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Lesson Info

Shoot: Wedding Ceremony Photography

In this lesson we're going to talk about how photograph ceremony details and I prepare my clients for the time that I need to ensure that these types of photos are actually happen between myself and my second shooter J.D. Now, in a future lesson I'm going to talk to you about how precisely I ask my clients to get this time but today I'm going to focus on the logistics. Like I mentioned, I have about 15 minutes to get the photos that I need, and I'm gonna go through what that list looks like so that we can be on the same page and you guys can see how much time I need for each individual thing. So when I approach this ceremony, the first thing that I'm going to do is take a photo of the wedding programs. And I do this in one or two ways, or maybe both ways, I will the see the program maybe on the chair or in the basket and so I shoot that horizontal and vertical then if there are users who are holding the programs what I want to do is make sure the usher is holding it towards the camera ...

so that I can create a frame around their bodies so that I get that static and then them passing it off in motion. What I want to do also is I want to get wedding signage. If there is some, sometimes, bride and groom will have a sign or a few signs that are leading up to the wedding venue like "John and James Wedding 3.2 miles" or perhaps just a homemade sign that says "Wedding." Or, an arrow pointing to where the wedding location is. Those are all very important. I also want to photograph the ceremony location. Now the ceremony location, there could be an alter, there could be a chuppah their could be a mandap, whatever traditional or ceremonial elements, need to be photographed in any way shape or form, but I need to make sure that I'm doing a closeup vertical, a closeup horizontal, and then I back down the center of the isle and I get a vertical and horizontal of that. I'm also going to be focusing on cultural, or religious details. So for instance, if I'm shooting a Jewish wedding, I need to make sure that I get a picture of the chuppah or the Torah or maybe the wine glass or the prayer shawls, this also goes for bibles or torahs or candles or a sand ceremony elements, these are very important and special to the couple. I'm also going to be focusing on floral decor. Now floral decor depending on the ceremony changes, but what we can say with certainty is that there will be flowers going down the isle or up at the ceremony location so I want to kind of set the scene by taking a horizontal shot of everything I'm seeing in front of me then I get a vertical shot of seeing everything in front of me with the florals as the main focus. I will step down to the center of the isle and I will shoot the same thing a horizontal and a vertical now when it comes, if there's a lot of extensive flowers going down the isle, I will step off to the side, I will crouch down and I will shoot the flowers in a way that has the focus on the flowers and perhaps the ceremony location blurred out in the background. Then I will flip my focal point and I will get in focus the ceremony details, and get the floral blurred out in the foreground. Now what I need to do is get a full overview shot of the ceremony and location I know based on my experience after submitting weddings and getting them published and featured, is the thing that the editor asks for the most, is a clean, uninterrupted, undisrupted, shot of the ceremony location. Now this happens by me educating my clients about how much time I need that to happen. So let's just get a hypothetical start time to a ceremony, if a ceremony starts at 5 p.m. what I know I need to do is I need to get the bride tucked away from early arriving guests by 4:30. What then that empowers me to do is to scurry down to the ceremony site and start shooting it. Because early arriving guest usually get there around 25 minutes prior to the ceremony start. If I have a five minutes jump start, then what I can do is ensure that the photograph that I get, has not been touched by any guests yet. When I'm shooting the overview what I'm going to do is I'm going to take a step back, and I'm going to shoot it horizontal and I'm going to shoot it vertically. Now one thing I want to point out as we get into this video, is that you will see me standing on a ladder, now, the ladder was there because I was working as part with the marketing team from the Lodge at Tory Pines, the Lodge at Tory Pines is located in San Diego, California. And they had commissioned me to shoot, all of their new marketing materials for the year. And I was ecstatic to work with an amazing creative team. Now the florist happened to have left her ladder at the end of the isle and so I asked, hey can I step on it and use it in this particular location, and she agreed which is fantastic, now occasionally on wedding days this also happened. Whenever I see a ladder, because I am, you know, I'm just short, I will always find a way to shoot it from a higher angle, which is always beatifical and for diversity of your portfolio. Then what I need you to do is get a half view of the ceremony, at this point in time, I will not use the ladder because when I'm shooting a half view of the ceremony, I'm walking down to the center of the isle shooting it really wide, but this is actually a better for a curatorial standpoint if there aren't any floral decor at the end of the isle. If there's no floral decor at the end of the isle, it could actually make the ceremony site a look a little bit bleaker, in that it's empty and then you have all the stuff in the beginning. So if that is then the case, the half shot has me coming down the isle, then the focus on the mandap, the alter, the chuppah, and we kind of curate a fuller sense to the photo. Now once I have all of those shots taken, my focus, along with J.D.'s is to shoot guests. Sorry, to photograph guests, we're not shooting guests. What I want to do is making sure that there is clients diversity to the portfolio. I want my clients to see their friends, and their family and when guest arrive early to the wedding they're looking great, their makeup is fresh they haven't started drinking, and it's a really great opportunity to introduce ourselves to the guest as photographers without having to say, "I'm a photographer." Simply by me holding a camera, and adjusting and offering to give them a great photo, they're happy, they go on their marry way, and then the clients get photos of their favorite friends and family. Now what I want to talk about right now, is how to incorporate the bride and groom into the ceremony location. Now, if a bride and groom opt to see each other for a first look I happen to find this very adventitious. Because what I can do is I can incorporate the bride and groom into the ceremony location without the guests being there, and the best part of this is that the flowers are fresh, the chairs are completely aligned, everything is crisp and clean. Now this happens about 45 minutes before the ceremony starts. It can't happen too much earlier than that, because not all the ceremony details might be set up. So about 45 minutes before the ceremony that's when everybody's kind of moving away, clearing out the space, and that is the perfect time to get the bride and groom there. I shoot the bride and groom for about 15 minutes. So if we went back and we started looking and thinking about what it could possibly appear if we use the hypothetical five o'clock start time, I would have to get the clients tucked away, or the bride tucked away by four thirty, which means that I would start shooting the couple at the ceremony site at four fifteen. Now in today's lesson I'm excited, and I'm really happy, because when I was commissioned by the Lodge at Tory Pines, it was about the time that we were planning to come and do this thirty day event with creative live. So in light of preparing us to shoot The Knot Dream Wedding, I thought it would be great opportunity to invite creative live to join us on the shoot, so that I can have the time and reveal the cadence in which I shoot, and show you how I shoot as a form of preparation, so that when we get into The Knot Dream Wedding you'll see okay, Jasmine shoots with a pattern and okay even though she's not talking to us as much as she might of in the past, we know what she's doing because she has set us up for success. One thing I want to note, because this was a marketing campaign, this isn't a real couple, and it is not a real wedding day. Having said that, I will say that the team had told me we want particularly sunset shots of the reception details, which kind of showed how much time I would actually shoot this on a regular wedding day. Of that gorgeous beautiful amazing golden light, I had about fifteen minutes. What you're going to see is that the timing and the approach is about the same. One thing I also want to say is that if the creative team is around they might of been around on the shoot, and they might be around on the wedding day I ask them for help as I need it. You might here me say, "Can you hold this over here, "can you move in this direction, can someone please "hold the bouquet." I am unafraid to kinda gather a team and tribe around me to ensure that we're all on the same page and we all walk away as successful. In a previous lesson, I talked in detail about a conversation that I had with Rebecca Crumbly, and focusing on your branding words. My branding words happen to be, one of them, is editorial, so as I talked to Rebecca, one of the things that she said was to tell a consistent story, and part of telling a consistent story is connecting the dots from the beginning, middle, and end. And what you see me doing here, is yes, I'm shooting the ceremony, and yes, I'm shooting the reception, and I'm shooting these two independent of each other, but the way that I'm connecting the dots is by incorporating the bride and groom into holding a cake, holding a bouquet, hanging out in the lounge furniture, having them walk towards me and making sure that I'm shooting the couple at different times of the day. Because I need the sunlight to reflect the cadence of the story, so keep that in the back of your mind, as we get into the video and I will show you how much I do this with as many times as possible throughout this shoot. Once I get an overview shot I want to make sure that overview shot is horizontal, and