Eamonn uses a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III and made his investment after five years using the original EOS-1Ds Mark I and then the Mark II model. The abundance of custom functions provided by the 1Ds Mark III is one of the key reasons he maintained his allegiance to the system. Another major factor was the quality of the fast EF lenses that make up his kit, and he usually takes the EF85mm f/1.2L II USM, the EF35mm f/1.4L USM, the EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM and the EF200mm f/2.8L II USM lenses to his wedding shoots.
A typical shot that demonstrates Eamonn's approach and the value of custom functions is the impromptu portrait of a bride and groom larking about on a beach following their wedding. Full of vitality, this was very much a 'grab shot' as the couple relaxed before gathering themselves together for the photographs - Eamonn saw the situation developing and realised that he had just moments to take his shot.

"As luck would have it I had my EF85mm f/1.2L II USM fitted to the 1Ds Mark III," he says, "and I shot this at 1/8000sec at f/1.4 using an ISO of 100. I knew I just had to react to what was going on in front of me: had I been fiddling around with settings the moment would have been gone and it would never have been the same had I tried to set it up again."

While the location was fabulous, it also posed its own problems: it was a sunny day and the bride's white dress was reflecting the light while the groom's dark coat also needed to have some detail registered. The situation was eased by setting the 1Ds Mark III to Custom Function C.Fn II-3 (highlight tone priority), which expands the dynamic range of the highlights by one full stop, giving that vital extra bit of leeway to enable the full range of tones in this image to be properly recorded. "In a situation such as this I have that particular function enabled all the time," says Eamonn, "and when the crucial moment arose I was already ready to take the shot."

Eamonn also finds himself regularly working in low light situations where he is reluctant, or unable, to use additional lights. Once again his style revolves around his ability to shoot in a natural and relaxed way, and this often means upping the ISO speed and working with long exposures.

The shot of a wedding party celebrating with a pint of Guinness is full of the trademark O'Boyle life and exuberance and, again, it had to be grabbed in an instant. "I was shooting using the illumination that was being provided by some video lights," says Eamonn, "and I had the 1Ds Mark III set to its Tungsten pre-set to cope with this and used it in combination with my 24mm lens. The exposure here ended up being 1/140sec at f/4 and I was using an ISO setting of 800."

Because he works so regularly in low light situations Eamonn finds that Custom Function C.Fn II-1 (long exposure noise reduction), which reduces noise and improves gradation in low light environments, is a major help in his workflow. By enabling this when the action moves inside or the evening is drawing on it takes a lot out of the worry out of using really high ISO speeds. "The 1Ds Mark III delivers great low noise performance in any case," he says, "but it's always good to have that extra bit of help when you know that your client is going to be looking for the best quality in their wedding album. It's part of the process of photography moving from being an art to a craft and photographers are no longer the poor relations of those working in the traditional art forms."

Reproduced from Canon Professional Network