IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 |
(MUSIC).
| | 00:04 |
Welcome.
My name is Chris Orwig.
| | 00:06 |
I'm a photographer, author and teacher.
And welcome to this course, Wedding
| | 00:10 |
Photography for Everyone, Bridal
Portraiture.
| | 00:13 |
In this course, we're going to focus in
on how we can capture beautiful, artistic
| | 00:17 |
and stunning portraits of a bride using
natural and available light.
| | 00:22 |
And we'll do this by starting off by
talking about some of the things we
| | 00:25 |
want to consider when planning ahead for
a shoot.
| | 00:29 |
Next, we're going to go on location to
the Santa Barbara History Museum and
| | 00:32 |
there we'll do a live shoot.
And throughout that live shoot we'll
| | 00:36 |
encounter different scenarios, which will
help us learn a few things that we can
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then integrate into our own work flow.
For example, we'll talk about light and
| | 00:43 |
how we can use different types of natural
and available light in order to craft or
| | 00:47 |
create different types of photographs.
And we'll also talk about how we can work
| | 00:52 |
with a location.
For example, we'll look at how we can
| | 00:55 |
photograph a bride in front of an old
wall, or perhaps in front of an old
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fountain.
And we'll look at how we could integrate
| | 01:01 |
props into our work flow in order to add
personality and fun.
| | 01:04 |
Whether the prop is something that the
bride can hold, or perhaps it's something
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they can stand in front of, like an old
vintage truck.
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And we'll explore how we can create
different types of photographs, whether
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those are quirky and fun, or elegant,
simple and strong.
| | 01:18 |
And here, the goal for this course is
that it will help you to become a better
| | 01:22 |
wedding photographer, which, in turn,
gives us the opportunity to become better
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photographers in general, because bridal
portraiture, it's all about seizing those
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opportunities in order to craft and
create compelling portraits.
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Well thanks for joining me in this
course, let's begin.
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| A roadmap overview to the course| 00:01 |
We have an exciting educational adventure
ahead of us.
| | 00:04 |
And because of that, here I thought it
would be helpful to provide you with a
| | 00:08 |
bit of a road map overview of what lies
ahead.
| | 00:11 |
You know this course is part of larger
series, Wedding Photography For Everyone.
| | 00:16 |
And in the first installment of our
series, we focused in on the basics, on
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the fundamentals.
And there we brought up this whole idea
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that you can divide a wedding up into
different phases or stages.
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Well here in this course, we're going to
focus in on one of those phases and this
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is bridal portraiture, and typically
bridal portraits they happen before or
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after the ceremony.
And frequently you have a very limited
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amount of time in order to craft and
create these very important pictures.
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So here, what we're going to do is a live
photo shoot.
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We're going to do a live photo shoot in
this sense we're going to stretch out
| | 00:49 |
time, slow things down.
In order to bring up complexity, variety,
| | 00:53 |
and different strategies that we can then
take when we're trying to create good
| | 00:56 |
bridal portraits.
And you know, we're doing this
| | 01:00 |
intentionally, and here's why.
No two weddings are alike.
| | 01:04 |
Some weddings are very simple, they're in
someone's back yard.
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Others are very elaborate.
So what I want to do is introduce
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different strategies that we can use when
working with natural and available light
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that will work regardless with the type
of wedding that we're photographing.
| | 01:17 |
You'll also discover that we'll be
working with one of my good friends,
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Cara.
Cara is engaged to be married in two
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short months, and she'll be our bride.
And in a sense I mention that because
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what we're doing is we're practicing
bridal portraiture, and this is something
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that any of us can do.
When it comes to getting good at wedding
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photography, practice really makes
perfect.
| | 01:37 |
And one of the things that you'll
encounter in this course that as we
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practice, we'll go out on location,
capture and create interesting
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photographs in different scenarios,
different lighting situations.
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Then we'll also come back here to the
studio, and we'll talk about what we've
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done, we'll reflect back on our
photographs.
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In other words we'll do both of these
things in order to become better wedding
| | 01:56 |
photographers.
Now as we go out on location, we're going
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to explore how to work with that location
and also how to work with our bride Cara,
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and how to work with our theme which is
vintage nautical.
| | 02:07 |
And that's why we have all of these items
here.
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So as we go out on this journey, one of
the things that you'll discover is that
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some of the movies will be fun to just
sort of watch.
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You'll kick back and enjoy them.
Others, you'll want to scribble and take
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down notes.
Well, our educational adventure will
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begin as we look at how we can plan ahead
before a bridal shoot.
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And we'll pick that up in the next
chapter, so I'll look forward to seeing
| | 02:30 |
you there.
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1. Preplanning for the ShootThe art and craft of bridal portraiture| 00:01 |
In this movie we're going to talk about
the art and craft of bridal portraiture.
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And we're going to do that because I
think it's important to step back before
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we actually make pictures, and ask
ourself, what kind of photographs do we
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want to capture and create?
And this is especially important with
| | 00:15 |
bridal portraiture, and here's why.
Typically for most of us we have all of
| | 00:19 |
these images in our mind.
All of these photographs that we've seen.
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Some are good, some not so good.
In a sense what we need to do though is
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let go of those and then ask ourselves
well, what is it that I want to capture
| | 00:31 |
and create.
And in order to come up with those ideas,
| | 00:35 |
it may be helpful to pull out a journal
or a piece of paper.
| | 00:39 |
And to sketch out some ideas, like I've
done here.
| | 00:42 |
Now, when you sketch out your ideas, they
don't need to look to pretty, but the
| | 00:45 |
ideas, they're really important.
So in my case, I started off just writing
| | 00:49 |
the art and craft of, of bridal
photography.
| | 00:51 |
And what is that?
What do I want to capture?
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And then I thought about my own
experience.
| | 00:56 |
I thought back to my wedding day, 16
years ago.
| | 00:59 |
I remember seeing my bride, she was
radiant, she was glowing.
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You know those are the type of
photographs that you want to capture.
| | 01:05 |
I also remember focusing in on her and
everything else was a blur.
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That's important to look at your own
experiences, and then think about well
| | 01:13 |
how then do I, do I make that into
reality, when I'm using my camera to
| | 01:16 |
capture photographs of a bride.
I also wrote down some other ideas.
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One of my good friends, Elizabeth
Messina, is an amazing wedding
| | 01:24 |
photographer, and she said this wonderful
quote.
| | 01:27 |
She said, there is nothing more beautiful
than someone in love.
| | 01:31 |
And I think that's a helpful quote
because it reminds me that really what
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you're photographing is love.
It's that warmth, that joy, that
| | 01:38 |
important moment on that day.
So I wrote down some other words like
| | 01:43 |
warmth, hope, glow, sparkling eyes, joy,
excitement, peace, strength, elegant,
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quiet, genuine happiness.
Another one of my friends who is a great
| | 01:52 |
wedding photographer, Jose Villa, said
you want to capture genuine happiness.
| | 01:57 |
You want to, you want to capture
something that's authentic.
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And in order to do that, you need to be
genuine, and authentic yourself.
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Again, important words to write down, to
get you in that right mindset as you're
| | 02:06 |
thinking about the type of photographs
you want to capture.
| | 02:10 |
Well, from there, it led to other types
of words and, and ideas and thoughts.
| | 02:15 |
And it got me thinking about portraiture
in general, and photography in general.
| | 02:19 |
And I wrote down a few quotes from some
of photography's best, like this quote by
| | 02:23 |
Andre Cartier-Bresson.
He said, a good photograph, it's all
| | 02:28 |
about putting one's head, one's eye and
one's heart on the same axis.
| | 02:34 |
I love that.
Another great quote is this one by Irving
| | 02:37 |
Penn.
A good photograph, it's one that
| | 02:39 |
communicates a fact, touches the heart,
and leaves the viewer changed.
| | 02:45 |
And that's really what we're trying to
do.
| | 02:46 |
Right?
We're trying to create a photograph that
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is full of something, full of something
that really touches the viewer.
| | 02:52 |
Here's a last, here's a, another quote or
the last quote I want to read with you
| | 02:55 |
here.
It's by Arnold Newman.
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And he said, you know, when we, when we
create photographs, we take pictures, not
| | 03:00 |
with cameras, but with our hearts.
And when it comes to bridal portraiture,
| | 03:05 |
we really want to create those, sort of
heart-filled, meaningful pictures.
| | 03:09 |
Well last but not least, I wrote down
some other ideas about the elements of
| | 03:12 |
bridal portraiture.
And that is, that really when you're,
| | 03:15 |
when you're working in this space, you're
capturing different types of images.
| | 03:19 |
Sometimes you're capturing a portrait.
And you know, a portrait is all about the
| | 03:23 |
person.
Other times, a photograph might be more
| | 03:26 |
like fashion.
Well fashion is about the clothes, the
| | 03:29 |
dress, the hair, the make-up, all of
those things.
| | 03:32 |
Or perhaps it's more like a beauty
photograph.
| | 03:34 |
And you know, a beauty photograph is a
lot like fashion, it's just more up
| | 03:38 |
close.
And so, as you're thinking about the
| | 03:41 |
different types of pictures you can make,
you want to think about all of these
| | 03:43 |
different elements.
What are some of the ideas of things that
| | 03:46 |
I want to capture?
What are some of the different types of
| | 03:49 |
photography that I might want to do?
And then, last but not least, come up
| | 03:52 |
with some way to sort of wrap it all up,
and here's how I did that.
| | 03:57 |
For me, I wrote, you know what, it isn't
about the dress, or about the flowers, or
| | 04:00 |
about the makeup.
It's really about the person, the glow,
| | 04:04 |
the warmth, and the special moment of
this particular day.
| | 04:08 |
And so as you see, to kind of articulate
your own vision for what the art and
| | 04:12 |
craft of this type of photography is,
take some time to open up a journal, or
| | 04:16 |
get out a piece of paper, and write down
some of your own ideas.
| | 04:22 |
And by doing this, it will help you later
make better photographs.
| | 04:27 |
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| Crafting a vision| 00:01 |
Alright, well after you've taken some
time to sketch out some ideas in regards
| | 00:04 |
to the art and craft of bridal
portraiture and regards to the type of
| | 00:08 |
photographs that you want to capture, a
next good step is to clarify your vision
| | 00:12 |
and your goal.
What is it that you really want to
| | 00:16 |
capture?
Put it in one place so that.
| | 00:19 |
You can refer back to this right before
the shoot, and then capture those type of
| | 00:22 |
images.
Now, you'll have a very unique or
| | 00:25 |
distinct goal or vision, one that's
different than mine.
| | 00:29 |
And I want to share with you what mine
is, and then talk about some other
| | 00:32 |
options as well.
So in my case, one of the things that I
| | 00:35 |
want to do is create photographs that are
meaningful.
| | 00:38 |
That's really important.
I also want to have pictures which are
| | 00:40 |
authentic, or genuine.
Another important point for me is to have
| | 00:44 |
photographs which are luminous, to use
one of my, friends words.
| | 00:48 |
That, that's a sense that photograph kind
of glows, it captures the warmth of, that
| | 00:52 |
day and that person.
I also want to capture pictures which are
| | 00:56 |
beautiful.
I want them to be crafted.
| | 00:59 |
I want photographs that aren't just
accidental, I don't want to just
| | 01:02 |
document, I really want to craft, or
create pictures Another word that I have
| | 01:06 |
here is artistic.
I love when you see one of those
| | 01:10 |
photographs, and it just moves you, the
artistry of it.
| | 01:13 |
That's really what I'm aspiring for.
And a lot of these things are really
| | 01:16 |
aspirational.
I don't know if I'll do this.
| | 01:19 |
But this is what I'm going for.
This is my vision.
| | 01:21 |
This is my goal.
Last but not least, I wrote down this
| | 01:24 |
idea that I want my photographs to be
timeless.
| | 01:28 |
And what I mean by that, is I want these
photographs to be good for decades, for
| | 01:31 |
years and years.
I want these pictures to be passed on to
| | 01:34 |
the other generations.
Now, your goal and vision, as I
| | 01:37 |
mentioned, may be different than mine.
You may have a goal that you want your
| | 01:41 |
photographs to be really fun and quirky,
or maybe.
| | 01:45 |
You want those pictures which are
cinematic and sweeping, with lots of wide
| | 01:49 |
open space.
Well, write that down.
| | 01:51 |
Write down whatever your own unique goal
and vision actually is.
| | 01:56 |
This also may be shaped by your
interaction with the bride.
| | 02:00 |
You may get to know the bride and realize
that she's really shy and quiet.
| | 02:04 |
Well, maybe then you want to capture some
of those quiet moments.
| | 02:07 |
Or perhaps she's fun and boisterous and
loud.
| | 02:10 |
Well, maybe you want to write down one of
your goals is to capture crazy and just
| | 02:13 |
really fun photographs.
And so as you craft this, really think
| | 02:17 |
about, well, what is it, what is it you
want to capture, and also how is it that
| | 02:21 |
you're going to bring this forward as
you're capturing those important pictures
| | 02:24 |
of the bride.
| | 02:27 |
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| Evaluating the gear: Is it good enough?| 00:00 |
One of my good friends, David (UNKNOWN)
who is an excellent photographer and
| | 00:03 |
educator has sort of popularized this
saying, and here it is.
| | 00:07 |
Gear is good, but vision is better.
And I think it's true, and that's why we
| | 00:11 |
spent all this time working on our
vision.
| | 00:14 |
What type of photographer do we want to
be, what type of images do we want to
| | 00:17 |
capture, but now we are going to shift
our focus towards gear.
| | 00:21 |
One of the things to keep in mind with
gear is that, in this day and age, almost
| | 00:24 |
any camera can be used.
And what I mean by that is that a camera
| | 00:28 |
phone, or a pocket camera, or an entry
level camera.
| | 00:32 |
Well, all of those work.
They're all winning contests.
| | 00:35 |
They're all creative photographs that are
hanging in museums.
| | 00:38 |
And so, as you think about your gear,
just keep that in mind.
| | 00:41 |
Also keep in mind this.
Who you are really, really matters.
| | 00:46 |
I mean, gear's important, but again it's
the who that perhaps matters even more.
| | 00:51 |
And as I was thinking about that I came
across a couple of quotes that I wrote
| | 00:53 |
down in my journal that I wanted to share
with you.
| | 00:56 |
The first one is by Arnold Newman.
He's one of the kind of founding fathers
| | 01:00 |
of environmental portraitature and as a
referenced him previously he said this.
| | 01:06 |
He said that we don't capture images with
our cameras, but with our hearts.
| | 01:10 |
In other words.
It's what's on the inside that really
| | 01:12 |
matters.
Or perhaps, we could take the same
| | 01:14 |
message from Ansel Adams who said, you
know, the most important component of a
| | 01:18 |
camera is the person behind it.
So again, who we are and how we approach
| | 01:23 |
our gear, I think does really matter.
That being said, there may be a point
| | 01:27 |
where we need to spend some time thinking
about what type of gear do we actually
| | 01:31 |
use?
Perhaps we don't have gear that will help
| | 01:34 |
us actualize our vision or make that come
to life.
| | 01:37 |
In situations like that you may need to
borrow, buy or rent gear.
| | 01:42 |
And as you do that tnough keep this in
mind.
| | 01:44 |
The gear won't make you a great
photographer, although it might help.
| | 01:49 |
So in the next couple of movies let's
look at a few specific gear
| | 01:52 |
considerations as we're thinking about
how we can create interesting bridal
| | 01:56 |
portraits.
| | 01:58 |
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| Choosing your essential gear| 00:00 |
Here we're going to continue our
conversation about gear.
| | 00:03 |
What do we want to think about, when it
comes to certain lenes, or cameras, and
| | 00:07 |
how can that help us actualize or make
our vision come to life?
| | 00:12 |
Well for starters, you can see that I
have some gear sitting on this table.
| | 00:15 |
In a sense this gears a little bit
representational, in different ways that
| | 00:18 |
we can shoot.
And I want to talk about that a little
| | 00:22 |
bit.
When I'm capturing a portrait of a bride
| | 00:24 |
I want to consider the day.
For this particular shoot that we have
| | 00:28 |
ahead of us, I had more time, we sort of
stretched time out, and I used a lot
| | 00:31 |
different camera and lens combinations.
And I did that because I wanted to, to
| | 00:35 |
kind of have different touch points, in
order to talk about different things we
| | 00:38 |
might think about.
So for starters, one of the things that I
| | 00:42 |
wanted to do was to use an 85 millimeter
focal length lens, because remember back
| | 00:45 |
to my vision, I want to create
photographs that are meaningful, that are
| | 00:48 |
artistic, that are authentic, that are
genuine.
| | 00:53 |
And this is a traditional portrait lens.
And the reason why it's a traditional
| | 00:57 |
portrait lens is because it creates a
really flattering look, yet it's not
| | 01:01 |
over-the-top, perhaps like a telephoto
lens like this, and I like that.
| | 01:06 |
It also allows you to work pretty close
to your subject.
| | 01:10 |
You don't have to stand really far away
and take pictures from a distance, and
| | 01:13 |
that's important to me, because,
remember, I want pictures that are
| | 01:16 |
genuine.
So as I'm thinking about my gear, I'm
| | 01:20 |
always going back to my vision, does this
gear help me make that vision come to
| | 01:24 |
life.
Another lens that I'll often need is
| | 01:28 |
something that's a bit more wide.
Now you may want to use the wide angle
| | 01:31 |
lens to sort of set the scene, so you
include more in the shot.
| | 01:35 |
Or perhaps if you have a small area, like
if you're photographing inside of the,
| | 01:38 |
inside of a truck, well you need a wide
angle lens to be able to see anything at
| | 01:41 |
all.
And then I also want to experiment a
| | 01:45 |
little bit with film.
You know, in wedding photography there
| | 01:49 |
are wedding photographers who shoot 100%
film.
| | 01:52 |
It's one of the only areas of photography
where film is really used that much and
| | 01:56 |
I'm not a great film shooter but I love
experimenting with it.
| | 02:00 |
I think it's a ton of fun.
So I'm going to bring a few film cameras
| | 02:03 |
along so that I can try to capture
something interesting or artistic or
| | 02:06 |
different.
Something that's unique to working with
| | 02:10 |
film cameras.
So then how does all of this translate to
| | 02:13 |
say a real wedding?
Well, in a real wedding perhaps you have
| | 02:16 |
five minutes or ten minutes, well I'm not
going to bring all of this gear and more.
| | 02:20 |
Rather, I'm going to reach for something
which I would call kind of my go to set
| | 02:23 |
up.
This one here, 85 millimeter focal length
| | 02:27 |
lens.
And a camera with a vertical grip I like
| | 02:29 |
that vertical grip because it allows you
to capture that portrait or that vertical
| | 02:33 |
orientation in a way that's easier.
You can also capture a horizontal as well
| | 02:38 |
but I just kind of like that and I will
go just without I wouldn't bring all the
| | 02:42 |
rest of the gear because if I did I would
miss some really important shots.
| | 02:48 |
So as you're thinking about your vision
and some gear considerations, you want to
| | 02:51 |
think about, okay, well, where am I
taking these pictures?
| | 02:55 |
What kind of pictures will I capture?
For example, let's say that the wedding
| | 02:59 |
location is on top of a beautiful
mountain or, or hill.
| | 03:03 |
Well, in that situation, use a wide angle
lens, so you have that big sweeping
| | 03:07 |
cinematic scene, where you have the bride
really small in this beautiful, beautiful
| | 03:11 |
field.
Big huge clouds and mountains in the
| | 03:14 |
background.
That lens would work really well.
| | 03:17 |
So it's not just about your vision in
general, it's about your vision in really
| | 03:21 |
specific ways.
For the shoot that I'm going to be doing,
| | 03:26 |
I know that I can't move back very far.
I know that if I used wide angle lenses
| | 03:30 |
I'm going to include too much, power line
or other things, so I need to get close.
| | 03:35 |
So in this case, I'm using a lens like
that.
| | 03:37 |
So is this the magic lens?
Not at all.
| | 03:39 |
It's a good lens, but it's not the
perfect lens.
| | 03:42 |
Remember, it's all about you and your own
vision.
| | 03:45 |
Also keep in mind that you may have a
lens which allows you to cover both wide
| | 03:49 |
and also more up close shots.
If you do, that's great and use it.
| | 03:54 |
Yet, as you're using it and as you're
composing the wider angle shot, we'll
| | 03:58 |
just think about that.
Here I'm trying to include more and tell
| | 04:01 |
that story.
As you zoom in, think about how you're
| | 04:04 |
getting close and what type of pictures
you want to create when you're up close.
| | 04:09 |
So again as you make these considerations
about what gear to use, go back to your
| | 04:13 |
vision, and then evaluate if certain
cameras or lenses will really help you
| | 04:17 |
actualize or make your vision come to
life.
| | 04:22 |
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| Considering other gear| 00:00 |
Now that we've talked a little bit about
vision and some specifics about gear,
| | 00:03 |
what I want to do in this movie is just
go over some things to think about just
| | 00:07 |
before the shooting begins.
Because your getting ready for a wedding
| | 00:11 |
you need to think about what are you
going to wear.
| | 00:13 |
If the wedding or the shoot is a bit more
formal, well then dress accordingly.
| | 00:18 |
You also want to think about your shoes,
you want to wear something that's
| | 00:21 |
comfortable because you are going to be
in those shoes all day long.
| | 00:25 |
You also need some sort of a camera bag.
I like to have a camera bag that I'm not
| | 00:29 |
really worried about, in other words it's
okay if it gets dirty.
| | 00:33 |
You can put your camera gear in it, tuck
it out of the way so that all your gear
| | 00:36 |
is safe.
Then, of course you want to double check
| | 00:39 |
your camera.
Double check your settings, also things
| | 00:42 |
like your camera strap, because if your
camera strap is ever to fail, well, it's
| | 00:45 |
going to fail at a wedding.
So just make sure it's on there tight and
| | 00:50 |
that that's good to go.
