Kit Bag - Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS L

The lens that seems to grace every professionals kit bag, but why? Just like the other Canon's L series lenses the 70-200 F2.8 'IS' feels great with its incredible build quality (not mentioning weight?!) and features a very useable focal range. A fast aperture gives excellent image quality meaning it's hailed as one of the great portrait lenses. With its 3-stop image stabilizing, super sharp detail and quick autofocusing I couldn't agree more.

Even a lens this heavy, with a sturdy stance and 'IS' enabled, it can be held for 1/4 of a second and still produce sharp results! The low aperture gives me the chance to shoot in lower light, which will be ideal when shooting weddings. This is fast becoming my favourite lens, and if you haven't had a chance to experience one for yourself I encourage you to do so, especially with Canon's new launch of the MK2 version replacing the MK1 costing around a whopping £2,2k! It's incredible how fast this lens focuses!

Stock - Spots and Stripes

A cup of steaming hot 'Bokeh' coffee...Bokeh is the way the camera renders out of focus light and is derived from the Chinese word 'Boke' meaning blur. With some fairy lights and abit of careful placing you can produce some funky effects:

This image was shot on a 50mm F1.8 Lens, using available light from a nearby window to act as a keylight on the cup. Simple, yet effective! :)

Photoshoot - Holly Masters

Shhh... It's the gorgeous Holly Masters! Holly recently uploaded a picture to her facebook account, showing her latest 'ink'. This gave me an idea for a striking headshot, and as such a matter of days later we set about shooting it. (Click image to see the lighting diagram) :

Seeing as we had an hour to kill, it would of been crazy not to carry out a quick shoot in and around her flat. For the full gallery, click here and you can expect to see more from her soon!

Kit Bag - Honlphoto

It's always a pain finding a way to securely attach filter gels to your speedlite whilst avoiding any spill light. It may seem a little expensive at first, but once you use Honlphoto accessories it makes fiddly speedlite attachments a thing of the past. I've just bought two 'Speedstraps' and a set of colour correction gels, and as such now couldn't live without them. It's now possible to set up a quick gelled lighting rig in a matters of minutes with no hassle. Of course now owning the Speedstraps it opens me up to a whole range of Honlphoto accessories I can't wait to try out (Such as the snoots/grids).

Stock - Cherry Drop

A house filled with my own artwork, what more could I want? So you take one cherry, one water filled vase, two speedlites and a craving to test out my new ST-E2 remote transmitter and what do you get? A shot good enough to have on a 30" Canvas :D (Click picture to see lighting diagram) :

Kit Bag - Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter

Using flash nearly everyday now, it's important I can rely on a successful fire rate. This meant throwing away the old eBay Cactus V2 triggers and moving to something more reliable. First choice may have been the pocketwizards, but now owning 2 speedlites a set would of cost nearly £700! The ST-E2 is cheaper and works on an infra-red beam (and therefore line of sight), but from my trials i'm yet to find any problems with range or triggering abilities for my current needs.

The ST-E2 acts as an AF-Assist beam which is great for shooting in lower light conditions and when I decide to upgrade to the Pocketwizards, the ST-E2 is still a handy addition. Attaching the ST-E2 ontop of the Pocketwizards will allow you to still use the 'ratio' function allowing you greater flexibility with your speedlites.

Wedding - Ring Of Love

Krystle and James finally tied the knot at the idyllic Hornsbury Mill in Chard. With the sun beating down, and a great venue it couldn't of been better. Being best man to my brother, and photographer on the day means it'll probably be one of the most memorable weddings I'll ever photograph and I was chuffed to be presented with a gift of a 'Hoya Macro +3 Filter' by the happy couple. Using the filter, I wanted to take a shot that could be added to their wedding album. A quick lighting rig and careful placement, ét vóila!: