Lessons

Lesson Info

Question and Answer

Several folks are asking about, as always, the aperture, so they see that you're too pointy and they want to know kind of how far you are from the family and where you're focusing. So I'm on the fifty dale lanes right now, and I'm standing at about here, which ironically, of course, is when kelly's on her twenty four to seventy she's shooting at the fifty mil range, which is the best part of the lens, which is the central path, so I figured I was always shooting on the twenty four one five, four point oh, when I upgraded to the fifty mil, I looked at my middle data on a bridge and it said that I was pretty much shooting at a focal range of fifty mil the entire time and so fifty mil for me is usually around this focal length from them, so I am shooting at two point eight because I liked that risk taking of two point and I'm supposed to be for but I can't hide that fact because I'm teeth so you can see the truth of it. But the truth is, if I keep the faces in a good lineman, I do take th...

at risk it two point eight and it is soft, but I like portrait to be a little bit soft I don't want my fortune, it'd be pin sharp oh, I know that such a naughty thing to say, but more importantly, when I come up to this range here what I actually did was focused on my focal point was actually just joy go back into position for me so just yeah that and just bring your face for don't worry about gracie I'm just going to show you something so bring your heads together that's it she can just like that she met you can come and take her if you want but basically I focused on joyce I I focused and so what I did was I toggle my focal point I focused over joyce I and then I recomposed and it's a great show other gracie okay, so I tuggle tuggle on joyce I I know that they're the same distance and I do that with just a mother and daughter shape. So now if I turn your body towards so no different than if I when I first shot met but notice they don't join at the hip that's natural because only a partner joins it the hip with it's a sexual energy so straightaway the hits of slightly turned away from each other now from here when I want to do is put both of you to put your weight on your back foot that's it so you kicking your booty away there now joy is a little bit further back than lisa from the front so from that side camera you can see lisa's noses here enjoys about an inch away and we've done that because lisa's going to bring her chin forward and down and joy's gonna push her chin forward a long way okay, so she's going to get the definition but they're going to meet in the mid they're going to meet in the on the same focal plane I'll meet you on the same focal plane all right? So joy push forward joy push forward and down there it is so to me she now has perfect definition she looks slim through here arms here so I would just bring this hand down working the shoulder forward lisa there it is and I'm going to take a shot of them to get a light that for their war I can't no smile joy joy how can I tell joy not to smile though I know all right so now lisa is really lane but watch this I feel like in this position she's predicting her hips towards me effect by cinema have a look and this does nothing for her body shape and look how you callin cheers. All right so now watch this. What I'm going to do is I'm going to get both girls too steep forward with their front foot that not too far and now I want you joy to tune your body towards lisa that's it now pull away from here because you're right up in under there you giving you big cuddles but when I want you to do is just pull back a little bit and now both of them can you see their hip is predicted towards me like this so if I could get the hip on the different plane so lisa you need to step your head back so you need to actually step your foot back that's it became more so you're actually leaning towards me you go okay now a little bit more now to you they're both doing this right but to the camera they're not lisa bring your chin engage your chin come towards mom okay now slide your hand around a little way but more a little bit back sorry that joy bring your hand back down a little weed but that's it see not so squished all right push your ten ford and down to may that's it ten four laser that's and down fourteen down more more so like that away from your neck good girl joy come up a little wee bit with your chin that hits a girl stand up tall joy you're getting too be a go into heaven look now that I pushed the hips away and watch them come forward towards the camera so take one this way so don't go like that okay? I just want you like that be ago chin this way joy come with here and I'll take the same shot this way so sorry joy so now what's happened is I've pushed the hips away and now the top half is going to come forward but you'll see that the horizontal but you won't notice it there ok, I took another one kristie blinked its and now they look slimmer because their bums have gone away right? Always pushing the baby away from the camera even on a lean body okay, always watching the front town even on elaine body and remember when you have a lane body the chin comes forward but doesn't necessarily go down okay, because elaine body has a small chin and so they can push the chin away from the nick but they're not to go down too far because they lose the chen I think that's really, really important. All right, what family scenario do you want to see them do? This family does out of the ones that we've got on the thing? If you could give me my key night back, I'm going to save the aerial shot for a smaller baby so we could sit them down we could sit them down way could sit them down, we could do the ottoman, we could lie them down quite a few people I'd say five or six including sarah in a net and cisco all ask questions about height difference and you did put her in hell, saying that she was much shorter than him people have asked what if she's taught what if the females taller than the male is that normally what you do is put the woman in shoes or do you have other perfect scenario ask and I'll show you how thank you joy jump out and kelly come and stand up here so kelly six foot tall all right? And if they were sisters or a mother and daughter and they would talk my mom's foreign just one of the may so you know I would be in heels she wouldn't and so when I see that height difference and it's a man and a woman, I'm not worried about the difference between the man and the woman because bacon in circle but when it's a relationship that's not a couple and it's sort of odd for one of them to be a lot taller than the other on lisa's still in her