“… I’m really nervous in front of a camera!”

It’s a really familiar comment. While it’s always rare to come across people who are mad-keen to be in photographs, most are happy to relax and go with it, placing their faith in me, and others find out they enjoy the whole process more than they expected. I’ve found over the years that allowing your subject to relax is the pathway to their trust. Keep it fun and enjoyable and you’ll get that vibe back in expressions and body language – which after all are the main elements when photographing people. 

Another notable, technical approach is lens choice, as this can make a huge difference to the look of a portrait. I spent years at arms-length shooting racing drivers in situations where you just had to make the best of the access you were given. As a result, what was once an obstacle to overcome is now a technique I use often. Photographically speaking there is no difference between a portrait of a driver tucked away talking to his team, and a bride in the happy mass of family during the first few moments after a ceremony. For this, and many other applications I favour the use of a long lens, such as a 300mm/f2.8. This isn’t your everyday lens. It’s big, heavy and expensive and often becomes a point of conversation with guests who are keen photographers. The beauty of the lens is that it cuts through foreground, throwing it out of focus, and picks up glorious middleground detail in faces from afar. This means you don’t intrude on the moment and record something natural, a real plus with people pictures, especially on a wedding day.

It’s not just up-close, fine detail shots that the lens is good for. When applying that focal lens to a scenic shot it gives the effect of foreshortening the photograph. In a similar way to the tight portraits, the lens’ characteristic is to throw the fore/background out of focus and concentrate on a pin sharp section of detail. A decent example of this is the image below. Lisa and Alex went for a wander around the grounds of their ceremony venue, but I decided not to go with them and stayed put. Without any direction from me they stopped for a moment on the bridge and my vantage point from a couple of hundred feet away, thanks to the telephoto lens, was ideal to pinpoint the scene and isolate their position over the river. They had no idea I was shooting, which meant a pleasant surprise when they saw their selection… and the moment was kept to themselves.