Do one quick pass over your camera.
| | 00:54 |
Clean it up so that you're really ready
to start shooting.
| | 00:57 |
Then of course you want to think about
accessory items.
| | 01:00 |
What are you going to do with all of
those lens caps or extra batteries or
| | 01:03 |
other things that you'll be bringing with
you.
| | 01:06 |
I like to have a small accessory bag
where I can stuff all of my lens caps in
| | 01:10 |
that.
All of the other things that I have.
| | 01:13 |
You also want to figure out, well how am
I going to manage, say, my batteries?
| | 01:16 |
One of the things that I'll do is if I
have a battery which has been used, I'll
| | 01:20 |
leave the little plastic back off of it.
If the battery is charged up and ready to
| | 01:24 |
go well I'll put that on that, and that's
then in this bag.
| | 01:28 |
So if I reach for a battery, I know if
it's good before I even put it in my
| | 01:31 |
camera.
And then of course you have your compact
| | 01:34 |
flash cards for your storage media.
Whatever you have, you want to have
| | 01:38 |
somewhere to put it, in this case I have
two different sides in this little
| | 01:41 |
wallet.
One side where I have my compact flash
| | 01:44 |
cards that are good.
They're empty, then another side where I
| | 01:47 |
have photographs on those cards.
There may be other items as well.
| | 01:52 |
Perhaps you want to bring something for
diffusion, or to reflect light back into
| | 01:55 |
the shot.
Again, just pull those things out of
| | 01:58 |
their bags.
Double check them, make sure that they're
| | 02:02 |
in good shape so that there aren't any
surprises once you start shooting.
| | 02:06 |
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| Working with an assistant| 00:00 |
Well, so far in this chapter we have
asked ourselves what type of photographs
| | 00:03 |
do we want to capture.
We formalized our vision and our goals.
| | 00:08 |
So, we've talked a little bit about gear.
Now, at the end of the chapter, I want to
| | 00:11 |
focus in on the importance of working
with a photographic assistant.
| | 00:16 |
Now, I've mention this in the previous
installment of this series, Wedding
| | 00:19 |
Photography For Everyone and I want to
revisit the point because it's really
| | 00:22 |
essential.
Now, in that course, I mentioned that,
| | 00:26 |
that capturing images without an
assistant, at an important event like a
| | 00:29 |
wedding, is like painting a house without
a ladder.
| | 00:33 |
Now it's possible.
It can be done.
| | 00:36 |
But it's just so much more difficult to
do.
| | 00:39 |
And so, what you want to do is bring
along someone who can help you out, help
| | 00:42 |
you out with carrying all of the gear.
When it comes to finding an assistant you
| | 00:46 |
don't have to hire a professional.
Jose Villa, one of the world's best
| | 00:50 |
wedding photographers, well his main
assistant is his sister.
| | 00:54 |
You can almost always find someone who
shares your passion for photography, who
| | 00:58 |
might be interested and coming along on
the shoot.
| | 01:02 |
And when you have an assistant, you
want to give them a specific role.
| | 01:05 |
Are they there just to help you carry all
the bags?
| | 01:08 |
Do you want them to stand close to you,
or perhaps a little bit further away?
| | 01:12 |
You want to work that out ahead of time,
so that the shoot goes really smoothly.
| | 01:16 |
>> You're not in the shot actually.
| | 01:18 |
Go back to where you were before.
Cara, with your eyes, look back towards
| | 01:22 |
me.
Yeah, yeah.
| | 01:24 |
I love it.
(CROSSTALK)
| | 01:26 |
>> Now in this particular shoot, the bridal
| | 01:27 |
portrait shoot that we're doing, I'm
bringing along my assistant, Shaun.
| | 01:31 |
>> > (INAUDIBLE).
| | 01:32 |
Okay?
| | 01:32 |
>> Shaun is a really good friend, and a
phenomenal photographer.
| | 01:35 |
And he and I are going to work out how
we're going to go through the day
| | 01:38 |
together.
In other words, he's going to be the guy
| | 01:41 |
which will be my runner.
He'll run to my camera bag, and grab me a
| | 01:44 |
certain camera, or lens combination.
He's also a great person for me to bounce
| | 01:50 |
ideas off.
| | 01:51 |
>> Let's try the contact, Shaun.
| | 01:52 |
>> When we photograph different situations
together, I often say, Shaun, am I
| | 01:55 |
missing anything?
Now, he knows what I want to accomplish
| | 01:59 |
because I've gone over my vision, he
knows what type of photographs I want to
| | 02:02 |
capture.
He's seen some of my storyboards, and
| | 02:05 |
often, Shaun will say, yeah, Chris, what
about this shot?
| | 02:09 |
Often I say, oh thank you.
You know, when you're photographing a
| | 02:13 |
wedding, it's no time to be cavalier.
It's no time to do it all yourself.
| | 02:17 |
As the photographer, you need help.
You need help with just handling all of
| | 02:21 |
the gear, interacting with the different
people that you're going to be working
| | 02:24 |
with, so that the shoot goes smoothly.
So, as you pursue getting better at
| | 02:29 |
wedding photography, consider bringing
along an assistant.
| | 02:33 |
And also consider giving them some
advice, some instruction, some roles.
| | 02:37 |
What do you want them to do?
Tell them and be specific because often
| | 02:41 |
that will lead to capturing better
photographs.
| | 02:45 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. Working with the LocationIntroducing location| 00:01 |
Now that we've had some important
conversations about some of the
| | 00:03 |
pre-planning that we can do, before the
actual shoot.
| | 00:06 |
Well here, we can now shift our focus to
the location.
| | 00:10 |
And the location is really important, and
you know you can go to a wedding at so
| | 00:14 |
many different types of locations.
You could go to a wedding at a backyard,
| | 00:19 |
at the beach, on a boat, at an old
historic museum, at a hotel, country
| | 00:22 |
club, a vineyard and the list, it goes on
and on.
| | 00:27 |
And as a photographer, you really want to
kind of think about the location in a
| | 00:30 |
unique way, because it sort of sets the
scene for all of the type of photography
| | 00:34 |
that you're going to do.
So here, what I want to do is introduce
| | 00:38 |
you to our location, a fascinating spot.
It's the Santa Barbara History Museum.
| | 00:43 |
This location has some really interesting
details.
| | 00:46 |
And you know, a lot of weddings take
place here, and you'll see why, because
| | 00:49 |
there are these wonderful old adobe
buildings.
| | 00:53 |
They're beautiful inside and also out.
There also are a couple of wonderful
| | 00:57 |
courtyards with beautiful fountains, and
all of the details are just, they're
| | 01:01 |
really nice.
There's nice textures and colors and
| | 01:04 |
tones, and again, as a photographer, you
want to sort of clue in to these things.
| | 01:09 |
You want to be paying attention to those
little details, and once you find out
| | 01:12 |
where the location is, the next step, of
course, is to start to think about, what
| | 01:16 |
type of photographs do I want to capture
here?
| | 01:20 |
How can I actualize my vision in this
location?
| | 01:24 |
Well, in the next movie, we're going to
talk more about that.
| | 01:27 |
We're going to talk about The pre
visualization that we can do in regards
| | 01:29 |
to story boarding or just sketching out
some ideas.
| | 01:32 |
So let's pick up where we're leaving off
here in the next movie and continue this
| | 01:36 |
conversation as we look at and think
about our location.
| | 01:41 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The art of previsualization| 00:01 |
After you've found out the location where
you'll be capturing photographs, the next
| | 00:05 |
step is to start to think about how you
might capture photographs in that
| | 00:08 |
location.
How are you going to actualize your
| | 00:12 |
vision there?
One of the things you might want to do
| | 00:15 |
perhaps is look up the location online,
and just get familiar with what it looks
| | 00:19 |
like.
Or maybe if the location is a place where
| | 00:23 |
you can go and visit, go take a visit.
Walk around, perhaps the wedding will
| | 00:27 |
take place in a good friend's backyard.
Well, go there and think about it
| | 00:31 |
photographically.
And then what I like to do is to
| | 00:35 |
storyboard or to sketch out some ideas.
Now if you're not good at sketching,
| | 00:39 |
that's okay.
You can always write out an idea in list
| | 00:42 |
form as well.
Here, though, let's look at a few ideas
| | 00:46 |
that I've sketched out beforehand.
Some of the photographs that I want to
| | 00:49 |
make are these here.
I want to get one which is close up,
| | 00:52 |
where I have the bride pretty close up,
but I'm showing the texture of the
| | 00:56 |
background, because I know that this
location has great textured walls, so I
| | 01:00 |
want to get close.
Another photograph that I want to do is
| | 01:05 |
take advantage of the, the windows that
are there.
| | 01:08 |
I want a picture where the light is
coming in through the window behind the
| | 01:11 |
bride.
Another photograph that I want is one
| | 01:14 |
which is elegant, full frame.
You see all of the bride and her dress,
| | 01:17 |
perhaps, off to the side.
And she's somehow connected to the
| | 01:21 |
setting, she's not just in front of it
like she was here.
| | 01:24 |
Rather she's leaning against the wall, or
the column, so there's some sort of
| | 01:27 |
connection point.
Another picture I want to make has to do
| | 01:31 |
with something that's going to be there.
It's a vintage truck.
| | 01:34 |
And I know that this will be there so one
shot that I really want is the bride
| | 01:38 |
framed by the door of the truck, inside
of the truck, looking out.
| | 01:44 |
Now if you discover there's a certain
theme, or that there might be some props
| | 01:47 |
there, you want to integrate those into
your sketches or your ideas.
| | 01:52 |
You know many times, weddings have very
specific themes.
| | 01:55 |
That's one of the reasons why we have all
of these items here.
| | 01:59 |
If you know that there's a certain theme,
ask yourself, well, how can I integrate
| | 02:02 |
that into my pictures?
How could I perhaps use those items which
| | 02:06 |
bring a lot of personality and fun and
the pho-, into your photograph?
| | 02:11 |
How could I use those in my pictures.
Other sketches you made throughout are
| | 02:14 |
perhaps like this one here its just a
hallway.
| | 02:17 |
The location where i'll be photographing
has some amazing hallways so I knew that
| | 02:21 |
I.
I wanted to capture some pictures there.
| | 02:24 |
It had an overhang over most of the
hallways with beautiful, natural open
| | 02:29 |
shade light.
In those situations, you can really move
| | 02:32 |
around.
And this is an important sketch for me
| | 02:35 |
too, because it's helping me think,
perhaps I want to use a wider angle lens
| | 02:38 |
in order to capture the scene, and then
of course, I notice that there were some
| | 02:41 |
beautiful fountains.
And you know when you visit a location or
| | 02:46 |
a spot, and you're not thinking about
photography.
| | 02:49 |
You see a fountain and say, oh, that's
nice, and that's it.
| | 02:52 |
You don't think much more than that.
But as a photographer, you really want to
| | 02:56 |
study it.
Say, well there is any place to sit
| | 02:58 |
around the fountain?
How high is the fountain?
| | 03:00 |
Do I need to have a subject standing or
sitting next to it?
| | 03:02 |
Where is the light?
How can I capture that?
| | 03:05 |
And again, you want to have that intent.
And you know eventually, you'll get tired
| | 03:09 |
of sketching or storyboarding out your
ideas, and in those situations, just move
| | 03:12 |
to making a list, and here I've written
down a few ideas in list form.
| | 03:17 |
One of the ideas I wrote down is, I want
to capture images where the bride is
| | 03:21 |
fully engaged, looking at the camera,
connected.
| | 03:25 |
I also though want to capture images
where she's looking away off to the side
| | 03:29 |
or down I like those quiet moments I like
that there's sort of there's some sort of
| | 03:33 |
longing in them.
Another thing I want to do is I want to
| | 03:38 |
experiment with blur in other words
capture some images where the subjects in
| | 03:41 |
focus and perhaps a background isn't or
vice versa just experiment with that.
| | 03:48 |
Another thing that I want to do is, is
look at how you can integrate props into
| | 03:51 |
the picture.
As we mentioned earlier, there may be a
| | 03:55 |
theme or some props that you'll have at
that location.
| | 03:59 |
How are you going to work with those?
Perhaps you want to use those as
| | 04:01 |
backdrop, have them just far behind the
subject, a subtle little hint of
| | 04:04 |
something or maybe you want to have the
subject hold the prop as I do.
| | 04:09 |
I want to have her hold something in
front of her so that.
| | 04:12 |
The prop's in focus and she isn't, and
then vice versa.
| | 04:15 |
And again, with all these ideas, you just
want to start to sketch out, what is it
| | 04:18 |
that you want to capture?
And you know, here's why this step is so
| | 04:23 |
important.
If you don't take it, you'll show up at
| | 04:26 |
the wedding.
There'll be time to photograph the bride,
| | 04:29 |
and there'll be so much excitement, so
much happening, and you'll have so little
| | 04:31 |
time you'll just sort of go with the flow
and you capture what you can passively.
| | 04:36 |
Yet if you take this step it will help
you actualize your vision so that when
| | 04:39 |
everything's excited, and everything's
happening you have that short little
| | 04:43 |
slice of time.
You'll be capturing photographs that
| | 04:46 |
really mean something mean something.
It will help your photography transition
| | 04:50 |
from mm mediocre to magnificent.
Alright.
| | 04:52 |
Well now that we've taken some time to
talk about how you can previsualize a few
| | 04:56 |
shots, next what we're going to do is
we're going to go to our location the day
| | 04:59 |
of our shoot.
And when you arrive at that location the
| | 05:03 |
day of your shoot, all of your sketches,
they're tucked away.
| | 05:07 |
You have those in mind.
You want to do another pass and say,
| | 05:10 |
well, what do I have here?
What can I work with?
| | 05:13 |
How can I scout this location and start
to think about it photographically at the
| | 05:17 |
day of the event?
You know sometimes at the day of the
| | 05:21 |
event you have two minutes to do that,
other times 15.
| | 05:25 |
Take whatever you have and just do a
little bit of a walk around with camera
| | 05:28 |
in hand.
And start to think about that spot
| | 05:31 |
photographically.
Well, that's exactly what we're going to
| | 05:33 |
do in our next movie.
So I'll pick up with you in that next
| | 05:36 |
movie as we scout our location the day of
our shoot.
| | 05:40 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Scouting the location| 00:00 |
All right.
Well here we are at our location for our
| | 00:02 |
photo shoot today.
And whenever you arrive at a location,
| | 00:06 |
you always want to walk around and scout
it out.
| | 00:09 |
You want to think about the light.
Think about different areas where you can
| | 00:12 |
capture images.
Now I like to do this with camera in
| | 00:15 |
hand.
So I'm not just paying attention to the
| | 00:17 |
lights and the colors, but I can also
kind of start to see it how the camera
| | 00:19 |
sees it.
Now, sometimes, when you're photographing
| | 00:23 |
a wedding, you may have the luxury of
going to the location a week or two weeks
| | 00:26 |
beforehand.
And just walking around.
| | 00:29 |
Other times, you don't have that luxury.
So, what do you do?
| | 00:32 |
What you do is you just go for a walk
with camera in hand, and start paying
| | 00:36 |
attention to the details.
Like, right here, we're in this hallway.
| | 00:40 |
It's all covered and so we have this
beautiful open shade.
| | 00:44 |
I also noticed there's this huge area of
this this patio and it's all kind of a
| | 00:48 |
golden color.
That's going to bounce light back into
| | 00:52 |
this, this location.
So here, I can capture all sorts of types
| | 00:55 |
of images.
Also, I'm thinking about how is this a
| | 00:58 |
little bit protected, protected from the
sun, also from the wind.
| | 01:03 |
It's also not very far away.
You want to think about how long it will
| | 01:06 |
take to walk to that location.
In some locations at a wedding will be
| | 01:10 |
amazing, perhaps there's a beach, but
it's a half a mile away.
| | 01:14 |
Well you just won't have time to get
there.
| | 01:16 |
So you have to find locations that are
closer.
| | 01:18 |
Well either way, let's walk around this
spot and let's start to look at some of
| | 01:21 |
the places where we might try to make
pictures.
| | 01:24 |
Let's take a walk.
All right, so here we are at another
| | 01:28 |
location just a few steps away, yet here,
while we have some great details related
| | 01:32 |
to the theme for the wedding, it isn't
very good in regards to the light.
| | 01:37 |
Part of this scene is in shade.
Part of it is in full sun.
| | 01:41 |
It's really harsh, and so when you see
something like that, you always want to
| | 01:44 |
be asking yourself okay, right now this
won't work.
| | 01:47 |
But might it work at a different time?
Knowing where the sun is, that's it's
| | 01:50 |
going to rise up a little bit higher,
this is most likely going to be in shade.
| | 01:55 |
So I'm going to keep that in mind that if
I'm shooting perhaps a little bit later,
| | 01:57 |
this is definitely a spot that I might
want to come back to.
| | 02:02 |
Okay so here we are at another location
just outside of where we were before and
| | 02:06 |
we have this amazing old anchor I mean
this is so perfect and its so fits the
| | 02:10 |
theme of the day the only problem is that
what I'm noticing is that the sun's
| | 02:14 |
coming out and I don't think this spots
going to work.
| | 02:20 |
You know, so sometimes when you're
scouting locations, you'll find places
| | 02:23 |
that will work really well.
Other times, perhaps not.
| | 02:27 |
But you want to keep those in mind,
because you may revisit these spots.
| | 02:31 |
Here what I want to do is just keep
walking.
| | 02:33 |
I want to keep looking for other spots so
we can see if we can't find a better spot
| | 02:36 |
in order to capture some images.
So let's keep walking.
| | 02:42 |
Okay, so here, we're still outside of the
facility on this busy city street, but
| | 02:46 |
there's this little quiet corner,
photographically speaking.
| | 02:51 |
I love the colors.
These kind of cooler tones, the greens
| | 02:54 |
and the oranges, a nice texture.
And across the street is a pretty big
| | 02:58 |
white building.
That's going to act as a reflector,
| | 03:01 |
bouncing light back into this location.
So I definitely want to make a photograph
| | 03:05 |
here.
Also pay attention to the sun I know that
| | 03:07 |
this is going to be in the sun for most
of the day.
| | 03:11 |
So this is a spot that I'm going to come
back to.
| | 03:12 |
I really like it and I like it even
though you walk by this corner you
| | 03:15 |
wouldn't see much.
If you frame it what you don't include
| | 03:19 |
will make it an interesting shot.
Let's go ahead and keep walking and take
| | 03:23 |
a look at some other spots.
All right.
| | 03:27 |
After having been outside, now we're
walking into another little courtyard.
| | 03:31 |
And this one is great.
I love this old wall right here, the
| | 03:35 |
patina, all of these handmade adobe
bricks and everything.
| | 03:39 |
There's also this really big nail.
I want to hand something on that for a
| | 03:43 |
photograph.
But this is nice, and I like the light.
| | 03:46 |
The way that this looks, so definitely a
good spot for a photograph.
| | 03:49 |
And also as I look around, I notice this
other wall with all of this old yellow
| | 03:53 |
paint.
Looks like it's 100 years old.
| | 03:56 |
Again, a great spot for a photograph.
And you know, whenever you mix something
| | 04:00 |
that's historic or old or vintage with
something that's new, like a bride in an
| | 04:03 |
elegant dress, it makes for interesting
photographs.
| | 04:07 |
Also, an important part of locations is
this.
| | 04:10 |
How is the bride going to feel in that
setting?
| | 04:12 |
You know when you walk into a historic
building like this, it kind of puts you
| | 04:15 |
at ease.
It makes you reminisce and think about
| | 04:18 |
the passage of time.
And that's really important because
| | 04:21 |
that's what photography is all about.
It's capturing these small moments.
| | 04:25 |
So again, for me in these spots, these
are definitely a few places That I'm
| | 04:28 |
thinking about, I'm saying you know what,
I want to capture a few images here.
| | 04:32 |
Well, I'm sure there are other spots as
well, so let's keep walkin'.
| | 04:35 |
Here we go.
Alright, well, here we are at another
| | 04:37 |
great location, and in this case we're in
open shade and I'm a bit back, and I want
| | 04:41 |
to talk a bit about this location because
I think it's helpful To think about how
| | 04:45 |
you can shoot here.
Where I'm at right now, the wall is
| | 04:50 |
beautiful, wonderful light, but it may be
a bit dark.
| | 04:53 |
Yet if I walk towards the edge of the
shadow, you'll notice there'll be much
| | 04:57 |
more ambient light.
And you know sometimes when you're
| | 05:00 |
working with available light, you want to
pay attention to the location.
| | 05:04 |
You know, what looks interesting.
But also what are some of the variables
| | 05:07 |
in regards to lighting?
So if I photograph someone here, I'm
| | 05:10 |
obviously going to have a different
camera setting and ISO than I am back
| | 05:13 |
there.
So you just want to consider those
| | 05:16 |
things.
Alright, well now that we've walked
| | 05:19 |
through a few different locations and
we've gotten some ideas, next of course
| | 05:22 |
it's time to get shooting and starting to
put all of these ideas into practice.
| | 05:28 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. The Early Stages of the ShootGetting ready and capturing candid moments| 00:01 |
Now that we've talked a bit about vision
and about gear and all the pre-planning
| | 00:04 |
that we can do which leads up to
photographing a wedding, well, now we're
| | 00:07 |
ready.
Now is when the fun begins, when we get
| | 00:11 |
to start capturing photographs.
You know, one of the things that you want
| | 00:16 |
to do as a wedding photographer is you
want to show up early.
| | 00:18 |
So that you can document and capture
those photographs of the bride getting
| | 00:22 |
ready.
So with our shoot, that's exactly what
| | 00:24 |
we're going to do.
We're going to pickup at that moment.
| | 00:27 |
Let's check it out.
| | 00:29 |
>> (UNKNOWN).
| | 00:30 |
>> Cara, you look wonderful.
| | 00:34 |
>> Oh, thank you.
| | 00:35 |
>> And then, as you start photographing the
bride getting ready, you want to do so
| | 00:41 |
quietly.
