Caoimhe - Newborn Baby Shoot /  by Jan

“Ballyhooly... no clue, let me check Google Maps. Oh right, between Mallow and Fermoy. I’ve never been there!”

Were my first thoughts. I was booked to do an ‘at home’ baby shoot and I couldn’t have gone on a better day. It felt like the first summer’s day of the year. Skies so blue, it felt fake. Warm air, all the grass looked so much greener than usual, and that warm, summer’s wind... What a day!

But before we get into the shoot, I want to skip ahead and already share the 5-star Google review Anne-Marie left me, because it’s just absolutely hilarious:

“Jan did the most amazing job on a Newborn Photoshoot for our 5 week old daughter. We had such a fun time during the shoot, as Jan embraced the madness and made it look like we have some control over our toddler and dog who joined in on the shoot. The resulting photographs are better than I could have hoped for and the session itself created fantastic memories for us as a family. Jan was a pleasure to work with and we will be looking for excuses to book him again!”

It had me roaring when I first read it! And Anne-Marie was right, with the dog and the whole family involved, it wasn’t the easiest shoot but it was a very fun one.

Usually with a baby shoot at home, I tend to do at least half of the shoot, if not most of the shoot indoors. But with the garden that Anne-Marie and Kevin have, and the previously mentioned, gorgeous day, I decided to leave all of my lighting gear in the boot of the car, and do this baby shoot purely outdoors. I think it only made sense, especially seeing the results.

Little Coaimhe was a great little subject for the shoot, while her big brother, Rory, was running around to his own rules. I think my favourite photos of this day are mom, Anne-Marie and Caoimhe on the chair next to the tree, and the whole family, including dog, walking towards me. Although seeing dad, Kevin, and big brother, Rory, on the swing together is also a high contender.

The great thing with these ‘at home’ newborn baby shoots is that I get to photograph families in their own environment. This makes it so much easier for their parents, often new mothers and fathers, and I get to provide them with unique photos with their homes as a slice of history that might be more meaningful to them. I really enjoy dipping into these environments and working with the challenges these new locations provide.

If you would like to book me for a newborn baby shoot, you can say hi to me here and we can get you booked in!

Samyang AF 35mm f1.8 FE Review and Sample Photos /  by Jan

Why the Samyang AF 35mm f1.8, don’t you have a 35mm lens already?

I absolutely love and adore my Sony Zeiss 35mm f1.4 lens, even if I come across a bit negative in my review here. But it has the right amount of character, and beautiful f1.4 bokeh, while still being sharp enough and having great contrast and flare resistance to create very professional looking images. But it does weight 630g. And due to some unrelated back problems I was having, I needed to down size without losing too much image quality.

So the battery grips came off the cameras and I lost a battery. 313 grams saved per camera. I bought a Godox V350 to replace my V860iii and V1. 284 grams saved. A good start. And with the plethora of small 35mm lenses around, it being the lens I take with to 98% of my shoots, this would be a great place to save some more weight.

Ok, but why the Samyang?

The options, for me, boiled down to the Sony 35mm f1.8, the Samyang 35mm f1.8 and the Sigma 35mm f2 DG DN. The Sigma is the heaviest out of the three, and as much as I would love to love the tiny i-series, I just don’t love the way Sigma lenses render images. They all (especially my 24-70mm) render such a flat and sterile image. Which I don’t mind when photographing events, but it really gets in the way for me, when taking portraits. Between the Sony and Samyang I didn’t see much of a difference, and personally I feel like the Sony is incredibly overpriced, so I just went for the affordable Samyang.

First impressions

My first impressions were:

• It’s tiny and lightweight (420 grams lighter than my Sony Zeiss)

• Doesn’t have a very high build quality

• But I like the images

What do I like?

While it’s not a definitive replacement to my Sony Zeiss, it is a great gap till my back is feeling better again.

It’s cheap!

It is also nice to have a cheap lens on the camera that I don’t care that much about. The Sony Zeiss isn’t necessarily expensive but it is a lens where you might need to go through a copy or two or three until you find a good one. And mine’s great. So I am a bit protective about it. But with the Samyang, I will gladly ‘throw’ around the lens at weddings and events, and get some dynamic action shots, and not care too much about it. It’s also great to just throw the lens into a camera bag, to have just in case. It’s so small and light, you’d almost forget it’s there.

AF is pretty good

I must admit, I have more keepers with my Sony Zeiss and there is a difference in AF tracking. But I was surprised how snappy and good this lens’ AF still is. I wouldn’t use it for anything too important or critical, but for the portrait shoots that I mostly do with this lens, where if needs be, I can re-create a moment or situation easily, it is perfectly usable. And having said that, I have used this lens for several weddings as well and it’s not let me down.

