My Blog

I have just finished shooting a once in a life time assignment, photographing a couple in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, a museum that rivals the Louve in Paris and the National Gallery in London.

It was a rare opportunity to use one of the premier museums in the world as the location for the wedding shoot.  It was a breathtaking experience where I had unrestricted access for the day.  Photographing around original works by Rubens, Leonardo, Raphael, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and Rembrandt’s was simply inspiring.

I couldn’t resist using a Rembrandt in the background of one of the images from the day.

The experience certainly makes up for the -20 degree temperatures.

When you first start planning a wedding the sheer number of suppliers for different wedding products and services can be very overwhelming.  How do you really be sure you will get true quality and great service from those that say they provide it?   For the last three years we have been working with Gianni Events at Portside to make solving this problem a little easier by  bringing together some of the best wedding specialists for an annual cocktail party - Cocktails, Carats and Couture.

To get your FREE ticket, simply register at www.cccweddings.com.au

This year we are joined by some really fantastic wedding services including:

Wendy Makin Couture;   Spectrum Fireworks;  Kezani Jewellery; 

Stephanie’s Spa Retreat;  Divine Flowers;  Essential Experiences and Events

Amini Concepts;  Rush Entertainment

Hope to see you there!

Regular followers of our blog might be wondering where I’ve been the last few months.  While I can sometimes be accused of laziness (usually by my wife as she looks at the state of our yard on the weekends), it isn’t the reason I haven’t been posting for the last few months!   After our last post it appears that one of those gremlins that sometimes leap into your computer systems and confound everything, made it’s way into our blog and we have essentially been locked out of our own blog since October!

After much hair pulling, and cursing, we are now back online!.

Better late than never here is our annual Christmas card that went out in December.

I will leave it to you to match the faces with the staff from the studio.

Tonya and Mathew’s wedding at Byron Bay, Australia.

Byron is one of the most beautiful places in the world and combined with an amazing couple it made for an incredible day.

Ceremony: Private Residence

Reception: Byron Beach Cafe

For additional Wedding photography in Byron Bay by Marcus Bell, Studio Impressions please visit our website www.studioimpressions.com.au plus any inquires can be made by contacting the studio at info@studioimpressions.com.au

A few days ago I was fortunate to use the new Nikon D3s camera.  I was able to put the camera through some real world shooting situations over two days, that included a wedding and two portrait sessions.  The wedding reception venue proved to be an ideal testing ground for the camera, as it provided some of the trickiest low lighting conditions that included an array of light types to make colour balance a nightmare to work with.  In fact for a wedding photographer I would say I used the camera in one of the most extreme wedding reception conditions that I know.

As I mainly use available light at my wedding shoots (in order to remain unobtrusive), the Nikon D3 and D700 have become my “go to” cameras for weddings over the past 18 months due the Nikon’s great performance in low light situations.  I had anticipated and hoped that video would be part of a new release, so the real surprise for me was to find out that the new D3S has a completely new sensor and the performance of the sensor in low light completely eclipses previous models.

After two days I’m just astounded at the quality. Shooting at ISO 12800 the quality really was a noticeable improvement.  In comparison, I believe the D3S at ISO 12800 is equivalent to ISO 3200 on the D3 and D700.

I’ve included some samples showing the high ISO performance of the D3S below at ISO 6400 and ISO 12800.

Portrait of “Jackson”

Jackson is lit by using two 40 watt tungsten household lamps, photographed in a household living room with no other ambient light.

PORTRAIT of “Jackson” - Nikon D3S with the 85mm f1.4lens  @ ISO 6400 , 160th sec @ f2

100% crop  |  PORTRAIT of “Jackson” - Nikon D3S with the 85mm f1.4lens  @ ISO 6400 , 160th sec @ f2

PORTRAIT of “Jackson” - Nikon D3S with the 85mm f1.4lens  @ ISO 12800 , 250th sec @ f2

100% crop  |  PORTRAIT of “Jackson” - Nikon D3S with the 85mm f1.4lens  @ ISO 12800 , 250th sec @ f2

These are the JPEG capture files only until I am able to convert the RAW files later in the week (stay posted).  They are from camera with no post production done.  Please note that the images are from a pre-production camera (not with the final firmware).

Wedding “Lara and George”

There was no control over the lighting conditions at the reception.  I was working with a mixture of mercury vapour, fluorescent, and candlelight all in the one room and shot. There was no natural light in the room at all.   I believe that had I been using a prior model camera at this ISO setting, these images would not have been suitable for viewing by the client.

All images are copyright by Marcus Bell and unauthorized usage and reproduction are prohibited.