And as I've mentioned, you want to be
| | 00:45 |
unobtrusive and you want to shoot from
the sidelines.
| | 00:48 |
Yet, at the same time, this is a perfect
opportunity to build rapport with really
| | 00:52 |
important people.
The bride, the makeup artist, maybe some
| | 00:55 |
of her other friends who are there as
well.
| | 00:58 |
This will be a nice moment though,
because you can kind of sit and not have
| | 01:00 |
to worry about anything.
| | 01:01 |
>> Yeah.
| | 01:02 |
>> You know what I mean?
| | 01:03 |
>> Yeah.
It's your rehearsal.
| | 01:05 |
>> Yeah.
| | 01:05 |
>> It's my second bridesmaid (UNKNOWN) .
| | 01:08 |
>> Yeah.
| | 01:08 |
>> (LAUGH)
| | 01:09 |
>> In this particular shoot, the bride is a
| | 01:10 |
really good friend, Cara.
It was a chance to connect with her and
| | 01:13 |
also to get to know the makeup artist a
little bit.
| | 01:16 |
You know, sometimes you'll have a
professional makeup artist.
| | 01:19 |
You want to get to know that person, so
that you two can collaborate.
| | 01:23 |
Or maybe the makeup artist is the maid of
honor.
| | 01:26 |
Well, either way, this is a great
opportunity to build rapport and to get
| | 01:29 |
to know people in kind of a simple and
quiet way.
| | 01:33 |
And part of what I'm doing, just so you
kind of have a sense, is I'm just
| | 01:36 |
going to shoot different cameras, so that
I can show different looks with different
| | 01:40 |
cameras and cycle through those and
everything.
| | 01:45 |
So, so, what you're doing is perfect.
You know, at some weddings, you may not
| | 01:48 |
have access to this particular stage of
the day and that's okay.
| | 01:52 |
Perhaps you don't know the bride very
well or maybe she wants some privacy.
| | 01:56 |
(SOUND) So, either way, whether or not
you have access to the bride getting
| | 02:00 |
ready, what you want to do is show up
early and start to document this
| | 02:04 |
important stage of the event.
| | 02:08 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Photographing the details| 00:00 |
You know, there are only so many
photographs that you'll need of the bride
| | 00:03 |
getting ready.
And for me, after having captured a few
| | 00:06 |
frames of the bride getting ready, it was
time to move on to another topic.
| | 00:11 |
What I wanted to do here was to bring the
dress outside, and then capture a
| | 00:14 |
portrait of it, and to capture some other
details as well.
| | 00:19 |
And if you're doing this on the day of a
wedding, this may be your only
| | 00:22 |
opportunity to photograph the dress.
So, let's jump to our footage when we
| | 00:26 |
started to work on some other details of
this event.
| | 00:30 |
Here, we're going to talk a little bit
about the importance of capturing those
| | 00:33 |
detail shots.
As we mentioned in one of the previous
| | 00:37 |
installments in this series, details are
so important with weddings because they
| | 00:41 |
help tell more of the story of this
important day.
| | 00:45 |
We'll start off by focusing in on the
wedding dress.
| | 00:48 |
You know, the wedding dress is really
important.
| | 00:50 |
You want to document it, but you also
want to try to create a quote, portrait
| | 00:52 |
of it.
In other words, put the dress in a nice
| | 00:56 |
location.
And then, use a lens that you might use
| | 00:59 |
to capture a portrait, perhaps a normal
focal length lens like a 50 or maybe a
| | 01:03 |
70.
You don't want to use a wide-angle lens
| | 01:06 |
and get too close, because that will
distort the dress and it won't look very
| | 01:10 |
flattering.
So, here, I'm going to capture a few
| | 01:12 |
portraits of the dress.
One of the things I'm thinking about with
| | 01:16 |
this is that I want to get close for a
few pictures.
| | 01:20 |
I want to make sure I adjust and focus in
on the dress itself, but I also want to
| | 01:23 |
back up a little bit.
And I'm going to back up, so I can
| | 01:26 |
include the light, a little bit of the
window over there.
| | 01:29 |
This is more of an environmental
portrait.
| | 01:32 |
And so, again, I'll just capture a few of
those frames.
| | 01:34 |
And, you know, earlier today, I captured
a couple other detail shots.
| | 01:39 |
I used a, a macro lens to get in really
close.
| | 01:42 |
Those are great lenses for details.
In this case, I worked with photographing
| | 01:47 |
the shoes.
Also, a heart shape chalk sign that had
| | 01:49 |
some, some nice words written on it.
And the rings, and, and a little
| | 01:53 |
headpiece.
And again, as you're focusing in on the
| | 01:56 |
details, you want to capture those, so
that you can tell more of the story of
| | 01:59 |
this important day.
| | 02:02 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Setting the tone with a conversational approach| 00:00 |
(SOUND).
| | 00:04 |
Let me get on this side.
You know, for me before I photograph
| | 00:09 |
someone, I always get a little bit
nervous and anxious.
| | 00:13 |
And one of the things that you can do if
that happens to you, is you can channel
| | 00:16 |
that.
And one of the ways that you can channel
| | 00:18 |
that is that you can focus in on how the
person that you might be photographing
| | 00:22 |
might be nervous or anxious as well.
You know when we point a camera at
| | 00:27 |
someone, you can, that person can easily
become self conscious, and knowing that
| | 00:30 |
can really help you kind of focus in on
how you can break the ice and make that
| | 00:34 |
connection, to sort of get rid of that
nervousness or anxiety.
| | 00:40 |
When it comes to photographing a bride,
this is really, really important.
| | 00:44 |
Now there are 3 different scenarios where
you might photograph a bride.
| | 00:47 |
It might be before the ceremony, or after
the ceremony, or perhaps on a different
| | 00:51 |
day.
Let's talk about those different
| | 00:53 |
scenarios, and how you can build rapport
and break the ice, and kind of get over
| | 00:57 |
that nervousness in those three different
scenarios.
| | 01:00 |
I love it, I love it.
So fun.
| | 01:06 |
Well if it's before the ceremony, this is
a moment that's really exciting.
| | 01:11 |
This is so cool.
You know the bride has just gotten ready
| | 01:14 |
and she is so excited, and here it's
really appropriate to say wow, you look
| | 01:19 |
stunning, this is going to be an amazing
day.
| | 01:24 |
You want to stay really positive.
Now, if you noticed anything that,
| | 01:27 |
perhaps, didn't turn out very well, stay
away from that.
| | 01:30 |
Stay away from stressful topics.
If you did notice that the cake was there
| | 01:34 |
and it looked beautiful mention that.
Wow, I saw the cake, it looks delicious,
| | 01:38 |
the flowers are wonderful, this is going
to be an amazing day.
| | 01:42 |
Again, make that focus really positive.
Alright well what about if you're
| | 01:47 |
photographing the bride after the
ceremony.
| | 01:49 |
Well after the ceremony, and this is kind
of one of those catch your breath
| | 01:52 |
moments.
Wow.
| | 01:54 |
It's official.
You're here.
| | 01:56 |
Again, start with comments like that.
I can't believe this is really here.
| | 02:00 |
It's official.
You are married.
| | 02:01 |
And as you walk with the bride and groom
and perhaps kind of walk the bride to the
| | 02:05 |
side, you want to comment something that
sort of reflects back on the ceremony.
| | 02:10 |
In other words, that, that song that your
sister sang during the ceremony, that was
| | 02:14 |
so beautiful.
Make some specific comments, kind of
| | 02:18 |
savor the moment that you're in there,
the ceremony and also the moment just
| | 02:22 |
after it.
What about the scenarios, like with our
| | 02:25 |
photoshoot, where we're doing a
editorial, or commercial shoot, or maybe
| | 02:28 |
it's for portfolio images, or maybe
you're just practicing photographing a
| | 02:31 |
bride, and the bride is your sister
wearing here dress.
| | 02:35 |
Well what do you say after she's gotten
ready?
| | 02:38 |
Well what you say is, wow, you look
great, and, thank you so much for your
| | 02:41 |
time, I really appreciate this.
Express some gratitude.
| | 02:44 |
Then, move beyond that.
Talk about something else.
| | 02:47 |
Say, well, how was your weekend?
Again, get that conversation going in a
| | 02:51 |
positive way, because what you want to do
is you want to kind of get rid of some of
| | 02:54 |
that self-consciousness.
You want to get past that, make that
| | 02:58 |
connection so that you can make some good
photographs.
| | 03:02 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Crafting the Bridal PortraitUsing natural locations| 00:00 |
>> That's nice.
| | 00:00 |
>> That sounds really great.
| | 00:02 |
>> Yeah.
| | 00:02 |
>> Yeah.
| | 00:02 |
>> Yeah.
Your parents must be so happy that you're
| | 00:04 |
doing it there.
| | 00:06 |
>> Well after having made that initial
connection, after having built some
| | 00:09 |
rapport, one of the things that I like to
do is just start capturing images right
| | 00:12 |
away.
You know, you can begin where you are,
| | 00:15 |
and that's what I did with this
particular shoot.
| | 00:18 |
The bride had gotten ready And we were in
the room where she had gotten ready, and
| | 00:22 |
I just started capturing some different
frames.
| | 00:25 |
There was a fascinating old fireplace and
some interesting candelabras and whatnot.
| | 00:30 |
And again, I was just trying to capture
some images right where we were.
| | 00:33 |
You know, as a photographer, sometimes
you'll have these shots that you know
| | 00:36 |
that you want to capture.
Perhaps they're off in some other area,
| | 00:40 |
and you know that you're going to need to
walk to that area.
| | 00:43 |
But rather than walk in there and then
taking the pictures, sometimes it's
| | 00:47 |
helpful to just begin capturing those
photographs so that you almost naturally
| | 00:50 |
role into the photographic stage of the
event.
| | 00:54 |
Here we are, let's take some photographs.
Now you may not have the luxury of having
| | 00:58 |
a beautiful room like we had here.
If you don't, that's okay.
| | 01:02 |
See if there's some pictures that you
could make.
| | 01:04 |
And even if they aren't very good that's
fine.
| | 01:07 |
Sometimes you have to create those
transitional photographs, in other words
| | 01:11 |
the ones where the bride is just sort of
getting her picture being made, and then
| | 01:15 |
of course you can move and walk to other
locations as well.
| | 01:20 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with window light| 00:00 |
(SOUND).
| | 00:06 |
Then, I'll trade spots with you, I'll
have you stand over here, and I'll stand
| | 00:09 |
in the doorway.
One of the great ways that you can
| | 00:12 |
capture compelling bridal portraits is by
using window or door light.
| | 00:17 |
You know, window light and door light has
been used for centuries.
| | 00:21 |
It's been used by photographers and
before that, by painters.
| | 00:24 |
And the reason is, is because it has a
really distinct, soft and flattering
| | 00:28 |
look.
And so here, at this particular shoot, we
| | 00:31 |
started in a location where the bride had
gotten ready.
| | 00:35 |
And when I scouted the location
beforehand, I noticed some beautiful
| | 00:38 |
windows and doors and knew that I wanted
to take advantage of those.
| | 00:43 |
And as you do that, you really want to
think about the quality of the window
| | 00:46 |
light.
Sometimes, you have window light which is
| | 00:49 |
non-directional.
In other words, the sun isn't shining
| | 00:51 |
right into the window.
In those situations, you can really work
| | 00:55 |
with that.
You can position the bride so that
| | 00:57 |
they're facing the window, so that the
light is sort of coming from the front or
| | 01:00 |
you can have them off to the side, so the
light's coming from one side.
| | 01:05 |
You can also capture some other images.
Like in this particular case, I asked the
| | 01:10 |
bride to sit down with her back to the
window, so that it's back-lighting her.
| | 01:15 |
At one moment, I notice that the light
was too harsh, it was too directional, so
| | 01:19 |
I asked my assistant, Shawn, to go
outside and diffuse that.
| | 01:23 |
And this was the one time on this shoot
that I modified the light, I just wanted
| | 01:26 |
to sort of soften that.
So, I used a little diffusion panel to do
| | 01:30 |
that.
Now, if you don't have a diffusion panel,
| | 01:33 |
you can also do something like use a
piece of cardboard just to block the
| | 01:37 |
light, so it's not quite so harsh or
directional.
| | 01:41 |
Now, what about working with door light?
Well, in a sense, a door is just like a
| | 01:45 |
window, but often, it's bigger.
And when you have a bigger light source,
| | 01:49 |
like a door, you can usually step back a
little bit and perhaps capture more of
| | 01:53 |
the subject, because you can include more
of that light coming in.
| | 01:59 |
And with this type of light again, you
can position the bride in different ways.
| | 02:03 |
Leaning against the door, so she's back
lit or in other ways as well.
| | 02:07 |
So, as you seek to create compelling and
really interesting bridal portraits, pay
| | 02:11 |
attention to those doors and windows.
And pay attention to the light that's
| | 02:16 |
coming through those.
Because one of the things that I have
| | 02:20 |
found is when I'm photographing a bride
in all sorts of different scenarios, even
| | 02:24 |
if the location isn't scenic and
beautiful, if you have a window, you can
| | 02:28 |
make beautiful photographs.
| | 02:32 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with open shade| 00:01 |
In this course, our focus is on how we
can use natural and available light in
| | 00:04 |
order to create strong and interesting
bridal portraits.
| | 00:08 |
And here, we're going to focus in on
another really important type of light,
| | 00:11 |
and that is outdoor shade.
Outdoor shade allows you to capture
| | 00:15 |
wonderful portraits, and you can almost
find this type of light anywhere.
| | 00:20 |
All that you need to do is look for those
situations where there's something that's
| | 00:24 |
creating shade, that's blocking the sun,
perhaps it's a tree, or maybe an
| | 00:27 |
overhang.
And why this light is nice is because
| | 00:32 |
it's really soft.
It's not harsh, there's no direct sun
| | 00:35 |
coming onto the bride.
Another thing that you want to keep in
| | 00:39 |
mind when you're looking for good open
shade is you want to look for something
| | 00:42 |
which might bounce light back into the
shade.
| | 00:46 |
In our particular situation, there were
some nice warm tones.
| | 00:50 |
There also was some sand-colored ground.
That's going to bounce some nice warm
| | 00:54 |
light back towards the shaded areas.
So after having captured some images
| | 00:59 |
inside where the bride had gotten ready,
I knew it was time to go outside and to
| | 01:02 |
try to find some open shade.
And you know at this stage of the shoot,
| | 01:07 |
it's really important to provide some
authentic feedback.
| | 01:11 |
In other words, this is a time when
you're sort of stepping into the light.
| | 01:14 |
So whenever you transition to a new
location for the shoot, you kind of want
| | 01:17 |
to walk the bride through that.
You want to encourage her and say, wow
| | 01:21 |
you look great.
What a beautiful day.
| | 01:24 |
Some of the images that I wanted to
capture were just with the wall, outside
| | 01:27 |
of the building where she had gotten
ready.
| | 01:31 |
Lots of wonderful texture there So I
wanted her to stand next to the wall or
| | 01:34 |
with her back to the wall to just capture
some images in that type of light.
| | 01:40 |
And again, when you're working with that
type of light, it really allows you to
| | 01:43 |
move around and to capture different
types of photographs because you have
| | 01:47 |
this flexibility.
In other words, it's not as if the
| | 01:50 |
subject is going to move and all of a
sudden the picture will be bad.
| | 01:54 |
Rather it can sort of breathe and move
and you can have them change positions or
| | 01:58 |
postures in order to capture different
types of photographs.
| | 02:03 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sitting versus standing| 00:01 |
As a photographer, it's often exciting to
make photographs.
| | 00:05 |
And you get caught up in the moment, in
the overall flow of the event.
| | 00:09 |
Yet, one of the things that you have to
do is you always have to keep the bride
| | 00:12 |
in mind.
Often, the bride might be wearing high
| | 00:15 |
heel shoes that perhaps aren't very
comfortable.
| | 00:18 |
So, as you progress through your shoot,
to the different phases or stages of
| | 00:22 |
whatever it is.
You want to think about how you can
| | 00:25 |
capture some images with the bride
standing and standing tall?
| | 00:28 |
Those nice elegant photographs.
Yet, you always want to look for those
| | 00:32 |
moments where you can have the bride sit
down.
| | 00:35 |
Now, this isn't just to create different
types of photographs.
| | 00:38 |
Sometimes, the photographs of a bride
sitting won't be any good at all, that's
| | 00:41 |
fine.
But it's your chance to give the bride a
| | 00:44 |
break.
Yet, you don't need to call the break
| | 00:46 |
out.
Rather, say, let's try some photographs
| | 00:49 |
in this chair, sit down.
They can kind of sit down and relax for a
| | 00:52 |
moment.
So, if you could maybe just sit down,
| | 00:56 |
sort of right in the middle of it, that
would be great.
| | 01:03 |
This dress looks phenomenal.
You'll notice that their expressions will
| | 01:09 |
change, their posture will change.
Often though, you can capture some really
| | 01:13 |
compelling pictures in these ways.
On our particular shoot, one of the
| | 01:16 |
things that I wanted to do inside of that
building where the bride got ready was
| | 01:19 |
have her sit on the floor.
So, I set down a little fleece blanket,
| | 01:23 |
and had her get down on the floor, and
had her dress all the way around her.
| | 01:27 |
Because I like pictures like that with
the dress surrounding the bride.
| | 01:32 |
In other situations, I had her sit down
on a comfortable chair that was really
| | 01:36 |
elegant.
Again, when you're thinking about where
| | 01:39 |
to sit, you want it to be fitting.
You wouldn't want her to sit on a plastic
| | 01:42 |
chair if you could see the plastic chair.
Sometimes though, you could position her
| | 01:46 |
and the dress, so that it's covering up
the chair and you don't see it at all.
| | 01:50 |
You can just get it in close and capture
a nice portrait.
| | 01:54 |
Still at other times, perhaps, if you're
walking to different locations, you may
| | 01:57 |
see a nice bench or perhaps something
that's there at the location.
| | 02:02 |
We'll take advantage of those spots where
you can have the bride sit.
| | 02:05 |
One, because it can help you capture
different type of pictures.
| | 02:09 |
And two, because it can help the bride
catch her breath, so that she can relax a
| | 02:13 |
little bit.
And sometimes, when someone relaxes, you
| | 02:16 |
can capture better portraits, perhaps in
that moment or maybe in the moment just
| | 02:20 |
after she's been sitting down.
| | 02:23 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with poses, posture, and poise| 00:00 |
In photography, and especially in
portraiture, there always are
| | 00:03 |
conversations about posing.
You can look up tips about how to have
| | 00:07 |
someone pose in order to create a
flattering image.
| | 00:11 |
Well, I've never really been comfortable
with that language, and here is why.
| | 00:15 |
Let's say in acting, if someone takes on
a pose, in a sense, they pose like
| | 00:18 |
they're confused, maybe they'll go like
this.
| | 00:22 |
But there won't be much feeling in that,
because in a sense, if you're posing
| | 00:25 |
you're sort of faking it.
So, I like to think of it more like a
| | 00:29 |
poise and, and possibility and feeling.
How do you capture those images that have
| | 00:34 |
that, how do you interact with a subject,
so that you can create those images that
| | 00:37 |
have that sense of presence.
And also, how you can sort of direct them
| | 00:42 |
in order to move.
When it comes to directorial styles,
| | 00:46 |
there's so many different ways to do
this.
| | 00:49 |
In order to make a little bit of a
comparison, let's compare this, for
| | 00:52 |
example, to coaching.
Let's say, a soccer coach.
| | 00:56 |
There are some soccer coaches who
communicate with their team beforehand at
| | 00:59 |
the practices.
They tell them everything that they need
| | 01:02 |
to know.
Then, at the game, the coach is quite and
| | 01:05 |
on the sidelines.
Another coach perhaps, communicates with
| | 01:08 |
his team, what they need to know.
Then, at the game is ranting and raving
| | 01:12 |
and shouting and really trying to rally
the team.
| | 01:15 |
Now, both communication styles, both
coaching styles work, yet they're just
| | 01:19 |
different.
And when it comes to photography, I like
| | 01:22 |
to think of that in the same way.
As a director, really my style is like
| | 01:27 |
the former coach, the one who's a little
bit quiet.
| | 01:30 |
When I capture images, I am, I am pretty
quite, I'm giving some feedback, but I'm
| | 01:34 |
not very boisterous.
Therefore, what I know I need to do is
| | 01:38 |
communicate a lot beforehand.
And that's what I did on this particular
| | 01:43 |
shoot.
Cara and I talked about how I capture
| | 01:45 |
images and how we can collaborate and
work together.
| | 01:49 |
And you want to do that with your bride.
In other words, one of the things I said
| | 01:53 |
to Cara is that it's really helpful if
you just give me a lot of different
| | 01:56 |
expressions or looks, if you move a lot.
And you'll see her doing that throughout
| | 02:01 |
the shoot.
I'll capture the image.
| | 02:03 |
And then, she'll move and move and move
again.
| | 02:05 |
And it was almost like she was moving too
much.
| | 02:07 |
So, some of the feedback that I needed to
give was to wait, wait that's perfect
| | 02:10 |
hold that right there.
And then, I would capture the image.
| | 02:14 |
Other times you may give directions by
using your hands, say, move your
| | 02:17 |
shoulders this way a little bit or
perhaps stand that way.
| | 02:22 |
Other times, you can model behavior.
You can walk into that spot yourself and
| | 02:26 |
say, well, stand here and hold your hands
in front of you like this.
| | 02:31 |
And so, as you're thinking about how you
can direct the bride, what you want to do
| | 02:35 |
is keep a couple of things in mind.
One, what you're trying to do isn't pose.
| | 02:41 |
You don't want something which is fake.
Rather, you want something which is
| | 02:44 |
authentic, right?
Authenticity always wins.
| | 02:47 |
Next, you want to communicate a lot
beforehand.
| | 02:50 |
You want to talk about the type of
pictures that you might want to make.
| | 02:53 |
I want to capture some of those quiet
still photographs, when we get to the
| | 02:56 |
bridal portraits.
