Working with light - wedding photography by Kate Hopewell-Smith
Reading Time: 3 minutes - April 11, 2019 - by Sony Germany & Kate Hopewell-Smith The date is set, the venue is prepared and the subjects are beautiful - but the most important thing in photography, explains wedding photographer Kate Hopewell-Smith, is to work with the light.
Let yourself be inspired
If you know about Kate's artistic background, it quickly becomes clear what inspires her. "My favorite medium has always been oil painting. My work was more figurative, so I've always leaned towards portraiture. It sounds terrible, but I've always been fascinated by the fact that photography was simply faster, almost instantaneous. You have the results of your work in front of you quickly, which makes the whole thing very satisfying."
Learn to make the most of light and exposure
For Kate, light is the key to success. "You have to be shown how to use light. It's not something you can just learn from a book. I still remember the first time I was shown how to see the light. That moment changed everything, because when you understand light, you also understand exposure. You begin to truly control your camera. Through this control you become more and more confident and you use the light in a very specific way when photographing. From that point on, you develop your own personal style."
Sony Alpha FX6 Cinema Line (ILME-FX6) + SEL 24-70mm f/2.8 GM2
Sony Alpha FX2 Cinema Line (ILME-FX2) + SEL 28-135mm T/4.0 OSS G
Sony Alpha FX2 Cinema Line (ILME-FX2) + SEL 16-35mm f/4.0 G PZ
Sony Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5) Body
Sony Alpha FX2 Cinema Line (ILME-FX2) + SEL 24-105mm f/4.0 G OSS
Find the best light
Kate's way of using light is reflected in all of her people images. Whether it's a single portrait image, a family photo, a boudoir photo or a wedding photo, her images have a particular style where she uses light to highlight her subject and details of a scene or location. When shooting wedding photos, Kate works with her husband. They see themselves as storytellers, but their philosophy is very different from documentary photographers: "We believe that we don't just take pictures, we create them. I am constantly on the move and put the subjects in the most beautiful light myself. We don't just take a photo, we recreate moments," she says.
Be prepared
Although Kate is only too happy to work with ambient light, she says that you have to "keep the camera sensitivity as low as possible". To do this, she occasionally uses additional light sources. "We use Flash and continuous light. We have lots of lighting adapters and light shapers. I'm a firm believer in always being prepared, so I take a lot of equipment with me. But I always hope that we won't have to use it. A shoot is stressful enough on its own without having to worry about equipment."
Make your vision a reality
Kate recently made the switch from a DSLR to the Sony a9 but already it has changed the way she works. In particular, being able to see what the image will look like before she releases the shutter has made her work with light much easier. Now Kate can't imagine working with an SLR camera again. "To be honest, it would be very strange for me not to be able to see my exposure straight away. It's such an obvious thing. It would really be a loss."
