How These Weddıng Pıctures Benefıtted From Stanley Kubrıck’s Technique
Stanley Kubrick was a great photographer long before he became a movie director. When he decided to make the film Barry Lyndon he had special camera lenses mounted on his movie cameras.
The lenses were originally developed by NASA for space exploration, but the cameras dated from the 1950s.
Why did Kubrick go to so much trouble?
It was because he wanted to show eighteenth century interiors just as they would have originally been lit, with candle light.
I do not have a lens that opens up as wide as F 0.8, sımılar to that whıch Kubrick used. But I do own a Cannon F 1.8 lens, which I enjoy using at F 2.0. When this is mounted on an EOS Digital camera with the ISO set at 1600 wonderful candid shots are possible even in candlelight.
These pictures were all taken at the recent wedding of Meltem to Ali Abi. With the lens opened up, and the ISO set as described shutter speeds as high as 125th of a second were possible in the near darkness.
When you attend a social event it’s often preferable to forego the flexibility of your camera’s zoom lens for a prime lens, if it has a wide aperture setting. Please note you will probably have to focus your pictures manually since auto focus demands more than candle light.
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April 13th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
[...] The photograph above wasn’t taken during this trip but is one of the shots lit solely by candle-light at last year’s wedding. [...]
June 1st, 2006 at 5:52 pm
[...] Normally I avoid using flash when taking pictures after dark. My favourite approach is to set the Canon 20D to 1600 ISO and to shoot with my 50 mm prime lens at a setting of f 2. Images are always bright even when illuminated by candle-light. [...]
September 1st, 2006 at 12:17 pm
[...] All too soon it was time to go home. When I arrived back at base camp I treated myself to a well-deserved Gin and Campari with Soda and watched Stanley Kubrick’s Oscar Winning film Barry Lyndon on DVD. The perfect end to a perfect evening. [...]