So, maybe what we can do is go to this
| | 02:59 |
one spot by a fountain, and you can stand
there really still.
| | 03:03 |
So then, on the day of the event, you
already kind of know how you're going to
| | 03:06 |
work in that situation.
Now, sometimes though, you may not have
| | 03:10 |
the luxury of talking about things
beforehand.
| | 03:13 |
Well then, what you might need to do is
on that moment or on the day of the
| | 03:16 |
event, during that moment, you just talk
through it and give some directorial
| | 03:19 |
feedback.
And know that whatever your own authentic
| | 03:24 |
voice is, that's okay, whether it's a bit
more talkative or a bit more quiet.
| | 03:29 |
Yet, most importantly, give some feedback
so that you can capture those images
| | 03:33 |
which have feeling.
| | 03:35 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The importance of authentic eye contact| 00:00 |
Here I want to continue our conversation
about directorial style, and about how we
| | 00:03 |
can create good photographs of the bride.
And in particular I want to focus in on
| | 00:08 |
eye contact you know, in portraits what
we really want to do is create this
| | 00:12 |
photograph where the subject is engaged
where.
| | 00:16 |
Really making that connection.
And so, eye contact is really important.
| | 00:21 |
Yet one of the things that's interesting,
is that photography is kind of like a
| | 00:24 |
heightened conversation.
You're working with the subject and as a
| | 00:27 |
photographer, when you have your camera
up to your eye, it's kind of exciting.
| | 00:32 |
It's like People watching, and there you
are focused in on the subject.
| | 00:36 |
Yet for the person being photographed,
they're, they're returning your gaze, but
| | 00:40 |
often it can almost be like a stare down.
They can be having too much eye contact,
| | 00:45 |
so eventually itlooks insincere.
In comparison, if it were a conversation,
| | 00:49 |
if you and I were talking, eventually I
would look away and think about
| | 00:52 |
something, and then look back and maybe
make a point.
| | 00:56 |
And so it wouldn't be a constant eye
contact.
| | 01:00 |
And so when you're capturing photographs,
you really have to keep that in mind.
| | 01:03 |
Especially if the bride's a little bit
self conscious, and you can see that in
| | 01:06 |
her eyes.
We'll have her take a breath, and have
| | 01:09 |
her look away.
And often times you can capture these
| | 01:13 |
really beautiful, and sometimes even
poetic, images.
| | 01:17 |
Or sometimes you can just ask her to
close her eyes.
| | 01:20 |
And again, ask her to close her eyes and
the picture may not be great, but it just
| | 01:24 |
sort of gives her a chance to have a
little bit of a break, so she's not
| | 01:27 |
always looking at the camera.
Remember, for you as a photographer, the
| | 01:33 |
experience is completely different than
you as the person being photographed.
| | 01:37 |
You have to put yourself in her shoes and
think about that.
| | 01:41 |
And by taking those little breaks and by
directing her.
| | 01:43 |
Saying hey, look over at the flowers
there, or look up at the sky.
| | 01:47 |
One, she's going to notice something
different.
| | 01:50 |
Two, it's going to give her a little bit
of a break.
| | 01:53 |
Three, it's going to help you capture
some really beautiful images potentially,
| | 01:57 |
and then four, when she looks back, many
times the connection that will be made
| | 02:01 |
with you and with the camera will be that
much more profound.
| | 02:07 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using the bouquet in the shoot| 00:00 |
We're going to continue our conversation
about how we can direct and work with a
| | 00:03 |
bride in order to create natural,
authentic and beautiful photographs.
| | 00:08 |
And what I want to focus in on here is
how we can work with the hands and the
| | 00:12 |
arms.
You know, a lotta times when we capture
| | 00:15 |
someone's photograph, they don't know
what to do with their hands.
| | 00:19 |
You say well, just put your hands in a
natural position, and then all of the
| | 00:21 |
sudden, you don't really know what
natural is.
| | 00:24 |
Yet one of the things that you can do
with a bride, is integrate the bouquet
| | 00:27 |
into the shots.
If someone's looking a little bit awkward
| | 00:31 |
with their hands give them a bouquet and
the problem is solved.
| | 00:35 |
And obviously it's an important part of
the day, and you want to capture that,
| | 00:38 |
the beauty of the bouquet.
There are many ways that you can get
| | 00:41 |
creative with this.
You can have the bride hold the bouquet
| | 00:44 |
in front of her and have the bouquet in
focus and the bride out of focus.
| | 00:48 |
You can also change up your composition,
or have her hold the bouquet off to the
| | 00:52 |
side.
Another thing that you can do is you can
| | 00:54 |
work with a single flower although
sometimes that may mean finding a single
| | 00:58 |
flower on location and pulling that out
of an arrangement.
| | 01:03 |
And sometimes by just having one flower,
it can create a really elegant and sort
| | 01:06 |
of distinguished look.
And as you do this, as you work with the
| | 01:10 |
hands and the arms and as you integrate
in the bouquet, you want to keep in mind
| | 01:14 |
you're using the bouquet and capturing
that because of the personality and the
| | 01:17 |
colors and the natural beauty of it.
But also because it can help put the
| | 01:23 |
bride at ease.
It can give her something to do, some way
| | 01:26 |
to position or to hold her arms or her
hands.
| | 01:30 |
Now inevitably, as you're working with
directing the bride, you will come up
| | 01:34 |
with a posture or position that doesn't
work.
| | 01:37 |
One of the things I tried on my shoot was
to have Kara put her hands behind ehr
| | 01:40 |
back.
I didn't know what to try, so I said
| | 01:43 |
we'll try that.
And you know, as I reviewed the
| | 01:46 |
photograph, I don't think it looked very
flattering or very good.
| | 01:49 |
And if you see that when you're capturing
the image, just sort of roll past it.
| | 01:54 |
You never want to call it out like woah,
woah, let's not do that.
| | 01:57 |
Rather, say oh, great okay, well let's
try this, and you keep experimenting.
| | 02:02 |
One of the things that you do as a
wedding photographer is that you really
| | 02:06 |
try out different ideas.
And by trying out different ideas, one,
| | 02:10 |
what it does, is it gets the bride
moving, helps you capture different type
| | 02:13 |
of images.
And eventually, it leads you up to those
| | 02:17 |
photographs which really stand out from
the rest.
| | 02:20 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with multidirectional natural light| 00:00 |
As we continue to think and talk about
how we can direct the bride, here we're
| | 00:03 |
going to just talk about another type of
lighting that we can use in order to try
| | 00:07 |
to capture flattering and interesting
pictures.
| | 00:11 |
In particular, we're going to talk about
mixed light, in other words, that light
| | 00:14 |
where perhaps you have two different
types of light which are coming together.
| | 00:18 |
There was one moment in our shoot when I
was photographing Kara in this overhang
| | 00:21 |
and that was beautiful open shades light.
Yet the background I didn't really like.
| | 00:27 |
It was dark.
It also was a little bit uninteresting.
| | 00:30 |
>> Is that okay?
| | 00:33 |
>> Yeah that's awesome.
| | 00:35 |
And then Cara what I'm going to have you
do is turn your shoulders kind of towards
| | 00:37 |
me.
Yeah, like that.
| | 00:38 |
That's really nice.
So I just went around to the other side
| | 00:41 |
of her and all of the sudden, there it
was.
| | 00:44 |
The light was fantastic.
And it was mixed in the sense that it was
| | 00:49 |
traditional open outdoor shade.
There was an overhang, there was no
| | 00:52 |
direct sun.
There were some nice Light being
| | 00:55 |
reflected back into the scene.
But rather than having a dark and sort of
| | 00:58 |
uninteresting background, all of a
sudden, there was some light back there.
| | 01:02 |
And it just created this really
beautiful, soft look.
| | 01:07 |
One of the reasons why I love capturing
images with natural and available light
| | 01:10 |
is because you make these discoveries.
Often, when you're working with a bride,
| | 01:15 |
you're walking to different locations,
trying out different ideas, and all of a
| | 01:19 |
sudden, you see it.
You see those different qualities really
| | 01:23 |
come together.
And what's interesting about this is that
| | 01:26 |
certain people look good in certain types
of light.
| | 01:30 |
Also, certain dresses look good in
certain types of light.
| | 01:33 |
That's one of the fun things about
photography.
| | 01:35 |
There is no formula.
You can't go back to that spot and
| | 01:38 |
capture a great image of another bride
there.
| | 01:41 |
It might not work.
Rather, you're sort of paying attention
| | 01:44 |
to all of these different dimensions as
you're directing the bride, giving her
| | 01:47 |
some feedback, trying out some different
things.
| | 01:50 |
You're paying attention to light, to, to
the gesture, to that moment, to feeling,
| | 01:54 |
and trying to bring all of those things
together in order to capture and image
| | 01:58 |
which is authentic, natural and full of
life.
| | 02:03 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Going Beyond the Basic Bridal PortraitCapturing images that are quirky and fun| 00:00 |
One of the things that's true about most
weddings is that they are incredibly fun
| | 00:04 |
and exciting.
Weddings are a celebration, and when
| | 00:08 |
you're capturing portraits of a bride,
you want to keep that in mind.
| | 00:12 |
You may want to ask yourself, well, how
can I move beyond some of those
| | 00:15 |
traditional photographs and capture
something which is quirky or fun.
| | 00:20 |
For example, let's say you're
photographing a wedding, at an old ranch.
| | 00:24 |
And you notice that there is an old
vintage boat sitting there, and it's been
| | 00:27 |
painted, and it's beautiful.
Well, why not ask the bride to step into
| | 00:31 |
it, and to capture some portraits of her
there.
| | 00:34 |
You know, there's some unique pictures
that you can make on that wedding day.
| | 00:38 |
At our shoot, it wasn't the wedding day,
but still our bride, she was done up and
| | 00:42 |
she looked stunning.
And I had this vision of capturing some
| | 00:46 |
photographs of her on top of this wine
barrel that I had seen.
| | 00:51 |
Now, if I had been there any other day
and asked Cara to climb up on that wine
| | 00:54 |
barrel, she wouldn't have done it.
But you know, at a shoot like this or
| | 00:58 |
even more so at a wedding, if someone is
all done up, they're wearing their
| | 01:01 |
wedding dress and you ask them to try
something out, like to step into a boat
| | 01:04 |
or to do something creative, they'll say,
well, why not?
| | 01:10 |
Of course.
Let's try that.
| | 01:11 |
Let's have some fun.
Now, of course, you have to figure out
| | 01:13 |
what's appropriate for the bride and the
type of photography that you want to
| | 01:17 |
create.
Yet, what I wanted to do on this shoot,
| | 01:20 |
is I want to capture an image that was
different, that was quirky and fun.
| | 01:24 |
So, I asked Cara to climb up this ladder,
and there she was, bravely standing on
| | 01:27 |
top of the wine barrel.
And what I was looking to do was to
| | 01:31 |
capture something unique.
Cara, this is so cool.
| | 01:42 |
Let's bring the flowers in.
I think the flowers will just seal the
| | 01:45 |
deal.
Will you block the sunshine on this one
| | 01:49 |
even?
Yeah.
| | 01:51 |
(NOISE) Trade cameras with you.
Yeah, just like that, just like that Cara
| | 01:59 |
.
As a photographer who is capturing
| | 02:03 |
pictures of a bride, you're adding to
this huge volume of photography that's
| | 02:07 |
been done at bridal portraiture.
And somehow, someway, you want to set
| | 02:13 |
yourself apart.
One of the ways that you can do that is
| | 02:17 |
by having a bit of fun.
So, at the next wedding that you're at or
| | 02:20 |
when you're working with a bride, just
ask yourself, what can I do here to
| | 02:23 |
capture something that's fun or
interesting?
| | 02:27 |
Sometimes the solution will be something
small.
| | 02:29 |
Other times, it might be a bit more
elaborate like having your bride.
| | 02:32 |
Stand on top of a wine barrel, as we did
at this particular shoot.
| | 02:37 |
>> Oh gosh, I was having to flinch.
| | 02:38 |
>> Thank you, Cara.
| | 02:39 |
>> (LAUGH) That's alright.
| | 02:42 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Introducing props| 00:01 |
Here, I want to introduce the topic of
working with props.
| | 00:04 |
You know, when you're capturing a
portrait of bride, often integrating a
| | 00:07 |
prop into the photograph can really help
you out for a number of different
| | 00:10 |
reasons.
For starters, if someone's a bit self
| | 00:14 |
conscious, if you hand them a prop like
an old vintage camera, all of a sudden
| | 00:17 |
the focus is shifted.
Rather than them being self-conscious and
| | 00:21 |
focused on their picture being made,
they're focused on the prop, kind of
| | 00:24 |
checking it out.
They can sort of play the part.
| | 00:28 |
So, props help to put people at ease.
Another reason why you might want to
| | 00:32 |
integrate props into your photographs is
because they help you tell a certain part
| | 00:37 |
of the story.
You know, often at weddings, you'll find
| | 00:41 |
different types of props that are part of
the theme of that particular day.
| | 00:45 |
At our shoot, our theme was vintage
nautical.
| | 00:48 |
And so, we had these different props
which we had picked up at thrift stores,
| | 00:52 |
or borrowed from friends, or a few that
we hand made.
| | 00:55 |
And you'll find these at different types
of weddings, whether the wedding is
| | 00:58 |
really formal, or perhaps something
that's a do-it-yourself wedding.
| | 01:03 |
Again, those props have been thought
through.
| | 01:05 |
So, it might help to tell the story of
that day.
| | 01:08 |
And on our particular shoot, we used a
few different props, and what I want to
| | 01:11 |
do is sort of walk through those to get
you thinking about how you might
| | 01:15 |
integrate these into your bridal
portraits.
| | 01:19 |
One of the ones that I want to point out
first is the life ring that's behind me,
| | 01:22 |
here.
Now, that life ring was great.
| | 01:25 |
It's really graphic in regards to kind of
creating an interesting composition and
| | 01:28 |
it's a lot of fun.
One of the things that I like about this
| | 01:31 |
prop is it created composition or a
frame.
| | 01:34 |
It's a frame within a frame.
You can do that by using an old vintage
| | 01:37 |
frame or just something that's sort of
creates a shape in the photograph.
| | 01:42 |
Another prop that we used was an old
suitcase.
| | 01:45 |
It sort of had this narrative here of
taking this trip or this adventure, of
| | 01:48 |
going somewhere.
So, some props give you certain sort of
| | 01:52 |
themes.
Other ones are just interesting to look
| | 01:56 |
at.
Another prop that we integrated into the
| | 01:58 |
shoot were these little handmade chalk
signs where we drew out some words and
| | 02:02 |
some little details on the chalk signs.
And whenever you have something which has
| | 02:08 |
words or letters, the viewer is always
going to go towards that and really read
| | 02:12 |
that.
It also added a bit of spark into the
| | 02:16 |
overall shoot.
In other words, it kind of added some
| | 02:19 |
buoyancy.
Because sometimes, when you're having
| | 02:22 |
your photograph made, you just don't know
what to do, you don't know how to stand
| | 02:26 |
or, or how to move.
But by handing someone something, it can
| | 02:30 |
often add that extra little element and
help you create something creative or
| | 02:33 |
interesting.
Well, there obviously were other props
| | 02:37 |
that we worked with as well.
So, lets continue to talk about how we
| | 02:41 |
can integrate props into our photographs
and lets do that in the next movie.
| | 02:45 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with props| 00:01 |
Here, let's just continue to talk about
how we can work with props.
| | 00:04 |
And one of the things that you might
want to consider is how subtle the prop
| | 00:07 |
is or how it fits into the overall scene.
What I mean by that is there were some
| | 00:12 |
props that we worked with that were
really subtle, perhaps like the driftwood
| | 00:15 |
heart.
And you know, those nice subtle details
| | 00:19 |
sometimes work.
And then I tried to work with a different
| | 00:22 |
prop, a sailboat.
It just has this really nice beautiful
| | 00:25 |
look.
Yet, as a bride, I picked it up but as I
| | 00:28 |
handed it to her, I realized this just
won't work.
| | 00:31 |
I tried to capture a few photographs, but
they were all a little bit awkward.
| | 00:36 |
I think because of the scale of the size
of this particular prop and holding it,
| | 00:40 |
it just didn't work.
And if you encounter that as you're
| | 00:44 |
capturing images, that's okay.
Let go of it and try to move on to
| | 00:48 |
something else.
Still, there are other ways that you can
| | 00:51 |
integrate props into your pictures which
are, perhaps, even more subtle.
| | 00:55 |
Rather than having someone interact with
something and pick it up and hold it,
| | 00:58 |
maybe it becomes a bit more of the
background.
| | 01:02 |
For example, there was this one area,
where there were a couple of oars and a
| | 01:05 |
driftwood sign.
I thought it was really beautiful.
| | 01:09 |
Just having the bride stand next to that,
or around that, brought in those little
| | 01:13 |
details or that element of this
particular story.
| | 01:18 |
And integrating props into your shots
either in really dramatic ways or subtle
| | 01:22 |
ways, well, they both work.
And then as I was experimenting with
| | 01:26 |
different sort of handmade props and
these different props that we had.
| | 01:30 |
There was this one that I wanted to try
which was this really nice sort of
| | 01:33 |
delicate umbrella.
Now you'll often see these in different
| | 01:37 |
bridal or wedding photographs.
So in my mind I thought, well this is
| | 01:41 |
going to be a little bit cliche, but I'm
going to try it anyway.
| | 01:44 |
Once Cara opened up the umbrella and I
had it in the shot I realized oh my gosh
| | 01:48 |
this is amazing.
I get it, I now know why these are often
| | 01:52 |
integrated into bridal photo shoots.
And the reason is, is because of the
| | 01:57 |
delicate nature of the umbrella, just had
a really nice beauty about it, but also,
| | 02:02 |
it was a portable backdrop.
In other words, it blocked out what was
| | 02:06 |
behind the bride.
In other words, the photographs that I
| | 02:09 |
captured here at this location, they
could have been captured anywhere, in a
| | 02:13 |
very un-scenic and uninteresting
location.
| | 02:17 |
This was one of those props that made me
think, okay, I need to think about how I
| | 02:20 |
can bring this with me.
If I'm photographing a wedding and And it
| | 02:24 |
doesn't look very good, the scene isn't
very good.
| | 02:26 |
We'll have the bride hold an umbrella,
and you can sort of create your own
| | 02:30 |
location.
And then of course, there are other
| | 02:33 |
props, which you can't even necessarily
move.
| | 02:35 |
They're perhaps more environmental props.
Like at our location, there was this
| | 02:40 |
giant anchor.
I mean it was so impressive, I loved it.
| | 02:44 |
And I wanted to figure out if there was a
way to photograph Kara around that, and
| | 02:47 |
then of course I also tried to make other
photographs as well.
| | 02:51 |
It's not always about the prop.
Yet by bringing in some of these details
| | 02:56 |
in subtle or maybe significant ways, it
can help you capture a different type of
| | 03:00 |
photograph...
It can also help you have some fun.
| | 03:04 |
Interact with the bride, or with people
at the wedding, in a unique way.
| | 03:09 |
After we worked with these different
props, there was one more that I knew I
| | 03:12 |
needed to work with, and that was, the
getaway car.
| | 03:16 |
We had this vintage truck, and that, in a
sense, is a really big, oversized prop.
| | 03:21 |
So in the next movie, we'll pick up where
we'll look at how we can work with
| | 03:25 |
another prop, this interesting vintage
truck.
| | 03:28 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Taking images with a vintage truck| 00:01 |
Now that we've talked about working with
props in different ways, we're going to
| | 00:04 |
shift our focus to capturing some images
with the getaway car.
| | 00:08 |
You know at 50% of weddings,
approximately, there's some sort of an
| | 00:11 |
interesting car.
In our particular case, we had this
| | 00:14 |
great, old vintage truck that I had
borrowed from a good friend.
| | 00:19 |
So as we walked around the corner, at
first I realized I don't know what I'm
| | 00:22 |
going to do.
And it made me think I don't have a lot
| | 00:25 |
of experience of photographing people
with cars.
| | 00:28 |
You just have to try something out.
So I had her stand up on the side of the
| | 00:31 |
truck and kind of lean off the edge.
Also, because it was a pickup truck, I
| | 00:36 |
knew I wanted to have her sitting in the
back of it.
| | 00:39 |
I also had this idea of using a ladder
and shooting down to sort of reduce and
| | 00:43 |
simplify, yet as I did that, I realized
it wasn't very interesting, because all
| | 00:46 |
of a sudden, you really notice the white
plywood in the back of the truck and so,
| | 00:50 |
those shots didn't work.
You know as a photographer, a lot of your
| | 00:56 |
shots, they won't work.
That's okay.
| | 00:58 |
Just keep rolling.
Keep going for it.
| | 01:00 |
So we walked around to the other side of
the truck and had her get into the cab.
| | 01:04 |
And that was a lot of fun.
I had sketched out her storyboard.
| | 01:08 |
In one photograph, I really wanted her
framed by the door, captured some of
| | 01:12 |
those images.
See how I'm doing with my exposure.
| | 01:15 |
And then try leaning out a little bit
more.
| | 01:21 |
Yeah, yeah, like that, like that,
| | 01:25 |
(LAUGH).
| | 01:27 |
And grab your bouquet too, let's get the
bouquet in the shot.
| | 01:36 |
Yeah.
Yeah, there you go.
| | 01:38 |
There you go.
Love that.
| | 01:39 |
>> Hi!
| | 01:40 |
(LAUGH)
| | 01:41 |
>> Yeah, love it.
Once we got into the cab of the truck, I
| | 01:46 |
needed a bit more of a wide-angle lens to
capture more of that scene.
| | 01:50 |
>> I'm going to (LAUGH) (SOUND).
| | 01:53 |
You know a lot of times at this point of
the shoot, you may have the groom with
| | 01:57 |
you.