All wedding images are Nikon D3s (Pre-Production) 12800 ISO - Jpeg capture

Additional sample images and custom finished images can be found with this link to Lara and George’s Wedding blog post

I felt it was only a matter of time before Nikon added video capture to their professional digital camera SLR’s and its here.  It’s an area of creativity we have been exploring in our photography studio over the past 2 years.  I’ve posted below a mix of video and stills I took on the same wedding this last weekend.

To assist in the video capture I used the new SanDisk Extreme Pro 32gb Compact Flash card that writes up to 90 MB/s and to keep the camera as still as possible I used a Hood Loupe that enabled to have the eye piece giving add contact to the body, by Hoodman.

STILLS and MOTION    |  sample using the Nikon D3S

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To view recent sample images from the Nikon D3x, visit the following posts:

The Pantanal, Brazil

Darb Couture, Wedding Gown feature shoot

Additional links:

Nikon website

Marcus Bell and Studio Impressions Photography Website

Contact us

Interested in the new super zoom, Cliff Mautner is one of only four photographers in the world to test it out.  He has some great findings in his blog post. CLIFF MAUTNER BLOG

With the announcement of the new Nikon D3S with HD digital video capture capabilities it is certain that the merging of stills and motion is here for the long run.  The way we view and record memories has certainly changed forever.

It was over two years ago now we saw this move in the industry and personally feel that it is a very powerful medium to work with.   Here is an example of how powerful the merging of medias can be.

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SHORT FILM   |   50th Wedding Anniversary by Marcus Bell

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The evening was a celebration of 50 years of marriage and the wonderful legacy they have given the world.  The wedding photography was captured at the Brisbane Stamford Plaza Hotel.

To view the additional images and to read the full story - visit this link HERE

During my time with the D3s I was able to capture a portrait using enriched media.  This is a whole new style of portraits for our clients and one that has becoming increasingly popular over the past 12 months.  I love it because the breadth of a personality or relationship can really be expressed through this kind of mixed media.

The stills and motion were captured using only available light through the windows (to the right of frame) just after sunset.  The camera settings where used at 6400 and 12800 ISO.

“Portrait of the Bohl family”

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To view the video in full High Definition, please click on the image below.

Over the past four years I have been presenting Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom eSeminars online as one of Australia’s Adobe Photography Ambassadors.

The most recent seminars are now available online and they are completely free to view.  Here are the most recent tutorials, simply click on the title to view.

Free eSeminars

The Creative Guide to Producing Award Winning Images Walk through the creative process - from visual conception to the final print.  Discover how to create your very own custom prints.

Fast RAW Workflow techniques Learn how to process bulk RAW image projects quickly and with pristine precision.  Learn how to process in half the time.

RAW  | easy as 1-2-3 What is the difference between RAW and JPEG? Unlock the power of RAW images and how you can combine Presets to improve your quality and workflow.

Understanding Blending Modes and the Fade Tool in Adobe Photoshop

For a complete listing of tutorials visit the Adobe on demand Website

Marcus Bell and Adobe Shortcut to Brilliance Website

To view information about my photography journey and how I incorporate Photoshop and Lightroom in the creative process please visit the following link “Marcus Bell & Adobe - Discover your Shortcut to Brilliance”

INSTANT EFFECTS - Lightroom and Photoshop Presets now available online

For more information online visit the Instant Effects website and for additional product information visit the Photographers Resources home page.

BEFORE

AFTER - Applying the Instant Effect “Jazz Envy”

October is one of the great months in the year to be married in Brisbane. Lara and George chose the perfect day to be married, clear skies and a top temperature of 24 degrees.  Brisbane was beautiful and so was this wedding.

The Wedding ceremony was held at Brisbane’s All Hallows’ chapel and the reception at Tattersall’s Club in the Brisbane CBD.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the day.

Early last month I photographed a fashion shoot at the new Cloudland in Brisbane. It also gave me the opportunity to use some new lighting techniques and equipment that I have been working on, using the new Gemini range of lighting gear from BOWENS.  During the shoot I used a number of different light shapers, my favourite is the Bowens SuperSoft.

The shoot was captured using the Nikon D3x with a variety of lens including the new Nikon 50mm f1.4, 135mm f2 and the 24-70mm f2.8 which for clarity holds it own against the primes,  the main reason for this is the special Nano crystal coating used with the lens.  I can’t wait to see the results from the new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 ED VRII with the same nano crystal coating.

The photography shoot was for a Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne wedding gown magazine feature.

The designer is Brad Webb from Darb Couture, that creates some of the world’s finest wedding gowns from his studio in Brisbane, Australia.