vertical, and I'm going to shoot it at the end of the isle so I can get everything, and then I'm gonna shoot it at the middle of the isle so I can focus on half of the ceremony location, including the alter, chuppah, or whatever's up in the front, then what I want to do is focus on the small details, if there are programs I want to make sure those are photographed, if there are kids passing out programs or friends, if there's a guestbook signing in, or if somebody's taking gifts, I want to make sure that I'm getting all of those photos in advance. You can see that today is rather windy day but I'm just gonna try to work with it the best I can and the thing that I want to end this shoot with is smaller details like chairs, if there are cool chairs, if there are isle decor, I want to make sure that I'm getting individual shots of that as well as an overview shot. So it's kind of very straight forward and we'll walk you through what it's gonna look like but the things I'm looking for first and foremost is to get an overview shot. I'm gonna be shooting these details the wide shots, with the 24 millimeter or the 35 millimeter and all the detail photos will primarily be coming from the 15 millimeter. I'll be talking through my settings because it is very bright, but I'm gonna talk about the things that I'm looking for as we move along the shoot. So right now my settings, one thing that I'm noticing is that this white chair is reflecting light onto the back of these chairs which is fantastic, this is like an ideal photographer's situation, but anything that would reflect light is going to be the best type of scenario to shoot this. My settings for this are 2.5 ISO 160 and 2500 shutter speed. The focal point is going to be on the monogram behind the chair I'm gonna be shooting the photograph in two ways, I'm gonna be shooting it obviously vertical and horizontal but two different ways in each of them. I'm gonna be shooting with the chair in the middle of the frame and then I'm gonna be shooting the chair in the lower portion of the frame getting more of the sky, and then I'm going to be shooting it horizontally, the focal point will be on the chair closest to me so that the rest of the chairs blur out but create a leading line towards it. So one thing that I'm focusing on right now would be creating that horizon line behind the chairs, so I'm gonna be using the things that are in the background to actually help level the photo within the frame because there's nothing worse than getting back frames realizing that you were shooting off kilter. Now the decor, the isle decor is rather simple but I'm gonna step in, I'm gonna shoot a tiny bit of it, my settings right now are 2.5 3200 shutter speed 160 ISO, and you'll notice that the pattern for me is to keep my ISO about the same. Once I'm shooting in a given area I don't need to change my ISO too much because the setting will kind be the same and it's one less thing to think about. So a lot of times on a wedding, I might not have the luxury of bringing bride and groom into this area but I'm gonna do that today because I can and in a few of my weddings, I would say about a third of my weddings I'm able to bring bride and groom too the ceremony location before guest arrive and that always makes for really cool photographs. So what I want you to do is first and foremost feel comfortable and then feel at liberty to do what you want to do and then I will tell you what's working and what's not working right now it's just the beginning of the shoot so I just want you just kind shill relax once we have the bouquet it is actually gonna feel better 'cuz you'll have something To hold. To do, yes. Something to hold, something to do with your arms, now I actually prefer when a bride will give me a variation of looks Okay. So of course we're gonna have the traditional bridal smile, right, so we have the girl next door look and then you also have kind of just like a demur kind of look, you can kind of have a little bit of fun I might towards the end, and Crystal might hate me, have you pick up just the side of you dress a little and get you swishing Yeah Have a good time. The thing is with these photos, is that we want people to look at them, and yes, see you, but they want to see an idea of themselves in you too. Having fun on their wedding day, they want to have fun on their wedding day. Yeah. So that's the kind of thing to keep in your back of mind but I'm a talker, I will be talking to you the whole time. If you feel stuck, just be like, "Hey Jasmine, what do "I do here?" but I'm pretty sure you're gonna fall right into it. One thing that I'm taking into consideration is I'm shooting the bride within the ceremony location which is fantastic and it's exciting except for the fact that she's tall and the alter in the background has a hanging chandelier. I don't want to shoot the bride in front of the hanging chandelier because it's going to look like the chandelier is coming out of her head. So what I need to do is step off to the side so that I can get the bride, the alter, and the chandelier. These are a few things that I'm thinking about. If want the chandelier in the frame, I'm going to have the bride sit down, and that will give me a different