You may want to get the bride and the
| | 02:00 |
groom together in their getaway car.
Had we had a groom there with us that day
| | 02:04 |
I would have, I would have brought him
into the shots at those moments, but we
| | 02:08 |
didn't.
And you know, sometimes what you'll do is
| | 02:11 |
you'll capture the bride with the, the
vehicle by herself and then later, once
| | 02:14 |
they're both leaving the ceremony or
leaving the reception I should say, going
| | 02:18 |
off, you want to capture those getaway
moments as well.
| | 02:22 |
Well, either way, typically when you have
a vintage or interesting car at the
| | 02:26 |
location you want to ask yourself, well
how could I utilize this?
| | 02:30 |
And you want to do that not just because
you'll capture interesting photographs,
| | 02:34 |
but because often.
They'll be a vehicle like this old truck
| | 02:38 |
that's perhaps her uncle's and that maybe
she grew up riding that truck.
| | 02:43 |
A lot of times these vehicles have some
sort of significance, so you want to
| | 02:46 |
capture those images.
One to create unique photographs, and two
| | 02:50 |
to tell the story of this particular day.
| | 02:53 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with the makeup artist| 00:01 |
In most weddings hair and makeup is
really important especially for the bride
| | 00:04 |
and the bridesmaids whether it's a do it
yourself wedding or 1 with an elaborate
| | 00:08 |
budget they'll always be someone who's
doing makeup and hair.
| | 00:12 |
Some times that means that it's the maid
of honor who's doing it or someone's mom
| | 00:16 |
or a good friend other times maybe you
have a stylist on set who's actually
| | 00:18 |
helping you out the day of the wedding or
at a particular shoot.
| | 00:23 |
Well, in our case, we have a hair and
makeup artist who's been helping us out,
| | 00:26 |
which is really important.
What you want to do is you want to get
| | 00:29 |
that person on your side, whoever they
are.
| | 00:32 |
If it's the maid of honor or if it's a
professional, again, get to know that
| | 00:35 |
person and see if you can't work with
them.
| | 00:38 |
Because hair and makeup, again, is really
integral to creating good photographs.
| | 00:42 |
And in this case we've taken a little bit
of a break.
| | 00:44 |
And we've also changed up the wardrobe a
bit.
| | 00:47 |
We have a different dress we're going to
be photographing.
| | 00:49 |
And here there's going to be a little bit
of a makeup touch up.
| | 00:52 |
So I thought that it would be a good
point to talk with our stylist, a little
| | 00:55 |
bit about the process of hair and makeup.
And also about the importance of touch
| | 01:00 |
ups.
| | 01:00 |
>> So let's go ahead and head on in and chat
with our hair and makeup artist.
| | 01:05 |
Here we go.
Hey Cara and Kristina.
| | 01:07 |
>> Hi.
| | 01:07 |
>> Cara you look great.
| | 01:09 |
>> (INAUDIBLE)
| | 01:10 |
>> So we're doing a little touch up and I
| | 01:11 |
thought it would be fun to talk a bit
about some of the things to think about
| | 01:13 |
wedding makeup and what not.
So, Kristina as you're doing touch up
| | 01:17 |
work or just make up work in general
| | 01:20 |
>> What are you thinking about?
What is kind of your art and craft and
| | 01:24 |
what are you trying to create and
consider?
| | 01:27 |
>> Well I think when you're talking about
| | 01:29 |
doing bridal makeup, so this is for the
bride on one of the most important days
| | 01:32 |
of her life.
It's really a collaboration between
| | 01:36 |
makeup artist and the bride.
to come up with a look that they feel
| | 01:41 |
comfortable in.
but you also want them to be camera ready
| | 01:44 |
and there's that fine line where you
know, you don't have to put so much make
| | 01:48 |
up on.
You want them to feel comfortable walking
| | 01:51 |
down the aisle but you also want the
photographs to look beautiful or the
| | 01:54 |
video to look beautiful as well.
So, a lot of time I'll have brides pull
| | 01:58 |
out, tear sheets from the magazines to
give me a good visual of what they are
| | 02:01 |
looking for, for hair and make up.
rather than trying to guess, or try to
| | 02:06 |
explain it, I can actually see what, what
they're thinking.
| | 02:09 |
And then together we'll come up with a
look.
| | 02:11 |
we'll do a practice run, make sure that,
that we're all comfortable with that
| | 02:15 |
look, and then at the wedding, it's
really just about touching her up and
| | 02:19 |
making her look refreshed and polished
throughout the duration of the ceremony
| | 02:23 |
and maybe even during the reception.
>> Can I jump in there real quick?
| | 02:30 |
>> Yeah.
| | 02:31 |
>> So if you were giving advice to someone
| | 02:32 |
who was doing make-up at a wedding.
| | 02:34 |
>> Mhmm
| | 02:34 |
>> Or to a bride.
What are some of the key moments when a
| | 02:37 |
touch-up would be helpful?
| | 02:38 |
>> well right before they're going to take
photographs.
| | 02:41 |
especially if they're going to be out in
the sun, in any of the elements, it, it
| | 02:44 |
might wear a little bit.
So definitely a touch-up right before the
| | 02:48 |
ceremony.
| | 02:49 |
>> And then, maybe right after the ceremony,
when they enter the room, you, know, to
| | 02:53 |
the reception, would be good times too.
You don't usually need to do too many
| | 02:58 |
touch-ups, but it's just good to have on
hand, because, you know, sometimes a
| | 03:01 |
blemish could shine through, or the
lipstick comes off, or they can get a
| | 03:04 |
little shiny.
| | 03:06 |
>> Sure.
| | 03:07 |
>> So just a few touch-ups, really, are
needed.
| | 03:09 |
Great, great.
And then Cara, I thought it'd be fun to
| | 03:12 |
hear about what you're thinking about in
regards to hair and make-up, as you're
| | 03:15 |
getting married really soon, which is so
exciting.
| | 03:18 |
>> Yeah, very exciting.
| | 03:19 |
>> what are the some of the things you're
| | 03:20 |
thinking about?
| | 03:21 |
>> I'm thinking, for me, that I've always
just worn my hair down, parted in the
| | 03:25 |
middle.
And I, I'll feel really comfortable just
| | 03:28 |
with my hair down and.
| | 03:30 |
>> just probably not a lot of makeup.
But like she said like, plain and polish
| | 03:35 |
but not, not too much like dramatic.
Very natural.
| | 03:39 |
I wanna--
| | 03:40 |
>> Tell us a bit about your dress and veil
that you'll be wearing on the big day
| | 03:43 |
too.
| | 03:45 |
>> Well my dress is quite traditional.
Like I didn't think I would get such a
| | 03:48 |
traditional dress but it's splash.
And then I, I bought(INAUDIBLE) vintage.
| | 03:52 |
Veil, like a very long -- I think it's
like 10 or 11 foot long veil, just to
| | 03:56 |
create more of a romantic, kind of
vintage-y thing.
| | 04:01 |
But my wedding's going to be(INAUDIBLE)
going to be wearing like mismatched cream
| | 04:05 |
dresses on the bridesmaids and like hair
braids in their hair and, and -- yeah.
| | 04:10 |
(LAUGH)
| | 04:11 |
>> Yeah, it's in New Zealand, so it's going
to mean a lot to organized in New
| | 04:14 |
Zealand.
| | 04:15 |
>> (INAUDIBLE) it's in New Zealand, but.
| | 04:16 |
>> That's great.
And the reason, one of the reasons I
| | 04:18 |
wanted to bring that up.
Hair and makeup is obviously not there by
| | 04:21 |
itself, but it fits into everything else.
| | 04:23 |
>> Absolutely.
| | 04:24 |
>> And so, for you, when you're working with
different dresses, how does that sort of
| | 04:28 |
effect the type of things you do?
Dresses or veils or whatever.
| | 04:32 |
>> Oh, I think that's one of the first
| | 04:34 |
questions I ask.
Is to see a photograph of the dress.
| | 04:37 |
>> Yes.
| | 04:38 |
>> that'll tell you a lot, whether.
| | 04:40 |
The hair's going to be better up, or if
it's going to be better sort of flowing
| | 04:43 |
down off the shoulder.
again, it'll be the bride's preference,
| | 04:47 |
but I think once you see the dress and
you immediately kind of imagine,
| | 04:51 |
everything else falls in place.
The makeup and the hair.
| | 04:55 |
>> Okay, well that's great.
| | 04:56 |
Well, thanks so much for your help,
Christina, and sharing a little bit of
| | 04:58 |
your wisdom.
And fun to hear some of what you're
| | 05:00 |
thinking about with your big day, too,
so.
| | 05:02 |
>> I'll let you guys finish up and then we
| | 05:04 |
will keep shooting, so thanks.
| | 05:07 |
>> Okay.
| | 05:07 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Looking at the dress and veil options| 00:00 |
This chapter has been all about moving
beyond the basics.
| | 00:04 |
And here in this movie, I want to focus
in on another way that we can do that.
| | 00:08 |
In particular, how we can add variety
when it comes to wardrobe and dress.
| | 00:13 |
Now in our shoot, we've done a lot of
different things.
| | 00:15 |
We've had different headpieces and even
different dresses.
| | 00:19 |
Now at a real wedding, you won't have
that much variety, but there will be some
| | 00:22 |
natural variety, and you want to ask
yourself, how can I capture this?
| | 00:26 |
In other words, perhaps there'll be a
veil.
| | 00:28 |
You want to capture a portrait of the
bride with a veil in front of her face
| | 00:31 |
and then perhaps also folded back.
Or maybe the bride has a shawl and she's
| | 00:36 |
wearing that to keep warm, and maybe the
shawl is really beautiful and elegant.
| | 00:40 |
Well of course, capture one image with it
and then one image without it.
| | 00:44 |
Again, variety is really important, and
then there is the wedding dress, the
| | 00:48 |
wedding dress and the train.
You could capture a picture with the
| | 00:52 |
train y'know those elegant photographs
where the train is off to the side or
| | 00:55 |
behind the bride and then also capture
one with it off or maybe with it clipped
| | 00:59 |
up.
Again variety is so important, so as your
| | 01:03 |
capturing photographs of the bride ask
yourself, how can I add a little bit of
| | 01:07 |
variety into this scene?
Sometimes, it'll be to capture different
| | 01:13 |
beautiful moments.
Other times, it might be for a bit of
| | 01:16 |
fun, perhaps the bride has some
sunglasses.
| | 01:19 |
Take a photo of her wearing the
sunglasses and then, of course, take one
| | 01:22 |
without the sunglasses.
Add variety in order to capture
| | 01:25 |
interesting and different photographs.
| | 01:29 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with a backlit scene| 00:00 |
One of the challenges of working with
natural and available light is that the
| | 00:04 |
light might not always be exactly what
you want it to be.
| | 00:08 |
Sometimes, you may notice that the light
is a little bit harsh.
| | 00:11 |
And that's definitely what I noticed as I
was with Cara.
| | 00:14 |
We'd walk into the courtyard, the light
was just too harsh, there was too much
| | 00:17 |
contrast in it.
Yet, you can work with harsh light if you
| | 00:21 |
position your subjects, so that the light
is coming from behind her.
| | 00:25 |
And when you do that, when you work with
back light, you can create some
| | 00:29 |
fascinating photographs.
Now, you have to keep in mind that these
| | 00:32 |
are photographs that you're going to
capture that really are a sort of beyond
| | 00:35 |
the basics.
In other words, you want to capture those
| | 00:38 |
images where the light is good and even
and soft.
| | 00:41 |
You want to make sure you have those.
But then, you also might want to
| | 00:44 |
experiment with backlighting, because you
can create some really unique and
| | 00:47 |
ethereal looks.
For example, at one point, I had Cara sit
| | 00:51 |
down in front of this fountain.
And as she was sitting there, the light
| | 00:54 |
from behind her was just beautiful.
And one of the things you have to do is
| | 00:58 |
you have to change your camera settings.
One of the ways that I do that is by
| | 01:02 |
simply taking an image, and then looking
at it on the back of my camera.
| | 01:06 |
One of the first things that you'll
notice is that it will just be a
| | 01:09 |
silhouette.
The subject will be really, really dark.
| | 01:13 |
So, what you need to do is over expose
and you're over exposing in a way that's
| | 01:16 |
creating this really interesting look.
You're also paying attention to flair.
| | 01:22 |
And at this moment, you're kind of trying
to use flair to craft the photograph.
| | 01:27 |
What I mean by that is it might be okay
if the light is hitting your lens and
| | 01:30 |
creating a bit of flair or atmosphere.
This can create almost a dream like look.
| | 01:36 |
Other situations, what you might want to
do is have a lens hood on the front of
| | 01:39 |
your camera, so that it's blocking the
sun from hitting your lens.
| | 01:44 |
If that isn't enough, as it wasn't when I
was shooting, I asked my assistant, my
| | 01:47 |
good friend, Shawn, just to stand there
and block the sun from hitting directly
| | 01:51 |
onto my lens.
When you do that, you can capture an
| | 01:55 |
image where you have more detail and the
back lighting isn't as atmospheric, it's
| | 01:59 |
a little bit more of just kind of a nice
glow.
| | 02:04 |
So, there are other ways to work with
back light.
| | 02:06 |
Right?
Sometimes, you find a spot, you sit
| | 02:08 |
someone down.
Other times, you're just in transition.
| | 02:12 |
Once, I was walking from one location to
another.
| | 02:15 |
And as I did that, I noticed the light
and I just quickly stopped and captured a
| | 02:19 |
few images.
Still, other times, like in the outside
| | 02:23 |
of our facility, by that huge anchor, the
light was just beautiful.
| | 02:28 |
And as I changed my position, so that the
sun was behind the subject, I could
| | 02:31 |
capture some different types of
photographs.
| | 02:36 |
So again, just thinking about, how can I
add this to the mix?
| | 02:39 |
Now, this isn't the first thing that you
do.
| | 02:42 |
These aren't the first images that you
make.
| | 02:44 |
These are the beyond-the-basics shots.
You get the shots that you know have that
| | 02:48 |
good quality of light, and then you start
experimenting.
| | 02:52 |
And sometimes, when you experiment with
back light, what it can do is just save
| | 02:56 |
the day.
In other words, if you're photographing a
| | 02:59 |
wedding, and the light isn't in a good
spot, and it's a bit harsh, well it can
| | 03:02 |
just save the day and help you create
some good, high quality pictures.
| | 03:07 |
Other times, it can help you craft or
create something that's, that's full of
| | 03:11 |
some sort of atmosphere or feeling that,
otherwise could not have been created
| | 03:16 |
without this quality of light.
| | 03:19 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
6. Creating a Rhythm and Flow for the ShootUnderstanding the rhythm of the shoot| 00:00 |
In the previous installment, in the
series, Wedding Photography for Everyone,
| | 00:04 |
we talked about a wedding can be divided
up into different phases or stages.
| | 00:10 |
In other words, there are the photographs
that are captured before the ceremony.
| | 00:13 |
Then, there's the ceremony, there' after
the ceremony and so on.
| | 00:17 |
And with each of these different phases
or stages, in a sense, there is a
| | 00:20 |
beginning, a middle and an end.
And with bridal portraiture that is
| | 00:25 |
definitely true.
As a photographer, you need to be tuned
| | 00:28 |
into that.
There always is that initial moment, the
| | 00:31 |
beginning, you know, the meet and greet
where you're trying to make connection
| | 00:34 |
and build rapport.
And then, you sort of settle into
| | 00:37 |
capturing photographs.
And then, eventually, you're nearing the
| | 00:41 |
end and it's time to sort of wrap things
up.
| | 00:43 |
And by being in tune with this sense that
there's a beginning, middle and end, it
| | 00:46 |
can help you get a feel for the overall
flow or rhythm of a shoot, because there
| | 00:49 |
are certain photographs that you can
capture in the beginning that are kind of
| | 00:52 |
exciting.
And then, once you settle into it, you
| | 00:57 |
can capture other images.
Then, you can move beyond the basics and
| | 01:00 |
try, even different things.
And then, eventually get those final
| | 01:04 |
images.
And then, sort of wrap up the shoot.
| | 01:07 |
And again, by having a sense of this
overall rhythm or flow, it can help you
| | 01:10 |
work more effectively in these different
stages or these different times, of your
| | 01:15 |
particular shoot.
| | 01:17 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Wrapping up the shoot| 00:00 |
Alright, well we just called the wrap
and, you know, eventually when you're
| | 00:04 |
capturing portraits of a bride, you need
to say that's it.
| | 00:07 |
A lot of times as a photographer, you
want to keep shooting and shooting and
| | 00:10 |
shooting.
In this situation we had the luxury of
| | 00:13 |
having a lot of time and we took a lot of
time to try to show you different ideas,
| | 00:16 |
to give you ideas of how you can capture
good portraits of a bride.
| | 00:21 |
Now how does that translate to
photographing at a wedding.
| | 00:24 |
Well at a wedding your going to have the
small slice of time if the bride says you
| | 00:28 |
have 15 minutes take 13 you always want
to end a little bit early given them a
| | 00:32 |
little extra space so the, the whole
process is that much more enjoyable.
| | 00:38 |
Of course though you want to make sure to
get your shots so your getting those
| | 00:42 |
photographs kind of watching the clock
watching the light, and then eventually
| | 00:45 |
call the wrap.
| | 00:48 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
7. Reflections and Lessons LearnedThe quality and feeling of natural light| 00:00 |
Alright.
Well, before the sun has completely set,
| | 00:02 |
I thought it would be worthwhile to talk
a little bit about light.
| | 00:06 |
You know, we did a lot of shooting today
and we shot in a lot of different
| | 00:08 |
lighting scenarios.
One of the things that you want to pay
| | 00:11 |
attention to as a photographer is light.
The way that I think about light is that
| | 00:14 |
it isn't technical.
It's not technically figuring out what's
| | 00:17 |
happening.
Rather, it's a bit more about the emotion
| | 00:20 |
or the feeling of different types of
light.
| | 00:23 |
Also, as you photograph people, you'll
notice that certain light is really
| | 00:26 |
flattering.
Other light, well, it isn't.
| | 00:29 |
And this is different person to person.
So, one of the things that I like to do
| | 00:33 |
is, if I see something through my camera
that doesn't look good, I just sort of
| | 00:36 |
shoot through it.
I get almost over those shots.
| | 00:40 |
And then, I say, let's try this out.
You know, as a photographer, you really
| | 00:45 |
have to experiment.
I think of this as almost a certain type
| | 00:48 |
of problem-solving.
It's not like finding the right solution,
| | 00:51 |
like there it is and that's it.
Rather, it's more like unknotting the
| | 00:54 |
problem.
Like you, you sort of undo it piece by
| | 00:57 |
piece.
And a lot of times with light, that is
| | 00:59 |
incredibly important.
And what I found too with this particular
| | 01:03 |
type of light was that at the end of the
day, it just became magic.
| | 01:07 |
Now, as photographers we all know about
magic hour about this wonderful time when
| | 01:11 |
the sun is setting.
Yet, I'd even forgotten about it.
| | 01:15 |
I was excited about what we were doing.
And all of a sudden, it just happened.
| | 01:18 |
And when it happens, you want to take
advantage of it.
| | 01:21 |
Some photographers refer to this as
skylight, kind of the end of the day when
| | 01:24 |
it's just all of the sky is your light
source.
| | 01:28 |
It's not really directional.
There aren't light rays cutting through
| | 01:31 |
the scene, rather just illuminating
everything.
| | 01:33 |
And when it comes to bridal portraiture,
this type of light is wonderful.
| | 01:38 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with the bride| 00:01 |
Here, I thought it would be helpful to
just reflect back on our shoot a little
| | 00:03 |
bit.
In particular, to reflect back on working
| | 00:06 |
with our bride, Cara, our bride to be.
You know, she was phenomenal.
| | 00:11 |
And when you work with someone, when
you're taking their picture, you have to
| | 00:14 |
keep this in mind.
Their experience is completely different
| | 00:17 |
than yours.
In other words, if you have them stand in
| | 00:20 |
one location and you, you shoot some
photographs, well to you it's really
| | 00:23 |
interesting, but to them it can be a
little bit dull if they're standing there
| | 00:26 |
for too long.
One of the things that I like to do is to
| | 00:30 |
have the subject move.
To just go for a walk to different
| | 00:33 |
locations.
As a photographer, you're paying
| | 00:36 |
attention to the different variables.
You're thinking about your camera, your
| | 00:40 |
camera settings, the light, and also the
subject.
| | 00:43 |
Near the end of this the, the photo
shoot, I knew that she was just ready for
| | 00:46 |
it to be over.
And eventually, what you have to do is
| | 00:48 |
you have to say, you know what, that's it
that, that's a wrap.
| | 00:52 |
In my mind though, I knew there were
still other photographs that I had wanted
| | 00:56 |
to make.
Like in this hallway here, as I stand
| | 00:59 |
here now, I can't believe that I didn't
capture any portraits in this location.
| | 01:04 |
So, as I reflect back on the photo shoot
and working with Cara, I think, oh, man,
| | 01:07 |
I, I, I missed this opportunity.
And as a photographer, it's important to
| | 01:12 |
admit those missed opportunities.
Those are great ways to learn and to
| | 01:17 |
become an even better photographer.
| | 01:20 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing mistakes and lessons learned| 00:01 |
You know, once some time has passed from
when you've captured photographs at a
| | 00:04 |
wedding, or in our case, once some time
has passed after our photo shoot.
| | 00:08 |
What you want to do is reflect back on
it.
| | 00:10 |
And ask yourself, what mistakes did I
make?
| | 00:13 |
And you want to get honest here, because
often.
| | 00:15 |
If you revisit your mistakes you can
really learn from them so that they don't
| | 00:19 |
happen next time.
So what I want to do here is reflect back
| | 00:22 |
on some of my mistakes so that hopefully
you don't make these same mistakes
| | 00:26 |
yourself.
One of the first things that I realized
| | 00:30 |
is that, you know, details really matter,
and there were a few detail mistakes that
| | 00:34 |
i made.
Kara had a band-aid on her finger and she
| | 00:38 |
needed to have that band-aid on her
finger so I decided not to say anything
| | 00:41 |
about it.
And as I review photographs I wish that I
| | 00:45 |
would have asked her just to flip the
band-aid around, so that it was a little
| | 00:49 |
bit more discreet.
You know when you're capturing images,
| | 00:52 |
sometimes you'll notice, notice
something, a small detail, maybe it's a
| | 00:55 |
thread hanging off of a wedding dress.
And you may think to yourself well, I'll
| | 00:59 |
fix that in Photoshop.
Yeah, in wedding photography you should a
| | 01:03 |
high volume of photography.
That's going to be a ton of work.
| | 01:07 |
Often it pays off to pay attention to
those little teeny details that can make
| | 01:10 |
all the difference in the world, so
again, next time I'm going to pay more
| | 01:14 |
attention to details.
Another mistake that I made was in
| | 01:19 |
regards to the lenses that I used.
As I look back on my photographs, I
| | 01:23 |
realized that I missed a few shots with
wide angle lenses because I didn't use
| | 01:26 |
them very frequently.
In other words, those shots where I took
| | 01:30 |
advantage of the hallways and all of
those nice, lean lines.
| | 01:34 |
I can't believe that I missed those
shots.
| | 01:37 |
Also I wish I would have captured some of
those photographs where the subject was
| | 01:40 |
small.
Maybe you, you frame it like this so you
| | 01:42 |
see part of the subject and then you see
a lot of open, open space around her.
| | 01:47 |
Again, most of my photographs were pretty
up close.
| | 01:50 |
I wish I would have had one of those
images where there was more breathing
| | 01:53 |
room.
And you want to ask yourself again, what
| | 01:56 |
shots did you miss?
Write them down and then include them in
| | 01:59 |
your notes so that next time.
When you're capturing photographs you
| | 02:03 |
think to yourself okay yeah I'm going to
get those images.
| | 02:06 |
And of course there were some technical
mistakes.
| | 02:10 |
In some situations I had to increase my
iso.
| | 02:13 |
I had to crank it up.
And so I'd shoot where it was a little
| | 02:15 |
bit darker and then I'd walk to another
area where it was really bright and I
| | 02:18 |
hadn't changed by iso back.
And I made that mistake a couple of
| | 02:22 |
times.
Fortunately it wasn't very signifigant
| | 02:25 |
but still it reminded me that you always
need to double check your camera settings
| | 02:29 |
and that of course there were exposure
mistakes sometimes where I would take a
| | 02:33 |
photograph and I would look at the back
of the camera and it was overexposed so
| | 02:36 |
that there was no detail in the dress.
Fortunately, when you look at the back of
| | 02:43 |
the camera, you catch that.
Yet, there were times where I didn't
| | 02:46 |
catch it.
There are some images which are
| | 02:48 |
essentially useless.
I had to get rid of them and throw them
| | 02:52 |
away because the exposure was so far off.
Now, of course, as, as photographers, we
| | 02:56 |
all know that these mistakes, they always
happen.
| | 02:59 |
That's okay.
You don't have to beat yourself up over
| | 03:02 |
these things.
Yet I think it's helpful to reflect back
| | 03:05 |
and just say OK well, what mistakes did I
make.
| | 03:08 |
Let's get honest with that and then next
time, how can I improve my photography.
| | 03:12 |
How can I make sure that I don't repeat
these mistakes so that I can capture even
| | 03:16 |
stronger and better photographs.
| | 03:20 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing tips for working with natural light| 00:01 |
An important topic throughout this course
has been working with natural and
| | 00:04 |
available light.
And here, what I want to do is I want to
| | 00:07 |
review some of the different ways, some
of the different lighting condition that
| | 00:10 |
we can work with.
And I want to do that, so that you can
| | 00:13 |
then reflect back on the photographs that
we've captured in these different
| | 00:16 |
lighting scenarios.
And then, so that you can ask yourself,
| | 00:19 |
what kind of images do I want to make
when I encounter these type of
| | 00:22 |
situations?
Well, let's start indoors.
| | 00:25 |
Whenever you're indoors, your best
friends will always be windows and doors.
| | 00:30 |
You know, that non-directional window
light, where the sun isn't cutting
| | 00:34 |
straight into a window or door, can often
create a really beautiful or flattering
| | 00:37 |
look.
Then, of course, there's other types of
| | 00:41 |
window or door light.
Perhaps the sun is coming right into the
| | 00:44 |
window.
In those situations, you could position
| | 00:47 |
your subject so that the light is coming
at her back.
| | 00:51 |
In those situations, it can again, help
you to create a really kind of beautiful
| | 00:54 |
or interesting look.
Let's then, move outdoors.
| | 00:59 |
Now, once you move outdoors, one of the
things that you want to look for is
| | 01:02 |
what's called outdoor or open shade.
Those are the situations where the sun is
| | 01:07 |
blocked by a tree or by an overhang.
When you position your subject in open
| | 01:12 |
shade, it's really easy.
The eyes relax and it's easy because
| | 01:16 |
There isn't a lot of contrast.
In other words, you can move around and
| | 01:20 |
you can capture different types of
photographs.
| | 01:23 |
Then, of course, there is also back light
which we can find outdoors, where the sun
| | 01:27 |
is behind the subject.
Again, illuminating the subject from
| | 01:31 |
behind.
It can help you to create a really
| | 01:33 |
distinct look.
Then, there will be those situations
| | 01:36 |
where you'll have mixed light.
Now, it's not either or, sometimes this
| | 01:40 |
is both and.
Perhaps you are at a location where you
| | 01:43 |
have outdoor and open shade because of an
overhang, but then, you also have a
| | 01:46 |
little bit of backlighting.
So, the light is coming from different
| | 01:50 |
directions.
Or maybe you're indoors and you have some
| | 01:53 |
lights coming from lamps, and also from a
window.
| | 01:56 |
Again, whenever you're mixing light
together, you just want to be aware of
| | 01:59 |
that.
You want to be asking yourself, well, how
| | 02:02 |
can I utilize this to create a distinct
look?
| | 02:05 |
And then, last but not least, we have
what photographers refer to as magic
| | 02:08 |
hour, the end of the day.
Some people call this skylight.
| | 02:13 |
You know, it's the end of the day when
the entire sky becomes your light source.
| | 02:17 |
And the quality and the color of light at
this time of day, it's just spectacular.
| | 02:22 |
So now, as you make your way to capture
your own photographs, reflect back on
| | 02:26 |
these different types of light.
And as you do that, as you become aware
| | 02:30 |
of these different types of light that
you can use, you can then capture better
| | 02:34 |
photographs yourself.
| | 02:37 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
8. Reviewing the PhotographsReviewing what worked and what didn't| 00:00 |
Whenever you're capturing photographs,
there are always things that work and
| | 00:04 |
others that don't.
So, here, what I want to do is review
| | 00:07 |
some of the photographs that I captured.
And I want to do that in order to
| | 00:10 |
highlight a few things that worked and
also a few things that didn't.
| | 00:13 |
We'll start out with this picture here.
This is a picture that I captured right
| | 00:17 |
away.
This is where Cara was getting ready, and
| | 00:19 |
I just started where we were.
And the photograph is okay and in this
| | 00:22 |
initial moment though, what I wanted to
do was start directing her.
| | 00:26 |
So, I said, why don't you put your arms
behind your back, as you can see in this
| | 00:30 |
next picture.
Well, this didn't work very well.
| | 00:33 |
I didn't think, it didn't work well with
her dress or with just the overall
| | 00:36 |
posture.
Whenever you notice something like that,
| | 00:39 |
you want to pay attention to that.
So, quickly, I moved on to something
| | 00:42 |
else.
I moved up a little bit more closely to
| | 00:45 |
her and just had her turn her shoulders a
little bit to me and put her hands in
| | 00:48 |
front of her.
And I didn't ever ask again, for that
| | 00:52 |
posture, with her arms behind her back.
And so, as you're photographing someone,
| | 00:57 |
you're really kind of learning what works
and what doesn't.
| | 01:01 |
You're also learning a little bit about
light.
| | 01:03 |
Like in this next photograph, you can see
that Cara here, our bride, is standing in
| | 01:07 |
front of a door.
The light is coming right towards her.
| | 01:11 |
This was kind of interesting.
I think this picture worked, but I also
| | 01:14 |
wanted to try something else out, so I
had her stand with her back to the light.
| | 01:19 |
We just changed positions.
And so, here with her back to, to the
| | 01:22 |
light you get a different type of
photograph.
| | 01:26 |
Next, kind of moving onto the windows.
Again, the light coming from behind Cara,
| | 01:30 |
it's interesting, but the composition, it
doesn't really work here at all.
| | 01:34 |
That's okay.
Often, you need to take what I call
| | 01:37 |
transitional photographs.
Just snap something.
| | 01:40 |
Look at your back of the camera to try to
get your exposure.
| | 01:43 |
Just try to think about how does the
camera see this scene.
| | 01:47 |
Well, after you get this shot, you want
to move to the next one, like this one
| | 01:50 |
here, where the composition's a bit
better.
| | 01:54 |
She's looking off to the side.
I like the overall mood.
| | 01:57 |
There are other pictures I wanted to make
indoors as well.
| | 02:00 |
I'd ask Cara to sit down.
And in this case, she's sitting down with
| | 02:03 |
the candles and the fireplace in the
background, and I think this photograph
| | 02:06 |
works.
And one of the things that's interesting
| | 02:10 |
is that the brightest area in the picture
is on the left side of the frame.
| | 02:14 |
And that's coming, that's the light
coming from that particular door.
| | 02:18 |
Well, that worked okay.
It would have been better to have started
| | 02:21 |
on, started out, having her face light.
And that's almost always true.
| | 02:24 |
If someone can face the light, rather
than having the back towards it, when the
| | 02:27 |
light's soft, often that works better.
So, here, in this next picture, you can
| | 02:31 |
see she's now faced the other way.
And the light really is sort of just
| | 02:35 |
illuminating her and I think that's a
nicer look.
| | 02:38 |
Alright, we're moving onto another area.
There is this great wall and this
| | 02:42 |
fascinating bench just outside of that
room.
| | 02:45 |
I asked her to sit on it and I took a
picture and I just wasn't feeling it.
| | 02:49 |
It didn't, it didn't look right.
This picture doesn't work and I couldn't
| | 02:53 |
really figure out why.
You know, when you're capturing
| | 02:55 |
photographs, you're kind of thinking on
your feet, what's going on?
| | 02:58 |
How can I make this better?
So, I tried something else out.
| | 03:01 |
I, I got in a little bit closer.
That didn't work and I realized it was
| | 03:05 |
the veil.
I realize now, I should say, it's the
| | 03:08 |
veil, that the flower is kind of covering
her nose in an awkward way.
| | 03:12 |
Yet, when I was capturing the
photographs, I thought, well, what if I
| | 03:15 |
just change my angle?
I moved off to the side.
| | 03:18 |
The background wasn't very interesting.
That didn't, didn't solve the problem.
| | 03:22 |
I kept trying that.
I moved around to the other side.
| | 03:25 |
Now, this light, I think, was better.
But still, her posture, her interaction
| | 03:29 |
with the bench, it wasn't really working.
So, I needed to keep experimenting.
| | 03:34 |
So here, I then got a little bit lower to
the ground.
| | 03:38 |
Now, this is working much better.
And I also had the veil pinned back a
| | 03:41 |
bit, so we can actually see her face.
And again, I kept working that, got a
| | 03:46 |
little bit closer.
I think this works even better.
| | 03:49 |
So, as you're capturing these images,
you're really going through this
| | 03:52 |
different thought process.
And what you have to do is you have to
| | 03:56 |
let yourself, self off the hook.
And what I mean by that is if you capture
| | 03:59 |
a bad photograph and you know it, just,
just let it go, let yourself off the hook
| | 04:03 |
and say, well, I'm going to try the find
the good picture.
| | 04:07 |
And that's what I was trying to do here.
Another area where I wanted to capture
| | 04:11 |
images was with the fountain.
With really strong back light, as you can
| | 04:15 |
see here.
In this photograph the back light is just
| | 04:18 |
kind of overwhelming.
It creates this really nice soft look.
| | 04:21 |
And you get this look when your driving
in your car early in the morning and you,
| | 04:25 |
you kind of turn towards the sun and you
can't really see everything very well.
| | 04:30 |
But if you put your hand up to block out
the sun, all of a sudden, everything
| | 04:33 |
becomes much more clear.
And that's true with photography as well.
| | 04:38 |
In this case, I just have my lens hood or
perhaps my assistant helping me out to
| | 04:42 |
block that, that sun, the direct sun.
But I still get a really nice look and
| | 04:47 |
feel with the image.
Here's another photograph with that same
| | 04:51 |
perspective.
Now, I want to move onto another topic
| | 04:53 |
and that is working with props.
And this really fun prop, this life ring
| | 04:57 |
that we have painted on.
And I had Cara hold it in the hallway.
| | 05:01 |
I like this photograph.
It's, it's up close, you see a lot of the
| | 05:04 |
prop, but it's actually, I think, too
close because its sort of cropping off
| | 05:07 |
her fingers.
So, I tried to experiment.
| | 05:11 |
I moved back.
Now, I think I'm too far away.
| | 05:14 |
And then, I got a little bit closer.
It's working a bit better.
| | 05:17 |
And then, still even closer.
Out of these photographs, this is the one
| | 05:21 |
that I think has the, the best balance.
I think it works the best.
| | 05:25 |
Next, moving to another area with another
prop.
| | 05:29 |
I had an old suitcase.
And I had Cara stand with the suitcase in
| | 05:32 |
front of this wall.
And this particular photograph, it's fun,
| | 05:36 |
but it's not, it's not really moving me.
It's not incredibly artistic, but the
| | 05:41 |
light, I noticed the light was wonderful.
So, I had her set down the suitcase, and
| | 05:45 |
then just stand there.
And this picture, for me, at least, is
| | 05:49 |
really nice.
It's elegant.
| | 05:51 |
It works much better.
And so, sometimes when you're working
| | 05:55 |
with something or working with a subject,
you may be doing one thing and it may get
| | 05:58 |
you thinking about something else.
Well, go there.
| | 06:01 |
Try out those ideas or those thoughts.
Alright, well let's move to another prop,
| | 06:06 |
the boat.
The boat, I thought, would be amazing,
| | 06:09 |
here is this really beautiful wooden
boat.
| | 06:11 |
I'll have Cara hold it, but it didn't
work.
| | 06:14 |
It was too big.
So again, the challenge here was to think
| | 06:18 |
quickly and experiment.
The next photograph you can see here, was
| | 06:21 |
a little bit later, or a few moments
later, I should say, and I had her hold
| | 06:25 |
it in front of her.
That's, that's a little bit more
| | 06:28 |
interesting because it's more abstract,
but then perhaps this one works even
| | 06:31 |
better.
I used that back lighting technique,
| | 06:34 |
which sort of blurred everything out.
It was almost like the prop was just too
| | 06:39 |
prominent.
I need to figure out a way to make it
| | 06:42 |
less less prominent, to make it stand out
less.
| | 06:46 |
You know, sometimes you need to do
something similar with light.
| | 06:49 |
Like you can see in this transitional
photograph.
| | 06:51 |
In other words, this isn't well composed.
It's more just thinking, how do I capture
| | 06:56 |
a portrait in this spot?
If you look at the lower left hand corner
| | 06:59 |
of the frame, you can see really bright
sun.
| | 07:02 |
Now, that's the clue here.
There's bright sun on the left side of
| | 07:05 |
the frame, really just bouncing back into
this open outdoor shade.
| | 07:09 |
So, I knew that this light was going to
be a bit directional.
| | 07:12 |
And also, it would have a little bit of
intensity or so sort of energy to it.
| | 07:16 |
So, here I've moved in a little bit
closer and you can see the type of image
| | 07:19 |
that you could capture.
It's not quite perfect, but I'm getting
| | 07:23 |
there.
And then, I had her look towards the
| | 07:25 |
frame, and I got in even closer, taking
advantage of this light, which is coming
| | 07:28 |
from the left side of the frame, really
just lighting up this whole scene.
| | 07:34 |
And sometimes what your trying to do is
say, well, there's this quality of light,
| | 07:37 |
how do I capture it?
Sometimes, moving back doesn't work,
| | 07:41 |
sometimes you have to get close in order
to really get into those characteristics
| | 07:45 |
or the qualities of the light.
Next, I asked her to close her eyes, I
| | 07:49 |
often do this, as I've mentioned, just
because it sort of breaks things up.
| | 07:53 |
Close your eyes, take a breath, and then
open your eyes again.
| | 07:56 |
Often, after that, you'll get a different
expression.
| | 07:59 |
And out of these photographs, this is the
one, at least in my opinion, that I think
| | 08:03 |
works best.
Alright, well what about other
| | 08:06 |
situations, like when you're working with
backgrounds?
| | 08:09 |
There was this nice little backdrop,
these prop setup.
| | 08:12 |
I asked Cara to step into the scene and
stand in front of it.
| | 08:15 |
I wanted the, the props to become a
background.
| | 08:18 |
Yet, when she did, all of a sudden, it
was a confusing picture.
| | 08:23 |
The props and the person sort of collided
together.
| | 08:26 |
So, in this case, that didn't work.
So, I asked her to step to the side.
| | 08:30 |
I think this works a little bit better,
there's a bit more of a separation there.
| | 08:34 |
And you're always asking yourself, well,
what else can you do?
| | 08:37 |
Another thing I tried was just to change
my position.
| | 08:40 |
This is that same wall.
You can sort of see the props in the left
| | 08:43 |
hand side of the frame, and I just got
close to that wall.
| | 08:47 |
In this take, case, now I'm just using
that area to capture different types of
| | 08:50 |
photographs.
In another moment during the shoot, Cara
| | 08:54 |
was holding these really beautiful
flowers.
| | 08:57 |
I asked her to hold them out in front of
her.
| | 08:59 |
And I focused in on the flowers, but it
didn't work at all because the shape of
| | 09:03 |
the flowers, you can't really tell what
it is.
| | 09:07 |
And it's just, almost too abstract.
So, I needed to sort of play with that.
| | 09:11 |
I wanted to do something candid and fun
at this moment.
| | 09:15 |
And I think this next image worked a bit
better.
| | 09:18 |
Rather than focusing on the flowers, I
focused on Cara.
| | 09:21 |
And I was composing in a way which was a
little bit off, but I kind of liked that.
| | 09:27 |
Rather than being so direct and straight
foward, I'd already done that.
| | 09:30 |
I wanted to get something really fun and
whimsical.
| | 09:32 |
And I think this frame has a few of those
qualities.
| | 09:36 |
Next, moving to working with the truck.
Here's Cara standing on the side of the
| | 09:40 |
truck, and this image is fun, great
expression, great moment, but her hand on
| | 09:44 |
the right side of the frame is empty.
It needed some flowers, and once you
| | 09:49 |
bring the flowers into the shot it sort
of finishes it off.
| | 09:53 |
And so, you're also thinking about those
little details, how can I just take this
| | 09:57 |
a little bit further, add a little bit
more to make the image a bit better.
| | 10:02 |
All right.
Well, last, but not least, I want to
| | 10:04 |
highlight a few more photographs with
another prop, in this case, the umbrella.
| | 10:09 |
Here, you can see Cara's holding the
umbrella in front of her, fun photograph.
| | 10:13 |
And then, I asked her to hold it behind
her.
| | 10:15 |
She started to hold it with two hands.
That didn't work.
| | 10:18 |
It doesn't look right.
So, I had her hold it with one hand, and
| | 10:22 |
then got in close.
This, I think, works a bit better.
| | 10:25 |
And here, you can see a few variations of
this type of a shot.
| | 10:29 |
And then, finally something where she's
changing her posture a bit.
| | 10:32 |
And then, last but not least where I'm
getting really close.
| | 10:36 |
So, in reviewing these photographs what
my hope is that you can start to see this
| | 10:40 |
overall process of how do you work
through certain ideas and that some of
| | 10:43 |
your ideas, they won't work, that's okay.
Other ideas might.
| | 10:48 |
And a lot of times, to get good at
photography, what you have to do is keep
| | 10:52 |
asking yourself, well, what else could I
do here, what could I add or what could I
| | 10:56 |
take away, in order to make a more
interesting photograph.
| | 11:01 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing images from the beginning of the shoot| 00:00 |
In the next couple of movies, we're going
to take a look at a few slide shows and
| | 00:03 |
really focus in on the keepers.
And this is something that we might do if
| | 00:07 |
we're at a workshop.
We might have a slide show time where we
| | 00:10 |
clip through some images and talk about
those photographs that worked well.
| | 00:14 |
Let's do that here let's start right at
the beginning this was one of the
| | 00:17 |
photographs that I capture of Kara right
at the beginning as she was getting her
| | 00:21 |
makeup done I like this image I think it
has nice personality and this next one I
| | 00:24 |
like even more its a bit more of a quiet
portrait and as you start capturing
| | 00:27 |
pictures of someone what your really
doing is trying to get to know them
| | 00:30 |
photographically.
Here I'm noticing her beautiful blue
| | 00:37 |
eyes, her hair color, I like the detail
in the hair.
| | 00:41 |
And then next, you're starting to create
unique or interesting photographs.
| | 00:45 |
Like with this one, what I like about it
is it sets the scene.
| | 00:48 |
That beautiful fireplace, those wonderful
candelabras, I love that.
| | 00:53 |
Of course though, I also wanted to get
close and really move in and capture a
| | 00:56 |
bit of the personality where she's really
connected with the camera I also though
| | 01:00 |
like this photographs that are bit more
quiet.
| | 01:04 |
I think this one works well, sort of
looking down, it's almost like this quiet
| | 01:08 |
reflection moment really beautiful shot
at least in my opinion.
| | 01:12 |
And then from there, there were some
other things to take advantage of in that
| | 01:15 |
location, the windows.