high heel shoes which are not that high but they are giving here a bit of elevation I simply tune kelly this way no towards you yeah and I put it feet apart okay, so the thing is is that drops kelly down significantly and you never notice you can shoot right back to here and not notice that she's actually you know you can shoot right back to it top thigh and not notice that she's got a feet apart so I always make people drop down now you can go down even lower than that if you make people squat they get very uncomfortable in the league shape within a minute but if he have straight legs they can still hold the poses and the difference is it's come forward kelly so that your face is about the same focal plane see how much shorter it makes may when I put my leaks like this and then also when I come up right I can still bring kelly down so very really we have sisters that are significantly taller but you do get it and if it's a couple it works because he gets the leverage of being arms around here when I did it with matt met come here so when met was so much taller take your shoes off yeah because met stall and met around the side of here and do the front hug together we're just putting down because I can't see them okay, so do the touching hits there but towards each other not to me okay, that actually works because they can interact but you know it just makes it look odd for the camera because at the end of the day, if she's holding the baby the baby's down here and met a significantly higher so let's say she didn't have high heels and met can just go lower so just see if it works met just go water in your fate. It's a little bit later and it's exactly where her high heels are. And you know I can shoot met right to the top of the hip there. And you never notice that he's, actually, in a wide stance also you can comfortably stand the any candle and squat match more comfortable right on the same if the woman was taller than the man, you just have her do something. Okay? Yes. So let's address a couple of things that you asked before one of them wass sometimes men have a really big belly. Okay, sometimes it's the men that a kitty in the women that are not. So if met had a big belly, there would be a space here. Okay? Where she wouldn't be able to lean towards his face and there's always that thing between us, you know, there is that thing between us and so that is one of those situations were I need to do exactly what I would do with a curvy girl I've met had a big belly, he would have to put his bomb back. Because I need him to push his hips back so I can bring her forward into this space up here. I want lisa to be in his upper space, not his lower space, and I've actually head guys come into the studio with big, big valleys in tiny little wives, and so I used the wives to slim them down. So this is where I would ten less itto behind that. And so you go behind that and you can put actually that's right that's going to put your shoes back on? It meant hit a big belly here. I would pose the baby with men toe hide his belly, and then I would put lisa behind and elevate her little bit either and heels or on a half a box and she could do this pose where she's having her husband with the half box, the half books, the one yet I'd put her on that now I can make her a little bit taller on the half box because the idea is, yeah, she wants to be on his shoulder and then connected to the baby. So that's man with big belly. Now for the girls, if you've got a curvy, curvy wife, so I'll be met kirby wife so if he's got a q b wife, I have to put my bum bag okay, so my bomb goes back through that way in slim down and I used mets body to cover my body so it's the classic example jump out man, I'll say this it's the same as when you're being photographed jump down same is when you're being photographed with your girlfriends ok, so if you look at this from the front and fit kelly you take a photo of us this always makes people laugh. Okay? So two of us rode a party and we're both standing like this and we take the fight out and then I looked at the fight I was gonna come up in a minute and I go oh my god, I look horrendous if take another foe but this time I go like this I turned her body out because she can take it and I put my buddy here come on oh, I look fabulous, okay? It's called using her body to make my body look better now. So recently I was in an event and you know how people come up to you afterwards and they want to have a photo with you and I had a friend with this girl and she goes, I know what you're doing and she told me I wasn't doing it on purpose and she goes, I'm bigger than you you can take a hit from a sister so you're showing us how to use the different body parts toe hide one person? What if wei have amy's and land photo saying, what if both of the mom and the dad are curvy? Ok, and not one could hide the other, okay? Well, they can, because both of them, if you've got double curves, okay, jump out kelly, come and be my other kitty, but I'm gonna have to go out on tape with kelly's talk, okay? So when you've got to care, be bodies, the first thing we have to address is that their lower bodies are going towards the camera, so what we do is we pull back, they're so we're both slamming each other at the same time. Secondly, we're not side onto each other in any way, there's no within our hips, we've got to go forty five degrees in our hips and use our bodies this way. Then when our arms cross in the front, we've got a bit of arm placement now if were upright, our arms are hard against our bodies and our chins a shorter nick's a shorter but the second we tilt, um, comes away from the body, we can connect and we can use our body, you must learn your curvy angles, which we're going to do next cause serious got this beautiful sleeping baby and I'm going to be out of move here into any position I can and show you tilts and angles so really it's about what's big goes away from the camera and you see how smalls here enjoy our but if they both predicting the hip ford that's what's gonna look bigger in the camera the second you tilt it and the baby just helps now if you've got a curvy couple and a baby then the thing is you have a kooky couple and a baby in the middle and the baby's really taking out half the space anyway and they're leaning forward and tilting and there's always cropping and is always warping okay nobody buys an image with a muffin top or fair arm everybody wants a drop shoulder in a long neck you do what you have to do with angles and then you do the recent photo shop well you can really see I mean you can just immediately see the difference when you yes s when yu fall back yeah. Thank you so amazing our hand