effect but still be able to get everything at the same time. So we're just waiting for a few people, to kind of move, this happens on a wedding day, if this was actually a wedding day I would send my lovely second tutor J.D. to go and ask them to kindly move over just like five or 10 feet, but the good news is they just moved and now I'm gonna shoot Audriann right now. So first things first, can you just soften you knees for me, just kind of shake 'em out, there you go, beautiful, beautiful. I'm gonna have you do it quite often because it loosens your hips, and when you loosen your hips, you put your weight into one hip or the other, whatever you prefer is fine with me. Right hip, left hip, already your body's taking on a gorgeous form, so when I comes to your bouquet, I want you to actually just relax the elbows and keep it, you can have it off to the side that's gorgeous, or you can have the head up that's gorgeous, now when you do that, I like for your hands to be closer to the, yes, the top where the bouquet and the stems meet, that's fantastic. I'm just gonna move, we might have to pin the bangs back or maybe just like one bang because I don't want it to compete with your face. Okay. Cool. So one thing that I'm thinking and taking into consideration is we have these white chairs and white sofas in front of them that's bouncing beautiful light back onto her as if I'm paying somebody to hold the beautiful reflector, again I'm not standing directly in front of Audriann, I'm going to be scooting up just a tiny bit, oh this is beautiful. Good, I'm gonna be shooting this at a 2.0 because I really want the tree behind her to kinda be blurred out as much as possible, I'm at a 2.0 3200, that's gorgeous, the bride right now with her heels on is measuring I'm guessing somewhere in the ball park of six feet she's really tall, and in case you haven't noticed I'm wearing heels today, and wearing heels, I'm about five five. So there's gonna be a major differential between us, so the thing that I want to make sure of is that I'm not standing too close to the bride which would cause my camera to tilt upward. Tilting upward towards the bride is not a good angle for any bride, so what I want to do is I want to put some distance between the two of us and the father I get from her the more level the plane looks and it look a lot more complementary for a taller bride. Now if I wanted to I could probably pull out a chair and stand on a chair, but at this point and time I don't really feel like it's necessary. I feel confident, in the distance that I have between us. Now, once Audriann sits on one of these sofas, I'm gonna get in nice and close, and I think it's gonna be a great thing. You're gonna be a little bit small in the frame so just relax, you're gonna be kind of just rotating your face from side to side, and I'll be talking to you throughout the rest kind of coaching you through but right now this is fantastic. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Beautiful. Right now I'm shooting at f2.0, 3500 shutter speed and I'm shooting at 160 ISO. Oh that's beautiful, beautiful keep you body in that angle facing this way, no bring your, that. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Now relax your shoulders a tiny bit, take a deep breath, bring the bouquet down a tiny bit, that a girl, that's it, thank you. Beautiful. I want to make sure that I'm saving the highlights worst case scenario, beautiful. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. That's it lift up the chin a tiny bit, nice. Good. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna resemble this area so that I have space to shoot the bride, but what I don't want to do is this chair is acting as a natural reflector bouncing light back onto the bride's face. Can you like lay your bouquet off to the side. Bring it in closer to your hips. There you go. Beautiful. Now, just kind have your hand on the, yes, beautiful. Now lay the other hand across your lap but palm up, yes. Beautiful, I'm gonna have you switch the palm in a second, but this is where I want you end, so right now give me your right hand just let it hang and then hang on your right side, bring it all the way, yes, so that's where your gonna start so this is starting point, this is ending point, I'm gonna have you do that again and again, and then whenever you want, your gonna switch it up on me your gonna put your palm forward. All I'm basically trying to do is find the right angle for your body and as you do it naturally is when I'll tell you what's gonna work. So hang on for just one tiny second. Let me get the, yeah, okay we're good. We're really good. So I'm ready for you in three two one, bringing the palm, beautiful. Beautiful. Good. Now sell it to me a little bit more when you bring it on this side, just relax it all the way down, relax, relax, relax it now bring it back into the frame, gorgeous, and then good. Now what I want you to do is as you come over, not this way, I actually just want you to just rest it for one, two, then bring it back, little bit more time, gorgeous. Beautiful. Awesome. Now what I want you to do, yes, that a girl. Eyes here. Beautiful. Chin towards me. Relax your hand downward. Beautiful. Bring the bouquet in your left hand across your lap. Uh-hu. But, put your other hand, I don't want the bouquet over this hand. I want the hand, yes, beautiful. Can you look, this is J.D. my second shooter, can you look over at J.D. awesome. Fantastic. Beautiful. Bring your eyes back here. Nice. Looking out toward the cake station, or what used to be the cake station with your chin, that's it, right about there. Eyes back out where the cake was. Beautiful. <v J.D.