This one I think is elegant and strong.
| | 01:20 |
And in this location you can capture
other moods.
| | 01:23 |
Like you can see here, looking off to the
side.
| | 01:26 |
And then next I had her sit the other
way, so her back wasn't to the window.
| | 01:30 |
You can see in this shot.
And I think this is a fun, personality
| | 01:33 |
filled picture.
I think this is a picture where she sort
| | 01:36 |
of let her guard down.
She wasn't playing the role, so to speak.
| | 01:41 |
And as I'm reviewing my pictures, I'm
also looking for those little moments.
| | 01:45 |
Those little things that set certain
pictures apart.
| | 01:48 |
There were some photographs taking
advantage of the door, here, the light is
| | 01:52 |
behind her.
And then now we see another photograph
| | 01:55 |
captured at the same time, a bit more
close.
| | 01:58 |
And then, another perspective, where I'm
standing in the doorway, and, and the
| | 02:01 |
light is just illuminating her.
What I like about this one is it in a
| | 02:05 |
sense it's glowing.
I love the almost glowing quality of the
| | 02:09 |
light.
Next decided to move outdoors.
| | 02:13 |
And the light outdoors was really even
and soft, beautiful textures, and here I
| | 02:18 |
like how she's positioned in this spot
here between the column and the
| | 02:22 |
windowsill there.
I only wish she were a little bit further
| | 02:27 |
over to the left.
But again, I still like this picture.
| | 02:30 |
Another thing that I wanted to do of
course was have fun with props and I love
| | 02:34 |
these and have they really bring out
these different sort of personalities in
| | 02:37 |
card.
Some of them are fun, others are, are
| | 02:41 |
little of the goofy and then still we
have some that really this sort of full
| | 02:44 |
of nice mood and expression.
So with those photographs, that's really
| | 02:49 |
what I'm looking for.
Then there was that chair, that velvet
| | 02:53 |
chair which I thought was so elegant.
Here's a quite picture of her there which
| | 02:57 |
I liked.
And another one which is a bit more open.
| | 03:00 |
This is almost like the bride waiting.
It's not an image which is Necessarily a
| | 03:05 |
portfolio shot, but still one that I like
because of the openness of the shot.
| | 03:11 |
In other words, there's a lot of negative
space.
| | 03:14 |
The next picture I want to show you is
this one, where Kara is leaning against
| | 03:18 |
this old, rough, hewn wood beam.
I always like to have people interact
| | 03:22 |
with the environment.
I like that she's leaning on that.
| | 03:25 |
And here's another version of that.
Which where I'm obviously closer to her.
| | 03:30 |
and I love her smile and sparkling eyes.
The other thing that I wanted to do here
| | 03:35 |
was have some fun, create some quirky
photographs with a wine barrel.
| | 03:39 |
I like this one, how she's looking off to
the side and how I'm capturing this
| | 03:43 |
really at her eye level.
I climbed up on a ladder to get this
| | 03:46 |
perspective.
I like that, but I also wanted one where
| | 03:49 |
I was lower.
This is one of my favorite shots from
| | 03:52 |
that moment.
I worked on it in photo shop and I'll
| | 03:55 |
talk more about that later, but for now,
I like it Because there's some
| | 03:59 |
imperfections here.
I love the quality of light, just that
| | 04:03 |
it's a, a different and unique
photograph.
| | 04:06 |
You know, so often in wedding
photography, we've seen pictures before,
| | 04:09 |
but this one I haven't.
I love that.
| | 04:12 |
I love that aspect of it.
Another photograph, captured near the
| | 04:16 |
wine barrel, in front of an old cactus,
and I just like the quality of the cactus
| | 04:19 |
and the light in this particular
photograph.
| | 04:24 |
And then there were some photographs
which I think were really luminous, like
| | 04:27 |
this one here.
I think she's content, she's engaged.
| | 04:31 |
Again, I like the overall look and feel
of this pictures.
| | 04:35 |
Another area I really liked capturing
photographs at was the fountain.
| | 04:39 |
I love the backlight and how you could
work with it so that it was ethereal and
| | 04:42 |
atmospheric, like this.
And I especially love her shadow.
| | 04:47 |
In the foreground and just how bright and
sort of warm and hopeful this picture is,
| | 04:51 |
and I also like using the backlight in a
more direct way, blocking it a bit so you
| | 04:54 |
can see more detail.
And with these photographs sometimes the
| | 04:59 |
color looks great.
In other situations, converting it to
| | 05:02 |
black and white gives it a real, kind of,
kind of snap to it.
| | 05:06 |
Still, at the fountain, there were other
photographs I liked here, just sort of
| | 05:10 |
capturing a bit of Cara's personality in
this location.
| | 05:13 |
All right, well, that wraps up our first
slide show.
| | 05:16 |
Let's continue our conversation about
reviewing the keepers, and let's do that
| | 05:21 |
in the next movie.
| | 05:23 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing images from the middle of the shoot| 00:00 |
Alright well let's take a look at another
slide show of images as we continue our
| | 00:04 |
focus in on reviewing the keepers.
I want to start off with this picture
| | 00:09 |
here.
One of the reasons why I think this one
| | 00:11 |
works is because of the leading lines
which all sort of point towards Cara.
| | 00:16 |
And I love her presence and her eye
contact.
| | 00:19 |
Now for me in portraiture, it's often
about that connection and trying to ask
| | 00:22 |
yourself, does the image have some sort
of a feeling or emotion to it.
| | 00:27 |
I think that this one does.
So as you start to review your own
| | 00:30 |
pictures, you want to ask yourself, well,
how does this work?
| | 00:34 |
Does this one work for me?
Not does it work for others or will other
| | 00:37 |
people like it.
That's important, but more does it work
| | 00:41 |
for you.
Again this is one of those, and then we
| | 00:43 |
have a few of these shots where I
integrated this prop into it.
| | 00:47 |
Again, just having some fun with that
space and also this prop.
| | 00:51 |
There are some other props to work with
too, which I thought were fun, or, old
| | 00:55 |
vintage suitcase with some lettering on
it.
| | 00:58 |
You know, with images like this if the
lettering is distracting you can always
| | 01:01 |
remove that in post production as well.
Here I think it works and again, I like
| | 01:06 |
her position in the middle of the frame.
Now typically photography people will
| | 01:11 |
tell you, don't put the subject in the
middle.
| | 01:13 |
Yet, in the hallway like this, she just
sort of fits there.
| | 01:17 |
It's almost like she's framed in the
center of the image, so I think that
| | 01:20 |
works.
You can also work with that frame and get
| | 01:23 |
closer as you can see that I've done
here.
| | 01:25 |
Here is a shot where she was in front of
this interesting wall which just had nice
| | 01:30 |
kind of texture and quality to it and
then one which was captured Moments
| | 01:33 |
after, which is very elegant.
And I think that this one really shows
| | 01:39 |
the dress.
Other photographs captured a bit of her
| | 01:42 |
personality, sort of the fun of the day.
This one, it really is this beautiful,
| | 01:46 |
just elegant moment.
And again, she's in the middle of the
| | 01:49 |
frame, and sometimes, that's okay.
All that space around her allows the
| | 01:53 |
image to sort of just breathe and relax,
and we can appreciate it without having
| | 01:58 |
it to be overcomplicated.
All right.
| | 02:01 |
Well, here's another shot where she's
leaning against one of these wood
| | 02:05 |
columns.
Again, I like those, where there's some
| | 02:08 |
sort of chance to just relax or catch
your breath.
| | 02:12 |
Another way that I had her interact with
the columns is hide sort of behind one.
| | 02:16 |
Here, you can see a perspective of that.
And that's a fun way to capture an image,
| | 02:21 |
just sort of looking around the corner.
Here's a picture with another prop, the,
| | 02:26 |
the boat.
And this one works again because of the
| | 02:28 |
lens flare and the atmosphere that we
have there.
| | 02:32 |
And speaking of lens clear atmosphere,
back lighting allows us to do that like
| | 02:35 |
we have here with this fountain shot.
And this really is almost exactly like
| | 02:40 |
the photograph looked straight out of the
camera.
| | 02:43 |
You know, when you're shooting in the sun
it creates this really just bright
| | 02:46 |
interesting look.
And in order to capture photographs like
| | 02:50 |
this you just overexpose, and you really
go for it and hope that the flare turns
| | 02:53 |
out well.
Sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it does.
| | 02:57 |
This one, I think, works.
In this next shot, you can see, it's a
| | 03:01 |
little bit more up close.
This one is fine, I think, because of her
| | 03:05 |
bright red lipstick.
It just pops, and it's a really nice
| | 03:08 |
look.
Here's another picture of her in front of
| | 03:11 |
a background.
Good balance to that photograph, and this
| | 03:14 |
one I love the playfulness of the overall
composition.
| | 03:18 |
And moving on to another variation of
that same location, here she's next to a
| | 03:22 |
wall, and I like how she's interacting
with the wall.
| | 03:26 |
She's not in front of this, but she's
really in that environment, connected and
| | 03:29 |
looking at the camera.
And then moving in close, you can see
| | 03:33 |
here I've removed the color.
And this one's really about the detail,
| | 03:38 |
her eyelashes, and I just love the detail
of her eyelashes and a little bit of the
| | 03:41 |
detail there on the flowers.
Next I have a bit more of a pulled back
| | 03:46 |
photograph from that same context.
Again, showing these just to get you
| | 03:50 |
thinking how you can capture so many
different images in one location.
| | 03:54 |
And as you review, you're really asking
yourself, does this one kind of trigger
| | 03:57 |
anything in me, does this one work?
And again, I think these photographs
| | 04:01 |
work.
Moving to the truck, the truck was really
| | 04:04 |
all about having some fun with this
vintage vehicle.
| | 04:07 |
And here we can see some of that fun.
Some of those just beautiful, interesting
| | 04:11 |
colors and how she's connected to the
truck, sitting in the back of it rather
| | 04:14 |
than just in Front of it.
And then, of course, once she got in the
| | 04:19 |
cab, there were some really fun
photographs to make of her sitting in the
| | 04:22 |
cab.
Now this is an interesting picture.
| | 04:25 |
Initially I thought this isn't a keeper,
because I missed my focus.
| | 04:29 |
Yet, sometimes missing focus can help
out.
| | 04:32 |
The blur here is really fun, and the
image is almost all out of focus.
| | 04:37 |
If you look closely, there's some small
details in.
| | 04:40 |
But it's okay, I just love the mood of
this.
| | 04:43 |
And again, it has this really nice sort
of getaway type of expression and, and
| | 04:46 |
the overall blur I think helps to make
that particular picture work.
| | 04:52 |
Next, we have some other photographs of
her looking out of the truck.
| | 04:56 |
And here, I captured a few images,
photographing the mirror and trying to
| | 05:00 |
capture that reflection of her in the
mirror.
| | 05:04 |
Then inside of the cab, and what I'm
looking to do here is sort of use this
| | 05:07 |
space with a wider angle lens.
And I like this one I think the most out
| | 05:12 |
of the last few of her looking into the
camera, bright beautiful flowers and all
| | 05:15 |
of those nice details.
Next another photograph of her on the
| | 05:20 |
edge of the car seat and I love her
laughter in this picture, and you could
| | 05:23 |
almost hear her laughing when you look at
a photograph like this.
| | 05:28 |
And then last but not least a couple of
photos of her with the entirety of the
| | 05:31 |
truck, and I just love how she's leaning
on the door.
| | 05:35 |
And then one more leaning on the door,
and looking off into the distance, I
| | 05:38 |
think it's a, a fun capture.
And that wraps up our look at these
| | 05:42 |
segments of this shoot.
Let's continue to look at some of the
| | 05:46 |
keepers, and let's do that in the next
movie.
| | 05:49 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing the end of the shoot| 00:00 |
Alright well here we're going to look at
another slide show of photographs as we
| | 00:04 |
get a sense of an overview of some of the
keepers in this particular set of our
| | 00:07 |
pictures.
We're going to start off with this
| | 00:11 |
picture here.
This particular photograph I think works
| | 00:15 |
because of the colors the interesting
shapes.
| | 00:18 |
There's a certain elegance about his
frame and about her the way shes carrying
| | 00:21 |
herself.
It also is very Santa Barbara, which was
| | 00:25 |
our location.
And as you're seeking to capture your
| | 00:29 |
location, whether it's somewhere out on a
ranch or, in this case, in a historic
| | 00:32 |
building, you want to capture some of
those details which really tell the story
| | 00:36 |
of that place.
These agave plants are all around Santa
| | 00:40 |
Barbara, and I like that.
The color is there and so again, I think
| | 00:43 |
that's a keeper.
Here's a different version of that.
| | 00:46 |
If we compare the two, this one's a
little bit more crowded.
| | 00:49 |
This one's a bit more open.
Her dress is just a bit more open and
| | 00:53 |
she's just calm there in that
environment.
| | 00:56 |
Next we have another scene where I've
just changed my camera perspective.
| | 01:00 |
And again, I like the elegance and the
simplicity of this picture.
| | 01:04 |
I like sort of the old and new here.
And as I was working in this environment,
| | 01:08 |
this little corner, I realized there were
some other photographs to be made, cause
| | 01:11 |
the light was so interesting.
And this is one that I had hoped to
| | 01:15 |
capture, but I didn't know.
You know you never know when you have
| | 01:19 |
your camera, if you actually got it.
When I reviewed this picture, I said to
| | 01:23 |
myself, yes, and I, I love this one,
because of Just the way the light and the
| | 01:27 |
shadow sort of points toward her head
from the top right hand corner.
| | 01:33 |
And again just the simplicity and the
elegance of those natural flowers and
| | 01:37 |
this natural environment.
You know enough but not too much.
| | 01:42 |
And a lot of times with photography,
that's what you're trying to do.
| | 01:44 |
You're trying to reduce and simplify, say
more with less.
| | 01:49 |
And so as I'm reviewing my pictures, I'm
always asking myself am I able to do that
| | 01:52 |
by composing or by making connection, is
there anything that's distracting me in
| | 01:56 |
the frame.
Again, here's another version of that
| | 02:00 |
particular scene, this time in color.
I think the colors work really well,
| | 02:05 |
perhaps equally as well as a black and
white version, and then trying to reduce
| | 02:09 |
and simplify even more here's a more
cropped in perspective, in this case
| | 02:12 |
about the dress and the hands and the
flowers, kind of a need detail shot.
| | 02:19 |
Next looking at another version.
Again, just varying the composition.
| | 02:22 |
Before it was a bit more formal and
pulled back.
| | 02:25 |
You can see I'm getting a bit closer
here.
| | 02:27 |
And I like this one because a little bit
of the color on the top right and again,
| | 02:30 |
how she's just really connecting with us
as she's looking at the camera and I like
| | 02:34 |
her overall just, I guess the feeling of
it in this picture.
| | 02:39 |
And then moving to the anchor, this was
fun.
| | 02:42 |
And these photographs, I think, were fun,
sort of trying to integrate that into it.
| | 02:47 |
And some of these pictures work better
having her perhaps in front of the anchor
| | 02:50 |
was fun.
And then also just trying to remove it
| | 02:54 |
all together.
There are a few moments here where the
| | 02:56 |
light, the back light, just kind of
coming from the back and side, I felt
| | 02:59 |
created a nice look.
And this one, for me, is definitely a
| | 03:04 |
keeper.
I love the look and it's also a nice
| | 03:06 |
reminder picture.
It's a reminder to me that you can make
| | 03:10 |
photographs in unlikely locations, on a
city street.
| | 03:14 |
You see some of the cars there reflected
in the background, and yet they aren't
| | 03:17 |
distracting because they're out of focus
and because we're really drawn, I think,
| | 03:21 |
to her and to her overall posture, and
the way the different Lines work in the
| | 03:24 |
photograph and again I think this is a
nice, nice picture.
| | 03:30 |
Next moving to another area a little bit
more of a detail shot.
| | 03:34 |
Sometimes it's more fun to crop and
compose in quirky ways.
| | 03:38 |
Other times what you want to do is pull
back.
| | 03:40 |
In this case she has her arms crossed and
she had one of those where she was sort
| | 03:43 |
of squaring off with me.
It didn't work but I like this one,
| | 03:46 |
turning to the side, a little bit of
attitude in the shot.
| | 03:49 |
And then, with her arms uncrossed into
some more position and the light's a
| | 03:53 |
little bit different as well.
Next, the picture where, this time, I
| | 03:57 |
moved back and I used the environment,
tried to use that leading wall sort of
| | 04:01 |
leading up to her and position her in the
frame so that she was off to the left.
| | 04:06 |
And then brought in a prop.
And I love this prop, a driftwood heart.
| | 04:10 |
I like how she's holding it close and in
this case it is, you know, kind of this
| | 04:14 |
nice, meaningful photograph with that
prop and also the interesting headpiece.
| | 04:20 |
And then I have another variation of that
where she's a little bit taller in the
| | 04:23 |
frame, almost filling it up a bit more.
You know, as I go back and forth between
| | 04:27 |
these two pictures, I think I like them
equally as well.
| | 04:31 |
They both work for me.
Alright, moving on to another prop in
| | 04:34 |
this case, this piece of driftwood with
some painting on it.
| | 04:38 |
Holding it in front of her, and a little
bit of a different position or posture
| | 04:42 |
here.
Then also one a bit more off to the side.
| | 04:46 |
Next, looking at some photographs I
captured with the umbrella.
| | 04:50 |
And here with the umbrella, I loved how
it sort of blocked out the background and
| | 04:54 |
drew us in to her.
And these were a couple of my favorites
| | 04:57 |
from those pictures.
And after we captured those, we walked to
| | 05:01 |
this courtyard.
And as she was walking along, looking
| | 05:04 |
back towards me, again, I like how she
Fits within the space.
| | 05:08 |
In other words, there's nothing directly
behind her head, and she fits well in
| | 05:11 |
that.
And then we walked over to the doorway,
| | 05:14 |
which you can see on the left there, and
I just had her stand in front of that
| | 05:16 |
doorway.
And this was the last photograph that I
| | 05:20 |
captured from that particular day.
And so as we review these pictures, part
| | 05:24 |
of my intent here is just to show you,
hey These are some of the photographs
| | 05:27 |
that I captured, and also to try to get
you to think about well, what is it about
| | 05:30 |
these pictures that works?
And really this is incredibly subjective.
| | 05:37 |
Some of these pictures might not have
wokred for you.
| | 05:39 |
That's fine.
A lot of them worked really well for me,
| | 05:41 |
and as you review your own photographs
you always want to have that internal
| | 05:44 |
dialogue...
Well, is this one good just
| | 05:47 |
photographically speaking?
I mean, does it have good qualities that
| | 05:51 |
make a photograph good and then also does
it meet my own internal criteria?
| | 05:56 |
And what I've found in photography,
especially in bridal and wedding
| | 05:59 |
photography, is that internal criteria is
even more important than those external
| | 06:04 |
standards.
And if you trust your gut so to speak,
| | 06:08 |
many times that can help you find the
keepers that are most valuable and also
| | 06:11 |
those photographs that are most
interesting.
| | 06:15 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reviewing the film images| 00:00 |
In the first installment in this series
writing photography for everyone
| | 00:03 |
fundamentals, we talked a little bit
about how we could use gear in different
| | 00:07 |
ways.
How there's standard gear, and then there
| | 00:10 |
also are some special considerations, we
might use a unique lens, or maybe A film
| | 00:14 |
camera.
And in wedding photography, it's very
| | 00:17 |
common that people will shoot with film
because it helps to create a different
| | 00:21 |
mood or feeling.
As a photographer, may be an interesting
| | 00:24 |
way to experiment with doing something a
little bit different.
| | 00:29 |
and so that's what I did here on our
shoot.
| | 00:31 |
I want to talk a little bit about some of
those photographs that I captured.
| | 00:34 |
First though, one of the reasons why I
like to shoot with film, is because it
| | 00:37 |
just looks different when you hold up a
different camera to your eye.
| | 00:42 |
And sometimes by focusing different, or
by having to wind the film, it can slow
| | 00:46 |
you down or connect you with overall
process.
| | 00:49 |
So here then.
Let's look at a few photographs.
| | 00:52 |
This first picture is a bit of a scene
setter, just showing the scene without
| | 00:56 |
anyone in it.
Yet I like the overall tones that you get
| | 01:00 |
from this type of black and white film.
In this case it's Kodak Tri-X black and
| | 01:04 |
white film.
In this next photograph you can see a
| | 01:07 |
detail shot of the corner of the chair
and then also the lanterns.
| | 01:12 |
An interesting shallow depth of field and
the overall kind of grain structure in
| | 01:15 |
the image just creates a different look
or feel.
| | 01:20 |
Then we have some other photographs that
were captured with a different type of
| | 01:22 |
film.
In this case, a really high-speed film,
| | 01:25 |
and here you can see there is a lot of
grain.
| | 01:29 |
And these images are as they appeared
after they were scanned at the lab.
| | 01:33 |
In this case, we're just seeing this
initial look and it's giving us a
| | 01:36 |
different rendition of some of the scenes
we've seen previously.
| | 01:41 |
Here's a photograph of the bride on top
of the barrel.
| | 01:44 |
I love her smile in this shot.
And again how she's a little bit off
| | 01:47 |
center and the crack on the edge of the
wall.
| | 01:50 |
Next we have a photograph in a setting
which we've looked at before.
| | 01:54 |
In this case, it's a bit more pulled back
and sort of shows more of that scenario.
| | 02:00 |
And I think the black-and-white nature of
this, it does work.
| | 02:03 |
And when you shoot with a camera and have
a certain type of film, you start to
| | 02:06 |
think differently.
You think about those colors, or lack of
| | 02:09 |
color, for that matter, if you're
shooting with black and white.
| | 02:13 |
Here's another shot with a back lighting
example of using film.
| | 02:17 |
Again, black and white film has a
different mood or feel.
| | 02:21 |
I love how you can see all of the, kind
of the texture on her skin, all those
| | 02:24 |
freckles.