placements okay, so really, really important is our hand placement see how my hips predicted on this side my hips behind her on the side now sorry I'm gonna have to have a drink of water because I'm I'm talking too fast sometimes in the mouth moves faster than my brain well always moves faster than my brain thank you all right, lisa, come back. I'll show you one other if I've got a slim mom and a dad with a big belly I can also pose deal here a case of this locked away if he's not tall, I can elevate him, okay, but he needs to be out of bring his arms around like this and he will be leaning forward now if he's got a really big belly he's going to be back here, right? Because that's what you were talking about that's what you were talking about when you said sometimes you can't get couples together all right, so you do get couples that are the same height or similar height? I'm a little bit taller than they said and so if dad had a big belly and he was struggling to get over I would give him a both to see because even if he had a big belly it's his ability to lean around here so I've still got rain foot for stuff going on here and she can connect hands there I feel like it's long as he can move forward that you're fine, then I feel like if she's curvy and he's curvy like he's got a big belly, he can be here and she's got all of her weight on the back foot, dropping his shoulder forward and then holding the baby so she's and isn't this awkward he's big she's leaning forward he's leaning forward he's got a boost to see and they both look hard in the photograph which means they buy it theo it's the weirdest thing it's like kick it kick but trust me now I see it but I see a camera and the first thing I do when I see a camera is put my weight on my back foot shaped my hits in my body bring my arm away from my shoulder connect the shoulder here bring my chin to the shoulder here and I go at this different guys you're so freddie gina can I go thank you because there's such a thing all right all right um I feel like I would explore george enjoy an old grand parents the young grandparent's they're not about nolly hands and newborn babies but if you get that opportunity to shoot generations offer it I'm going to slam that down on the marketing tomorrow I would not invite lisa to the studio with emma and gracie without inviting met joint and george do you have any siblings say so into she lived close to you does she have children? Why don't you bring her and her husband and kids? Because lisa what happens is with the gift voucher that you've been given to come into my studio will get to take a photograph off george joy and your two girls I get to take a photograph of all of your grandchildren and then we can have a great fighter above you all together and how precious would that be for you joy yeah right joyce old booker in so suit just to just to clarify for grace studios would you include the grandparent's as part of the normal session yes or is it an ad on both okay either any way I can get them I would get met lisa win them over creating amazing shoot with them and then give them a five hundred dollar gift fell to to come back with the family what am I losing nothing they trust me they know I've taken beautiful photographs I didn't have to sell them I produced the work in a fast amount of time I have won them as clients I enjoyed talking to them I promise meant get him in and out I did there it was painless it was enjoyable I've created something that they really wanted and then I go you know why don't you make this a bigger family event I want lisa to be my client you know I want mette and lisa to be my client they want them to like me and know me and want them to be my photographer and if that means they only spend eight hundred dollars or twelve hundred dollars which you know is not my big package if that means that I get them four times in the next four years then her sister her mother every woman they know every woman they worked within every couple that go into their home will see those photographs and lisa will say or hear named surprise she's fabulous she's here in seattle welcome view here cod in debt to me is what I call a client we're all going after the big money you know and that's bold win it sorry mma, but we're not here to try and extract as much money out of them as possible we're here to make the beast connection with the family take amazing portrait's for them and then win them as clients. That is my honor, my honor to win them as clients not the other way around right? That would be my honor that they would like me enough to come back to me time and time again. What a great honor you have a photograph to family and then seeing them down the street two years later and they never came back and you kind of see them when you go ah hi lisa's awkward because she's you know, going to somebody else down the road and you're all quit because they never came back to you and you wonder why and you never asked with you something I could have done better so I used to work in a studio with a guy had a big hard sell and he pushes sales up to steven eight grand never came back never and when I went out on my own, I was like, I'm never going to do that, so I would say to my clients I'm going to take his many beautiful photographs of your family as I can so that you want to buy them you can walk later, you can look don't go that way go that way and so I want to take his many photograph so that I can have my clients so they want to find them and I say this to the face like I'll say I want to take the combinations I want join george on there and I'm gonna tell them this and then I'll look at them and I go, I don't have to tell you met and I look him in the eye when I say it I'm not a hard sell photographer I'm gonna take us many photographs is I can see you want to buy them and then you come back and you buy them what you spend is entirely up to you and I'm very honest with that because I will now win him as a client and I don't have sound my clients there's no, I'll tear this up if you don't, but today and if you don't but I'm going to burn it I learned a long time ago if they don't buy that decision, they're not going to buy it and you did something wrong, so you just suck it up, find out what you did wrong, get on with it, and then create a new station. All right, that was beautiful. I would have spent an hour and a half with this family, and I would have loved every minute of it because the boys wanted to be here. They're beautiful family. The children are just absolutely perfect. Imagine the fun. You could have a decision like that, and I would love to meet lisa's sister as well, because imagine if you had a lot of them.