Using Strobist Techniques for Tricky Lighting at Weddings

This past Friday (July 3, 2009) I shot a wedding at The Berkeley Church in Toronto. The location is beyond great for wedding photography, as it's an 1800s restored church turned into a banquet hall/event venue. The place where the couple held their wedding ceremony is lined with stained glass windows which created severe backlighting. The challenge was in lighting the couple without having the flash wash out the whole scene and killing the light coming through the windows. After trying a few setups a couple of hours before the actual ceremony, I finally settled on an SB-800 fitted with a HONL Speed Grid. positioned at 25-30 degrees camera right, triggered via Nikon's CLS. Here are a few of the resulting images:

The Beaches Jazz Festival 2008 Image Gallery Now Available

The entire Beaches Jazz Festival 2008 Gallery is now available as Rights-Managed images for editorial purposes. You can access the whole Gallery here: http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/juanrojodesign/gallery-show/G0000A4YICQFjTpc/

This is the image that made it to the section of Toronto Magazine on Queen St. East


The one and only Johnny Max of The Johnny Max Band


Imbayakunas is another staple band of any Toronto street fest. I've personally seen these guys at Taste of the Danforth, Taste of Little Italy and The Beaches Jazz Festival


Jeanine Mackie of the Jeanine Mackie Band had a powerful voice that kept me shooting her band longer that I had anticipated

Night Photography in Downtown Toronto - South East Corner of Yonge St. and Queen St.

The following shots were taken almost two years ago with a Nikon D80 and the Sigma 10-20mm (I miss that lens). When I took them I knew they had potential but it wasn't until now that I was able to bring my vision to life with the help of Nik's Silver Efex Pro (I love Nik's software:Viveza, Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex Pro). Both shots were taken with the camera set on a tripod as the Sigma is terribly slow in low light.

1. Coming home from work and some grocery shopping. RAW conversion in Adobe Lightroom, Pro Contrast Applied in Color Efex Pro, then bleach Bypass with modifications, and finally Silver Efex Pro.


2. Waiting for the light to turn. RAW convesion in Lightroom, Pro Contrast in Color Efex Pro, then Silver Efex Pro.