Next another photograph that we have of
| | 02:28 |
the truck, in this case using a specific
type of film, Fuji 400 Pro H.
| | 02:33 |
It has a unique color palette and you can
see that here with these photographs.
| | 02:37 |
Again similar scenarios as we've seen
before with just a slight little shift or
| | 02:41 |
different mood or feeling.
And again with these pictures I think
| | 02:45 |
there's some nice connection and also
expression.
| | 02:49 |
Here are a couple of photographs with
that backlit look.
| | 02:52 |
You can see how that looks with this type
of film.
| | 02:54 |
Here as well and then two more
photographs that were, which were
| | 02:58 |
captured by this fountain and in this
case I think these two photographs would
| | 03:01 |
work well side by side.
And so part of the reason I wanted to
| | 03:06 |
show you this was just to give you an
idea of what type of photographs I
| | 03:09 |
captured, but also to get you thinking
about how you might experiment.
| | 03:14 |
When you're photographing a wave.
Now it doesn't mean that you're going to
| | 03:18 |
shoot film, it may mean that you do
something else, but what I've found is
| | 03:21 |
that by getting out of your comfort zone,
it can often help you learn or think or
| | 03:24 |
see differently, and as a photographer,
that can really help you out.
| | 03:30 |
It can help you grow and develop as a
photographer.
| | 03:32 |
And even if you decide, you know what,
I'm not going to use this or whatever it
| | 03:36 |
is that you experimented with, it often
can help you kind of bring you back to
| | 03:40 |
what you were doing previously and to be
even better at that.
| | 03:45 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Comparing before and after| 00:00 |
Now that we have reviewed some of the
photographs that have been captured, what
| | 00:03 |
I want to do here is shift our attention
to post production.
| | 00:06 |
In other words, how do we use software in
order to process our images, in order to
| | 00:10 |
make our photographs come to life?
Well in the previous installment in this
| | 00:14 |
series, Wedding Photography for Everyone,
Fundamentals, we talked about the
| | 00:18 |
importance of using a tool like
Lightroom, because it allows you to work
| | 00:21 |
with a high volume of photographs and to
do so quickly, to take advantage of raw
| | 00:24 |
processing of your pictures.
So for the most part with these
| | 00:30 |
photographs, I've worked with Lightroom,
then of course though, there will the
| | 00:33 |
situations, where you need to finish
something off, a lot of times for those
| | 00:37 |
situations you jump to Photoshop.
So let's take a look at a few
| | 00:41 |
photographs, which I think will represent
how you might use post production
| | 00:44 |
techniques in order to make your images
come to life.
| | 00:49 |
We'll start with this photograph here.
And with this particular photograph, it
| | 00:52 |
has a nice overall look and feel and
color.
| | 00:55 |
And if we look at the befores, you can
see here, it was pretty good straight out
| | 00:58 |
of the camera.
It was just a little bit cool.
| | 01:01 |
Here's the after.
It's now a bit more warm.
| | 01:04 |
Now for some of you, that may be subtle,
may be hard to see.
| | 01:08 |
And that's okay, sometimes you get it
good on camera and you don't have to do a
| | 01:11 |
lot to your picture.
Other times you may have to do more.
| | 01:16 |
Here's another photograph that if we look
at the before and after, here's our
| | 01:19 |
before and then now after.
Again it's just making some subtle
| | 01:23 |
adjustments to the overall color, and
mood of the picture.
| | 01:27 |
Moving to another scene this was one of
those incidences where I need to do more.
| | 01:32 |
In this case we hve nice light and the
flowers aer bright, the face is bright,
| | 01:36 |
you know if we loko at the before we'll
discover that it was much more muted.
| | 01:42 |
We don't have that nice warm glow.
So in this case working with Light Room I
| | 01:46 |
just brighten things up a bit and then
ahnd painted in some brightness on the
| | 01:50 |
face and also across the arm and a bit on
the flowers...
| | 01:56 |
With this next photograph I want to
highlight a situation where we might have
| | 01:59 |
to go beyond Lightroom.
Here I have a picture that looks nice,and
| | 02:03 |
yet notice there is a lantern behind or a
lamp behind her head.
| | 02:08 |
In order to remove that we need to go to
Photoshop and you can see that that's
| | 02:11 |
what I've done here.
It's a pretty simple.
| | 02:14 |
To retouch that out, but it makes the
image stronger.
| | 02:17 |
Then next, once we've cleaned up a
photograph, we may want to convert it to
| | 02:20 |
black and white, create a different,
again mood or feeling with the
| | 02:24 |
photograph.
We can do that either in Photoshop or
| | 02:27 |
(UNKNOWN) in Lightroom.
The next photograph that we have here is
| | 02:31 |
something that I want to show you in
order to kind of walk you through a few
| | 02:34 |
stages of processing.
Here we have the picture straight out of
| | 02:38 |
the camera.
The exposure and composition are okay.
| | 02:41 |
Next up though, is of course, to do
something, just bring a little bit of
| | 02:44 |
snap or life to it.
Warm it up a bit, increase the overall
| | 02:48 |
color palette.
It's a subtle change, but nonetheless
| | 02:51 |
important.
When it comes to good post production
| | 02:54 |
often you're thinking about, how can I
make subtle, yet significant adjustments.
| | 02:59 |
Then I decided I wanted to convert it to
black and white.
| | 03:02 |
Here you can see the black and white
conversion.
| | 03:05 |
Adding more density to the frame.
Next, I used the adjustment brush and
| | 03:08 |
light room to paint in some light in the
center part of the photograph, And then
| | 03:12 |
last but not least, converted it to have
a sepia tone and also painted in some
| | 03:16 |
more light.
So you can see how that image looks in
| | 03:21 |
this setting and as you work on your
photographs sometimes there will be a
| | 03:25 |
quick little fix, that's it.
Other times you'll want to think of it as
| | 03:29 |
stages.
First you fix a little bit, then do a bit
| | 03:32 |
more and then a bit more.
And then eventually arrive at what you
| | 03:36 |
think is interesting or compelling
photograph.
| | 03:39 |
And here we have another photograph which
I think illustrates that same idea in
| | 03:42 |
different way.
This is a picture straight out of the
| | 03:45 |
camera, nice, up close, beautiful
picture.
| | 03:48 |
The first thing to do here was to change
the color, now it's warm.
| | 03:52 |
And with photographs of people, you
always want them to air on the side of
| | 03:55 |
being a little bit warm versus cool.
So in other words, you want them to be
| | 03:59 |
perhaps yellow and orange and red versus
blue and green.
| | 04:03 |
And so, again, how far you go with that,
it's totally up to you, but here, just a
| | 04:06 |
subtle shift.
Next, I wanted to convert it to black and
| | 04:09 |
white.
So after I corrected that, I sort of went
| | 04:11 |
to black and white.
And then I wanted to take that
| | 04:14 |
black-and-white conversion further, and
you can see in this case It has a
| | 04:17 |
completely different look and feel.
The skin is really bright, as comparison
| | 04:22 |
to this, where it's a bit darker.
And so, even as you make those
| | 04:25 |
adjustments, as you sort of step your way
through a picture, you want to be asking
| | 04:28 |
yourself, well, what else can I do here
to change the mood, to sort of finish
| | 04:31 |
this photograph off?
Here's another photograph which
| | 04:37 |
illustrates a different concept, if you
look at the back right edge of her dress
| | 04:40 |
there's a little string that's sticking
out.
| | 04:44 |
That's something that you really need to
finish in Photoshop.
| | 04:47 |
So in order to get that out you can open
that up in Photoshop and just remove
| | 04:50 |
that, and also kind of clean up the back
a little bit as well.
| | 04:55 |
Here's a picture which illustrates that
same ideal, but perhaps a bit more
| | 04:58 |
dramatically.
On the back edge of the dress you can see
| | 05:01 |
there were clips, because the dress
wasn't her exact size.
| | 05:05 |
Now you won't necessarily have clips if
you're photographing a real wedding, but
| | 05:08 |
you may have something distracting you
need to get rid of.
| | 05:12 |
And so in this case again, just cleaning
up the back part of the image in
| | 05:15 |
Photoshop and sort of finishing it off
helps us focus on the bride rather than
| | 05:19 |
on some distracting detail.
Lets look at a couple more examples of
| | 05:24 |
that.
Here's a nice detail shot.
| | 05:27 |
The dress on the right hand side right
next to the arm there doesn't quite fit
| | 05:30 |
so again just sort of tucking that in a
bit you can see the before and afters.
| | 05:35 |
Subtle, yet none the less important.
Especially with a close up detail shot
| | 05:39 |
like this.
Then we have an image here, where we have
| | 05:42 |
that same situation, few distracting
elements.
| | 05:44 |
The dress, on the right hand side of the
frame, also some of the flyaway hairs.
| | 05:49 |
Those are the hairs which are sort of
glowing in the sun.
| | 05:51 |
Here we can use Photoshop to reduce and
simplify a bit.
| | 05:55 |
And in this case just cleaning up a few
of those places.
| | 05:59 |
And then while I was in Photoshop, I also
made a subtle color adjustment or
| | 06:02 |
enhancement as well.
Next I want to look at a couple more
| | 06:06 |
adjustments here to talk about creativity
in post production.
| | 06:10 |
Here I have a photograph which is really
elegant, color looks nice.
| | 06:14 |
In this case I brought this one into
photo shop in order to change the color a
| | 06:17 |
bit and add a tilt shift effect.
Now, I'll need to zoom in on this
| | 06:22 |
photograph to really see that.
And when we zoom in on this picture, one
| | 06:25 |
of the things that you'll notice is that
the face is sharp but above the head and
| | 06:28 |
also kind of the lower part of the dress,
it's all out of focus.
| | 06:33 |
So sometimes you're correcting problems.
Other times you're getting creative and
| | 06:37 |
adding something to one of the
photographs.
| | 06:40 |
Here's another situation where you might
do that in a completely different way in
| | 06:44 |
this case we have nice composition
beautiful photograph yet here I see a
| | 06:47 |
picture within a picture and in this case
I just crop this image in so now I have a
| | 06:51 |
nice square version of that.
And often you can crop or recompose using
| | 06:58 |
different tools in order to help your
pictures be even better.
| | 07:02 |
Alright, well with all these photographs
what my hope was, was to highlight some
| | 07:06 |
of the ways that you might use Lightroom
or Photoshop in order to work on your
| | 07:10 |
photographs.
Now, if you are new to either of those
| | 07:14 |
tools you'll find that there are a number
of different courses on the lynda.com
| | 07:17 |
library.
Which will introduce you to how you can
| | 07:20 |
do many of the things that we've done
here.
| | 07:23 |
So if you're interested at getting better
in the post-production side of your
| | 07:26 |
workflow, be sure to check those out.
| | 07:29 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Making selects: A few words of advice| 00:00 |
Now that we've taken some time to look at
and review some of the photographs that I
| | 00:04 |
captured, what I want to do here is
provide you with some tips and some
| | 00:07 |
advice for finding keepers when you're
photographing at a wedding.
| | 00:12 |
In particular, when you're trying to
capture an interesting picture of a
| | 00:15 |
bride.
Now, one of the things you have to keep
| | 00:17 |
in mind is this, when you get back to
your photographs, it will always be a
| | 00:20 |
little bit disappointing.
It's always different than your
| | 00:24 |
experience.
You also have to keep this in mind, it
| | 00:27 |
doesn't matter how good of a photographer
you are, you will always capture images
| | 00:31 |
which don't work.
That's okay.
| | 00:35 |
Push beyond that.
What I like to do is I like to bring out
| | 00:38 |
my goals.
What are my goals or what were my goals
| | 00:41 |
for the shoot?
I want to capture images that are
| | 00:44 |
meaningful, authentic, luminous, crafted,
beautiful, artistic or whatever it is.
| | 00:49 |
And then, start to review the pictures.
Rather than, reviewing them blindly,
| | 00:53 |
reviewing with my vision in mind.
The next thing you have to do is you have
| | 00:58 |
to let your images live for a little bit
of time.
| | 01:01 |
In our particular case, not much time at
all has past since this particular shoot.
| | 01:07 |
So, these images are still really fresh.
What that means is, is that most likely
| | 01:11 |
I've made some mistakes.
In other words, when you review your
| | 01:15 |
photographs really quickly or, or really
soon after an event, it's almost like
| | 01:18 |
you're too close to it to be objective.
Rather, if you give your photographs a
| | 01:24 |
little bit of time, a week or two or, or
even more, perhaps.
| | 01:27 |
One of the things that you'll discover is
you'll pick up subtleties that you might
| | 01:31 |
have missed otherwise.
So, one of the things that I'll need to
| | 01:34 |
do, of course, is go back to these images
and keep working on them to try to find
| | 01:37 |
those photographs that are really
keepers.
| | 01:40 |
Often, I find, when I'm reviewing my
photographs, there will be a picture that
| | 01:43 |
is subtle.
And I'll say, you know what, it's not any
| | 01:47 |
good, but then a week later, I'll go back
to it and it's the subtlety that makes
| | 01:51 |
the image really strong.
Next, one of the things that I think you
| | 01:56 |
want to do is you want to create some
prints.
| | 01:58 |
In other words, it's fine to look at your
photographs on a computer, but you want
| | 02:01 |
to get them off the computer.
What that will do for you is it will
| | 02:05 |
change how you understand and even
interact with and think about your own
| | 02:08 |
photographs.
For example, I want to go through a few
| | 02:12 |
here.
When I was working with the life saver, I
| | 02:14 |
was really worried that it might be over
the top, a little bit kind of corny, or
| | 02:18 |
just a bit too much.
Yet, when I printed the photograph and
| | 02:23 |
hung it up on the wall and stood away
from it, I realized, no, it works.
| | 02:27 |
This, this is a good picture and I like
it.
| | 02:29 |
And as I held it and looked at it, I
realized, no, I like it even more.
| | 02:33 |
And so, it, it helped me sort of embrace
that photograph, so to speak.
| | 02:37 |
In other situations, it can help you get
familiar with the overall color.
| | 02:42 |
Like with this image, which I liked the
composition of.
| | 02:45 |
When I printed it out, with this
particular print, I realized, you know
| | 02:48 |
what?
The the eyes and the lips, they're too
| | 02:51 |
saturated.
This is a delicate photograph.
| | 02:55 |
And so, here, in looking at this print, I
realize, I need to go back and I need to
| | 02:58 |
reprocess this photograph to make it a
little bit more quieter, make the colors
| | 03:02 |
a little bit more quiet.
Because I think there is a nice, delicate
| | 03:07 |
nature to that photograph.
And so, sometimes the prints will teach
| | 03:11 |
you things that you couldn't have learned
on the computer.
| | 03:14 |
On the computer, contrast, bright colors,
saturation, well, those look wonderful.
| | 03:18 |
And so, again, it's this interplay
between these two worlds.
| | 03:22 |
In other situations, you may print
something out and realize, gosh, I've
| | 03:25 |
done something completely wrong.
Like with this photograph, I thought this
| | 03:29 |
was going to be a color image.
Yet, when I printed the color, I didn't
| | 03:32 |
like it.
When I printed it with this little bit of
| | 03:35 |
a tone, I thought it worked really well.
So, again, it was all because of the
| | 03:40 |
print that it helped me arrive at a good
place for that picture.
| | 03:45 |
Next, there are other photographs or
ideas you may be a little bit hesitant
| | 03:48 |
about, like this one.
This is quirky and fun.
| | 03:51 |
And whenever you capture quirky and fun,
you may completely miss the mark.
| | 03:56 |
Yet, I experimented, tested it out.
And after the print, I realized yeah,
| | 04:00 |
this works.
And it also may help you to think about,
| | 04:03 |
well, how do you combine a couple of
photographs together, like in this
| | 04:06 |
situation here.
And again, you could keep going with
| | 04:09 |
that.
I think the whole point is, is that
| | 04:12 |
printing your photographs can really help
you in this process of trying to find the
| | 04:15 |
keepers.
It can also help you, as you want to grow
| | 04:19 |
as a photographer.
Remember, it's not just about this
| | 04:22 |
particular shoot which was practiced,
rather it's about the next one.
| | 04:26 |
So that the next time when I'm, I'm
capturing an image and I, and I'm going
| | 04:29 |
for it, I can think back to this overall
process and think about what worked and
| | 04:33 |
what didn't and I can kind of pull from
this experience.
| | 04:37 |
In a sense, what that can do is give you
a bit of wisdom, so that the next time
| | 04:41 |
you are capturing images, it will be that
much better.
| | 04:46 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
9. Final Summary and ResourcesReviewing final tips for bridal portraits| 00:00 |
As we near the end our course, I thought
it would be helpful to reflect back on
| | 00:04 |
some of the things that we've picked up
and learned along the way.
| | 00:08 |
So, what I want to do here is just
highlight a few things that I think are
| | 00:11 |
important.
And sort of bring all of that together,
| | 00:14 |
so that you can then, review those topics
as you start to consider how to create
| | 00:17 |
your own bridal portraits.
All right.
| | 00:20 |
Well, for starters, one of the things
that I have on my list is this, you
| | 00:23 |
want to craft a vision.
You want to have a vision and goal for
| | 00:27 |
what type of photographs that you want to
make.
| | 00:29 |
It's definitely an important step.
Another item that I jotted down is that
| | 00:33 |
when you're capturing a picture of a
bride, you want to capture the sparkle in
| | 00:36 |
her eyes.
You want to, you want to really
| | 00:39 |
photograph the glow of the day.
And that's really important.
| | 00:43 |
Next, I have that when you're taking
these pictures, it's important to get the
| | 00:46 |
bride to move.
Go for a walk.
| | 00:48 |
Ask her to, to spin, to change her
posture, to do anything just to get, to
| | 00:52 |
begin to move.
Because what that will do is, it will
| | 00:55 |
help loosen her up, so that you capture
more natural photographs.
| | 01:00 |
Then, I have another point here is that
as you're taking those pictures, you
| | 01:03 |
want to provide positive and encouraging
feedback.
| | 01:06 |
We have to keep in mind that, when we're
photographing someone, the experience on
| | 01:10 |
the other side of the lens is completely
different.
| | 01:13 |
Sometimes it can make us self-conscious.
So, again, you want to provide a lot of
| | 01:17 |
helpful encouragement.
Next, as you're making these photographs,
| | 01:21 |
you want to have fun.
You know, this is an exciting day, you
| | 01:24 |
want to capture that excitement.
And maybe, you even want to capture some
| | 01:28 |
quirky or fun photographs as well.
Then, you might want to integrate props
| | 01:33 |
into your photographs.
Because props that are perhaps there for
| | 01:36 |
the theme of the day.
They're a great way to add personality
| | 01:40 |
and to create different types of
photographs.
| | 01:43 |
Then, of course, we have the bouquet.
You definitely do not want to forget the
| | 01:46 |
bouquet.
A lot of thought has been put into the,
| | 01:49 |
the type of flowers, the color of the
flowers.
| | 01:52 |
Integrate those into your photographs.
Also, it's a great way to give the bride
| | 01:56 |
something to do with her hands, if she
doesn't know where to place her hands,
| | 01:59 |
once she has flowers in her hands, that
will really solve that problem.
| | 02:05 |
Then, number eight, I have here is that
you want to utilize your location.
| | 02:10 |
In other words, really think about how
you can utilize different areas of where
| | 02:13 |
you are.
And sometimes, what you'll discover is
| | 02:17 |
that great pictures can be made in
unlikely locations.
| | 02:21 |
Next, we have that light can be found.
You know, there are so many different
| | 02:25 |
types of light we can work with, whether
that's outdoor, open shade, or indoor
| | 02:29 |
window, or door light.
We can also work with back light, in
| | 02:33 |
order to create a certain or distinct
look.
| | 02:35 |
And as we think about these different
types of light, we don't want to forget
| | 02:39 |
magic hour.
You know, that sky light at the end of
| | 02:41 |
the day which has such a beautiful color
and look.
| | 02:45 |
And then, the last idea that I wrote down
here on my top ten list is this, it's
| | 02:49 |
that genuine and authentic is always
better than contrived.
| | 02:54 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Exploring the next steps| 00:00 |
Now that we are at the end of our course,
what's next?
| | 00:04 |
One of the things that I think you
want to do next is start to go out and
| | 00:07 |
practice.
Because wedding photography is incredibly
| | 00:11 |
difficult.
So, here, I want to give you three
| | 00:14 |
different ideas that you might implement,
in regards to practicing when it comes to
| | 00:17 |
creating better bridal portraits.
Well, for starters, one of things that
| | 00:22 |
you might want to do is assist another
wedding photographer.
| | 00:26 |
In other words, as an assistant, you
could carry bags and just go along and
| | 00:29 |
see how someone else captures images at a
wedding.
| | 00:33 |
Often, you can learn a lot through the
art of observation.
| | 00:36 |
Another thing you might want to do is try
to be a second shooter at a wedding.
| | 00:41 |
As a second shooter, you don't have all
of the responsibility of the main
| | 00:44 |
photographer.
In other words, the main photographer is
| | 00:47 |
capturing the most important images, then
your, your job, your photography is just
| | 00:51 |
to complement that.
And so, as you do that, you could again,
| | 00:54 |
get more experience with wedding
photography, in particular with bridal
| | 00:58 |
portraits.
Then, last but not least, one of the
| | 01:01 |
things that you might want to do is what
we did in this course.
| | 01:04 |
You might want to setup your own photo
shoot.
| | 01:07 |
Perhaps you have a friend who has a
wedding dress.
| | 01:09 |
Well, setup a time to photograph that
friend in a, in an interesting location.
| | 01:14 |
There, you could then, implement some of
the ideas that we brought up in this
| | 01:18 |
course.
Alright, well in closing, I hope that
| | 01:21 |
this course has provided you with some
inspiration, and also, some practical
| | 01:25 |
ideas of how you can capture better
bridal portraits.
| | 01:29 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
