeDee & Josh for their engagement session. These two look like models and were extremely easy to photograph!

We started out by shooting at the hockey rink. Josh has been a huge hockey buff all his life (he's a goalie) and it was important that we got some images in this setting.

Then we took a drive out to Newport, RI to shoot around the mansions and docks. I love the New England feel of these images and the contrast from my usual shooting environment in Seattle!

Tech: (all images shot with Canon 5D)

1) 35mm f/1.4L, ISO 1250, f/3.5, 1/200 sec, +1EV (+EV needed to counteract the underexposure caused by all the white ice)

2) 35mm f/1.4L, ISO 1250, f/3.5, 1/200 sec, +1EV

3) 35mm f/1.4L, ISO 1250, f/3.5, 1/160 sec, +1EV

4) 35mm f/1.4L, ISO 1250, f/3.2, 1/250 sec, +1EV

5) 35mm f/1.4L, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/640 sec, +0EV

6) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @200mm, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, +0EV (front lit subjects usually don't need +EV)

7) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @153mm, ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/2000 sec, +0EV

8) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @115mm, ISO 200, F/4.0, 1/1000 sec, +0EV

9) 35mm f/1.4L, ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/640 sec, +0EV

10) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @200mm, ISO 500, f/3.5, 1/1000 sec, +1EV

11) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @200mm, ISO 500, f/2.8, 1/640 sec, +2EV (the large % of this image comprised of the relatively bright sky and water needed lots of +EV to counteract underexposure)

12) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @200mm, ISO 500, f/2.8, 1/500 sec, +1/3EV

13) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @195mm, ISO 640, f/2.8, 1/320 sec, +1/3EV

14) 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @148mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/500 sec, +1/3EV

Uche, Steve and I had a blast cruising around Queen Anne and Gasworks for their engagement session. I only wish I were shooting their wedding in Nigeria!