This weekend I spend some time with friends, sofa/bed surfing my way across London (shout out to DM4 for looking after me). I had the chance to take my camera out and about in Shoreditch for an impromptu night out, followed by a sunday in South East London with Kavi, getting over the night before in the sunshine. I took my camera out with me everywhere I could to capture as much as possible, and document the weekend.

I documented the night shoot using the 5D MKIII with my now trusty 35mm F/1.4.

The main challenge for the night, was to get some images that were actually useable. This was no easy task, as finding a bright enough light source was a real challenge even in central London. I was using the 5D MKIII with the 35mm at its highest aperture (F/1.4)  to get as much light into the lens as possible. (I have realised now the reason why these lenses are so much more expensive!!) Even with this lens, the ISO levels needed to get a lot of the shots, was just too high to get a useable image in the club. I did have some success outside the club however, using the lights from the shops, so the ISO could be dropped down to a more reasonable level and allow me to capture some after the party action. With people milling around the beigel shops. The 5D MKIII handles the high ISO levels well but it has its limit and I hate grain so most of the images were to me not useable.  

I also managed to get a couple of shots of graffiti in the area, with one of them turning out better than I had expected. Most however are off the Main streets, and would require a flash and a tripod to capture at this time of the day. I will be back again to do a full shoot and get some more of the areas street art.

All of the images above came out really well, despite the lack of light, and having to hand hold the camera. there were many more but the high ISO needed to capture them really killed the overall image. I am a stickler for grain and the introduction of too much of it is too much for me to use on the blog.

The last image of the night was to be my favourite of the night. It was a quick shot, taken when we got back in the early hours of the morning. Kavi, Stood in the doorway, the light was just enough for me to use a fast shutter speed and high aperture, to create this low key image. All I did in Lightroom was bring up the contrast, bring down the shadows, and light paint back in some of his features on one side. This creates a great, moody portrait that, despite the high ISO came out really well. A great shot to end to the night. 

The following day I travelled to a local park in south east London to get some sun, play football and of course take some pictures. The sun was finally out and I was equipped with the 7D, 135mm and the 400mm lens as well as the 5D MKIII and 35mm with Kavi and Supi in toe.

The sky looked amazing at the weekend, with the white, fluffy clouds giving any shot with it even more interest and depth. This made for a great backdrop, along with the old tropical house and green grass around. I tried to use both to my advantage, and used a combination of all the lenses I had with me to get some images of my time there. I came away with too many to show on here, but hopefully the ones I have selected show the day as much as possible. 

I started with the 400mm lens to recreate how a camera would be used during a sports match like a game of football. I soon mixed it up with the 135mm, and then to the 35mm which I ended up using the most.

Laying down, I was able to track kavi playing football as he came towards me, as well as get in the background of the tropical house. I used the 35mm for this which worked perfectly in getting these sorts of action shots. 

Using Live mode I zoomed in and manually focused the lens. I then recorded a series of images that would show the full jump as if in slow motion. The images above are the best of these.

After these images, we attempted to get some shots of a Bicycle kick (Kavi in mid Air basically). There were many attempts at this, with the same method as before, so me manually focusing the lens through live view and timing the shot to capture him in mid air.

It was great to spend the weekend with friends and forget about the world. I have a lot coming up in the next few weeks with a couple of weddings to shoot, so I know there will be plenty more opportunities to get some more shots along the way, which i'm sure I will try and document on my now on my trusty blog. I will finish this post with my favourite image of the weekend which was an image that was totally random and improvised. As I was taking pictures of Kavi doing his thing, a dog wanted to get in on the action, I didn't have time to frame or focus so it was totally off the cuff and turned out to be my favorite picture of the weekend. Just one of the images came out well and it makes the blog as the last image,  DM4 FOR LIFE!! Enjoy.....

FIN