How EOS R changed a wedding photographer's work

For her latest shoot, Katya took a couple to central, south and eastern Iceland. She used the Canon EOS R system – the compact full-frame Canon EOS R and two EOS R lenses: the Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L USM and the Canon RF 24-105MM F/4L IS USM.

Utilising the ability to mount her existing lenses on the Canon EOS R, she shot with the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II and EF 85mm f/1.4 L IS USM – fitted to the camera using the Canon Control Ring Mount Adapter EF-EOS R adapter, which enables you to seamlessly move between EF, EF-S and EOS R lenses without loss in quality, and features a programmable control ring.

She chose Iceland for its rugged and remote landscapes. "Iceland has a lot of visually strong landscapes for powerful emotional moments, so the pictures look more epic," she says. She describes the concept for the shoot as "adventurous young souls run away into the Nordic wilderness to be happy together."

The shoot lasted five days with Katya, her assistant, and the couple journeying across Iceland in a campervan between ever more scenic locations.

With around 20 hours of daylight each day, they worked until late at night in often-inhospitable terrain and notoriously unpredictable weather conditions. Katya photographed the couple in snow, rain, sunshine and mist; on deserted roads and vast other-worldly landscapes, beside a dramatic waterfall, in a ravine, in fields of flowers and standing on ice floes.

"While we were there," she says, "temperatures ranged from 0 to 10°C – the hugging looks even more natural when it's cold!" she laughs.

Although it was her first time using the Canon EOS R, she quickly adapted to using it. "The camera’s controls are very similar to my other Canon cameras and it was easy to start shooting," she says. "It only took about 10 minutes to understand how to start working with it."

Katya sees the Canon EOS R system as an important part of her kitbag in the future. "The Canon EOS R is lighter than my DSLR cameras and there's even more functionality," she says. "I would happily take two EOS R bodies on a shoot."

"The camera is very comfortable to use, everything is fast and responsive so I can shoot spontaneously, and the weather sealing is robust. The combination of new features delivers a product that's on another level. It's perfect for my kind of work."

For Katya, the quality of her output is paramount, and it's vital to future-proof files that can continue to be printed for generations to come. "I love the fact that people cherish my photographs," she says. "It's not like you do an event and the pictures are interesting for a day, then the next day everyone has forgotten about it. I love to create stories that are meaningful to people. Then they put these pictures in their albums and one day I hope they will show them to their children and grandchildren."

Katya Mukhina on using the EOS R system

1. Shooting moving subjects

Katya aims to keep her pictures natural, so she avoids formally posing her subjects. As part of her preparation for this shoot, she asked the couple what music they like, made a playlist and then played the music to them on location using her Bluetooth speaker. This encouraged the couple to feel comfortable in the situation and to move or to dance together in a relaxed and playful way.

"I did a lot of pictures where I asked the couple to move or run and I would run with them… and have fun, creating million of poses, and I could take pictures that looked more authentic," Katya says. To shoot pin-sharp images when they were moving, she made use of the Canon EOS R's 5fps Servo AF frame-rate (8fps when using One Shot AF), the IS in the Canon RF 24-105MM F/4L IS USM lens and reliably accurate AF.

2. Greater creativity using the vari-angle screen

The Canon EOS R's vari-angle screen enabled Katya to be more creative with shooting from different angles, positioning the camera high above the couple or using a ground-level viewpoint.

"The vari-angle screen definitely helped me get more spontaneous images," she says. "Knowing it had sharp Servo AF allowed me to have eye contact with the couple, because I could hold the camera away from my face and look into the screen, not through the viewfinder. When they could see my eyes, they responded more to me. Also, the screen had no reflections on the surface and was easy to see in sunlight."

3. Refocusing at a touch

"As a wedding photographer, I look for a camera with superb autofocus, because the moment will never be repeated," says Katya. With a touchscreen and a remarkable 5,655 AF points – covering 88% of the frame vertically and 100% horizontally – she was able to focus where she wanted, when she wanted. "I could also stand still and track the couple's movements with my finger on the screen using touch AF," she says.

"Even in shots where the woman was wearing a dark dress and was running in front of black sand dunes, the camera's autofocus still followed her. To make sure there was only one set of footprints, I had to get the shot on the first attempt. The speed of the Canon EOS R's autofocus is amazing."

4. Perfect in low light

"I look for a camera that gives perfect images in low light, because many wedding events happen at night or in dark environments," Katya says. The market-leading capabilities of the Canon EOS R mean it can focus in conditions where the naked eye struggles – the AF will function at an impressive -6EV. "I'm able to shoot in darker conditions than ever before," she says.

Another feature that enabled Katya to work fast in low-light conditions was the camera's customisable multi-function bar. "I used it to quickly change the ISO setting, so I could control the aperture without changing the shutter speed," she says.

"Being able to shoot in very low-light conditions, in locations such as sheltered ravines, enabled me to broaden the range of shots I am normally able to do."

5. Using the EVF

"For me, one of the camera's main advantages is being able to see the picture you will get in the electronic viewfinder," Katya says. "Other features accessed via the viewfinder, such as histograms and focus peaking, enable you to quickly analyse your pictures and see what you need to change.

"I'm not a very technical photographer and I often forget to change the parameters, because I'm in the moment, looking at my composition or talking to the couple. In this camera I can already see the picture I will get. If my parameters are wrong and I overexpose or underexpose, I see it immediately, so I can change it. So that's why all my pictures came out of the camera correctly exposed."