>Jasmine after you do that can you get a shot over where I am? Yes. I'm gonna switch this because I can, now because I am short and she is so tall, I'm gonna shoot this at a 1.2 I'm gonna shoot down on her these are one of those rare occasions that I'm gonna jump at that opportunity. I'm going to bring, now, usually when a bride sits, her dress comes up over her abdomen, which is not the best look, so what I want to do is simply use the bouquet to cover her abdomen, which would kinda be really blurred out and be shooting down at her at a 1.2. I want you looking down at your bouquet. And you're gonna have your right hand across your lap. Beautiful. My focal point will be on her eyelashes or mascara. It's just to get a nice photograph for the makeup artist, and specifically for the mom of the bride, for some reason, mom's love these photos, so I want to make sure that I'm gonna make the vendors happy I'm gonna make mom happy, get a just solid kind of nice bridal portrait. Looking here, chin up, chin up, chin up, that a girl. Yes, J.D.'s getting jealous, so you can go toss him a look that's good, good, good. So sometimes I say stupid things like J.D.'s getting jealous just to get a laugh out of her, because it's hard to say hey laugh on command. So that's a little bit more difficult, so what I'm gonna do is simply just toss her to the second shooter try to crack a ridiculous joke on occasion, I'm gonna shoot her at the angle that J.D. had suggested me to. And then we're gonna bring the groom into the frame. So right now I have the couple in the center of the isle and when I'm shooting under really crunched times as I am right now and as I am at a wedding day. I'm gonna try to get four poses in under ten minutes, that's kinda like a lofty thing, but if two photographers are shooting, myself and J.D. at this moment, that's gonna be the most ideal thing. So I'm gonna have them first profiles, kinda get a whole overview shot then I'm gonna have them snuggling, nice and close for like a little romantic shot, then I'm gonna have them walk towards me but I'm gonna sink their feet towards me, keep it nice and light and happy and airy, then I'm gonna have them sit, I'm gonna hopefully do it under ten minutes. We'll see how it goes, so Audriann can I have you hold the bouquet your gonna have your, yes, perfect, that was great, beautiful. And so right here's great, and if your arms get tired, you can just rest 'em up on his shoulder if you would like, the only thing I want to avoid is getting the bouquet too close to his face 'cause then it becomes in competition. One of the benefits of having a really tall bride and groom is that I could shoot wide open and because they're faces are going to be touching, they can be in focus, but because I'm not having an eyeball directly at me it's less imperative to shoot at a safe aperture, like a 3.5., right now I'm gonna push it and shoot it at a 2.5 because I can, and they're profiles are pretty much aligned, so as long as I lock my focus on the bride, Audriann, the entire photo will be in focus so bring your torsos together, nice, now just relax your shoulder, ahh there we go, boom. You guys may look at each other, so, Crystal I love that feedback, can you guys bring your foreheads in just like that, I know, you guys are gonna love the forehead thing trust me on this one, good. I'm gonna step in, get a slightly different angle. Gorgeous. Now, Audriann, can you look out towards the lodge. Relax that right shoulder beautiful, look out towards the lodge. I'm sorry the hotel, I'm calling it a lodge because I'm fancy. Okay, relax that shoulder a little bit, beautiful, that's where I want you to end up. Andrew, can you rest your forehead on her temple or wherever it lands, when I'm ready for you, so in three, two, one, she's gonna look over, you're gonna kinda just bring her in nice and close as if somebody had just called her and your cuddling her because you don't want her paying attention to them. So Audriann relax and this is where I want you to end. So you're gonna start in just a relaxed state in three, two, one peel her on in, look over to the hotel, Andrew lean in, lean in, that a girl, relax the shoulder, relax the shoulder relax, that a girl. Beautiful. Andrew can you take one step back, beautiful, bring your torsos in nice and close. So what I want to do right now, is I want to bring them in close together because the sun is so strong behind them I'm getting a lot of hot spots, but if I have the groom bring that bride in, what I can have her to is the bouquet can actually be a natural reflector, popping light back into her face I'm gonna shoot this at 1.2. I'm just gonna get a nice profile shot of the bride a nice profile shot of the groom. So, I'm gonna have you bring your bouquet, relax it here, nice, you