Alexander House Hotel Wedding
A wedding at Alexander House Hotel in the summer. After a civil ceremony with a celebrant in the gardens of the Wakehurst Suite, I asked Annabelle & George to walk around to the other side of the hotel building to catch some shots on in the doorway.
Careful exposure control was really important here to balance the strong highlights created from the brilliant sunshine that we had on this day and the shaded area where the couple stand. Some of this can be bought back in post production, something that I am acutely aware of when I’m shooting, but the margin of error is very slight and if the highlights are blown too much, or the shadows are too strong, then the shot just won’t work.
Similar exposure problems were faced with this next photo, again placing a couple in the shade and with his son hitting the background of the building. I learned from my last wedding that one of my favourite apertures with the 85 mm lens is the F1 .6, as it seems much more reliable than some of it’s immediate brothers.
Annabelle’s dress was absolutely phenomenal, and the huge veil was a great compliment to the detail of the elegant fabric. George also looked very smart, sporting the traditional Scottish dress of a kilt with the complete accessories in homage to Annabelle’s Scottish roots.
Golden Hour
I’ve shot at Alexander House Hotel a few times, and I’ve learned where to find the best light in the summer near the helipad and wilder parts of the grounds looking north towards the North Downs. We had a walk around in front of the sweeping landscape towards the north, before exploring further near the large trees.
This patch of wild grasses, bracken and ragwort was perfect for catching the light in the bokeh of the 85mm lens. The backlighting here works really nicely, and it’s enjoyable to experiment with how much lens flare you let into the lens when shooting in this direction, as it has a huge impact on the shadows and tones in the photo. These were further manipulated in the editing process to help balance the tones afterwards of course.
Something a bit different from my original style, courtesy of Oliver from mooncast films who set up this shot using the dappled light shining through the leaves to create a darker shot. Here’s my take on a similar set up at the same location below, using a similar composition that I’ve shot before when at Alexander house hotel for a previous wedding.
