Photography News Issue 41

Photography News | Issue 41 | absolutephoto.com

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Jeff Ascough captures those once-in-a-lifetime moments for loving couples with his Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Find out why it’s his go-to camera...

Jeff Ascough began his professional photographic career shooting portraits in 1989 at the age of 21. He originally started working for his parents’ photography company, then three years later set up his own business shooting weddings. “I didn’t have a studio and so weddings seemed to be the easiest route togettingwork. I hadalready covered a few, so it wasn’t difficult to put together a portfolio,” Jeff recalls. “Weddings allowme to be a photojournalist, a landscape photographer, a portrait photographer, and a street photographer all on one day.” To add a more documentary style to his wedding work, Jeff bought his first Canon in 1994 and then went on to buy a Canon EOS 100 while on his honeymoon. He’s also had the EOS-1N and EOS-1V, before purchasing a Leica rangefinder, but switched back to Canon in 2004. “As soon as digital became viable I moved back to Canon with the EOS 1DMark II and I’ve been using Canon DSLRs ever since,” says Jeff. One of Jeff’s proudest moments was having his wedding work published in The Washington Post . “Here was a major international publication talking about my About the photographer Jeff Ascough is an award-winning wedding photographer based in the North West. Together with his wife Sarah they have covered over 1500 weddings across the UK and Europe. Some of their wedding clients include famous faces such as

wedding images in the sense of them being good documentary photographs, regardless of the content,” he tells us. Now shooting with the EOS 5D Mark IV, Jeff says it is an exceptional camera for weddings. “I’ve used the 5 series almost religiously for weddings since the 5D Mark III. The 5D Mark IV is perhaps the pinnacle of the 5 series development. The extended dynamic range is very useful for white weddings in the summer sun and dark suits in gloomy churches. The autofocus is fantastic in all light conditions and of course it comes with the usual 5 series bulletproof reliability, which is something wedding photographers really need as we only get one chance to shoot someone’s wedding day.” Jeff’s Big Picture (over the page) was taken at a wedding just before Christmas at Beverley Minster in Yorkshire. “The picture shows the groomwith the bride’s son waiting for the arrival of the bride. They are both very emotional. To me this shot says so much about the relationship that the two of them have with each other, a relationship that was explored throughout the day. It’s my kind of lighting, too; dark, moody,

The Kit

The extended dynamic range is very useful for white weddings in the summer sun

and dark suits in gloomy churches

atmospheric. The light on the groom’s face is perfect,” says Jeff. “It was shot with the EOS 5D Mark IV with an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II lens. Exposure was 1/80 sec at f/2, ISO 3200. The camera just did its thing, no special features were used.” Jeff decided to convert his image to black & white to give itmore impact. “Emotive images tend to lend themselves to black & white. If you strip away the distractions of colour, you are often left with an image where you can focus on the emotion and story.”

The Camera Canon EOS 5DMark IV The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV boasts a 30.4-megapixel sensor, 7fps continuous shooting, 61 AF points and an ISO range of 100-32,000.

The Lens EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

Offering a broad focal range this lens is ideal for weddings, allowing you to capture wide scenes and zoom in for details and candid moments. The maximum aperture of f/2.8 will allow you to create soft background blur to make subjects really stand out.

Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien and Vivienne Westwood designer Pandora Cooper-Key. Jeff has been named one of the top five wedding photographers in the world by the BBC and the You & Your Wedding magazine wedding photographer of the year three times, amongst other awards. jeffascough.com