IQ and rendering is good enough

I really like the way the photos are rendered. The flare isn’t too distracting and it doesn’t wash out too easily. The contrast and colours a good. The colours are a little muted but are neutral enough so that they do fit in well with the rest of my lenses with just a little bit of extra time in Lightroom. I don’t get that amazing 3D rendering, but it’s much more life like than the Sigma.

Everything is good enough to very good.

What’s not to like?

Not every lens can be perfect, and neither is this one. Even for the price.

Sharpness and Bokeh

The only thing that lets it down a little bit in the image quality department is the sharpness and the bokeh in certain situations. Now, I’m no sharpness guy. I’ve never bothered looking at a sharpness chart ever and truly think it’s a much overhyped topic. But this lens could use with just a little bit more resolution. But again, it’s good enough.

The bokeh is great in most cases, a little bit swirly and old-school, which I like, but in some cases it gets really muddy and gross. At least to my eye. Here are some examples (2nd photo, trees in the background):

You could smooth out the worst offenders in post, and maybe it’s just me being picky but I don’t like this look a lot.

Custom Modes

Does anyone actually use these? A dedicated aperture ring would have been way more useful.

Summary

As I’ve written this line a few times now, this lens can be summarized as ‘good enough’. It was never intended to be an amazing lens, and for the price, everything is just good enough. Now, I am really picky when it comes to my lenses and the way the images look, especially when it comes to my 35mm lenses. It’s my favourite and most used lens, so the look of it is critical to me and my brand. I wouldn’t use this lens for the rest of my life, but that I haven’t immediately replaced it and am not counting the days to go back to my Sony Zeiss 35mm is a huge compliment to it. I’m in no rush to going back, and for a threehundred-something Euro lens, that’s not bad. That’s really not bad at all!

I do also have the Samyang AF 75mm f1.8 lens and often couple these lenses up together on two bodies, and they’ve been great! I will write a review on that lens soon in the future.

Would I recommend it?

If you want the best of the best, why are you even looking at this lens? If you’re looking for something small and compact or if you’re looking for the very cheapest AF lens, absolutely, go ahead and buy this thing!

Check out my other gear reviews here.

Longueville House - Historic Family Vacation Photography /  by Jan

It was a cold winter day, the air was brisk but the sun really came out in full force for this shoot, shining its golden rays, which I was very thankful for! I love sunny and warm looking photos!

The shooting location; the Longueville House. An over 300 year old Georgian country house situated just outside of Mallow in County Cork.

I had the pleasure of photographing this large family group who came to Ireland on a big family vacation. And what a way to vacation in a historic mansion like this. Consisting of 21 family members, this wasn’t an easy task to capture so many people! So, I broke it down into groups.

First we started with a group photo of everyone on the beautiful steps at the front entrance. It’s always great to get the whole family together once in a while, which makes a group photo essential!

We then headed indoors. Using my professional lighting setup, we captured some indoor moments in this incredible living room, oozing with historic charm. Here we did some group photos that mixed the individual families, like the grandad with all the grandkids, or the grandad with his adult kids, and more.

After those photos were done, I was able to focus on each individual family and/or couple, capturing such fun and relaxed photos. Even the farm dogs got involved in some shots, much to the delight of not only the kids but also the adults! These springer spaniels were living their best lives on this 400 acre property.

With so many beautiful corners and spots at the Longueville House, I was able to give each family their own unique set of photos in different locations. One family got the greenhouse, the others got to go to the vintage courtyard, the others to the gardens. It was so a joy to work with such a fun family at such a gorgeous venue.

It was effortless. Laughter echoed, jokes flowed, and everyone was just themselves. No rigid poses or forced smiles; just a group of individuals enjoying each other's company. And I think it really shows in the photos. It felt more like a casual gathering than a formal photo shoot.

Good times, good vibes, and a camera capturing it all.

5-star Google Review

They even left me this lovely 5-star Google review:

“We gave Jan a challenge - to photograph our family of 21 people, ages 2-80, at Longueville House. He rose to the challenge and then some!

Jan is not only talented and creative, he’s also a lot of fun to work with. He scouted several locations around the property and captured each group beautifully.

I’m so happy that I found the Save The Journey website and reached out to Jan to capture our memories. He was quick to respond and professional though out the process, including returning all of our edited photos in less than a week.

Do yourself a favor and book Jan for your photography session!”
— Sheila

So if you would like to book me for a vacation family photo shoot or a family reunion, say hi to me here. I look forwarding to meeting you and the family!