guys are gonna come in nice and close, beautiful, your gonna relax this bouquet, nice. Bring your eyes down here, gorgeous. Gorgeous. I'm shooing at 1.2 20 500ths of a second 160 ISO. You're gonna relax that shoulder, beautiful. Eyes here at me, beautiful. Andrew still look at the hotel, I'm gonna flip and get you in one second, eye's at the bouquet, take a deep breath, relax the shoulders, beautiful. Cuddle in nice and close, nice and close, beautiful. Gorgeous. Andrew can I get a slight smile, there you go. Nice. So I'm shooing this at 1.2 3200 shutter speed 160 ISO. I want you to look down at her bouquet. Take it, nice, can you guys shift toward me a tiny bit, shift, there you go, perfect. And so there's golf carts in the background, so I want to be very careful, as to how I'm gonna shoot this, okay. Good, can you bring your nose to the side of her forehead, I know, very specific. (laughs) Nice. Awesome. And then lets see, Andrew eyes here, nice, yeah you can lean your head that was fantastic, that looks great, beautiful, okay now what I want you to do is shift your shoulders out, in this direction, so you're gonna let her go, forgive me, let her go. (bride laughs) turn your shoulders out completely Okay Fantastic, take one step towards me, fantastic, now Audriann, you're gonna come in with your chest towards his back, yeah, and then you're gonna give me your bouquet. (groom mumbles) Thanks, thank you, so are you gonna get an angle? Okay cool, thank you, beautiful So Andrew can you take one step back? That's great, can you undo your jacket, let me see how that looks, maybe it will give you, so the thing is, I want you to be comfortable, so whatever it takes for you to do that, if there's, some, yeah that looks great. I'm good either way. Okay cool, awesome, now as you have your coat, see how it bunched, can you tuck your, so you want to pull the jacket back, there you go, fantastic. Great, your gonna rest your hand right there, beautiful, your gonna bring your hand down a tiny bit more. And then you have a bang, can we have that a bit more, yeah, that bang, is gonna be, good. So the focus, you're gonna be looking at J.D. Audriann, and then Andrew your going to be looking at me so give me that left shoulder a little bit more there you go. Nice. That's good take whatever you need to do Audriann to get, to feel comfortable, there we go. Good, Andrew can you look down at the floor, take a nice deep breath. Good. And then bring the eyes towards me, good. So one thing that I want you to do too. Oh yeah, you look fantastic. So we have bridal, I mean this is like a wedding shoot but don't ever hesitate to not give me those looks like those strong masculine editorial looks that I think exist within you, so we can veer towards traditional bridal, and then we can also get a little bit more editorial, Okay So right in this particular shot I feel like we have the safe shot not I kind of want just something a little bit more saucy. Edgy? Edgy, that's it, edgy without being pissed, that's like a fine line right? That's hard? I know, I know. We're gonna shoot right through it, so you're gonna look down at the floor, yes, and so Audriann, can I have you step on your tippy toes? That a girl. Now lien that body in nice and close, relax, bring your hand down the side, the side of the shoulder, instead of back, there we go, beautiful, bring these two fingers to touch, it's like princess fingers, cool. And then when I ask for him, that's when you're gonna just pull him in a little bit close, but you're gonna be looking at J.D. I know, this is a lot of bright light, in three, two, one. Boy, boom, that felt great. Hang on, hang on, J.D. can I get the 35. Eyes down, Andrew, nice, take a deep breath, relax that shoulders, nice. And then bring it to me here in three, two , one, nice, that's great. Eyes here again. Chin towards me, there we go, heck yeah, okay great. So we're gonna start with your feet together, nice, and the cadence I'm gonna get the settings first. I'm shooting at 160 ISO I'm shooting at 2.5 at 1600 shutter speed. You're gonna start, I'm gonna count you down to three, two, one, left foot, three, two, one, three, and you guys are gonna be looking at each other. With big smiles? You guys are just enjoying yourself, you guys are just walking in the isle, so however that comes, so, in three, two, one, left, right, looking at each other, that's good, oh that's good Andrew, I like the ha ha ha, that was fantastic, (laughs) beautiful. So I'm choosing this particular location because in this great scenario, the coordinator asked if the bride or the groom could actually hold the cake which I think is a fantastic idea, any time I can incorporate wedding details with the bride a groom, I'm all for it. Now she actually brought me the cake while the bride was standing in the enter isle, but it's so bright, it's kind of like a disaster, so what I asked to do is to move into a different location, now in this particular location, we have a beautiful white chiffon that's acting as a diffuser within our location, which is fantastic, I always arrive early to find what would be the natural diffusers and any time I can put my subject in front of it is exactly what I'll do. In that particular situation, I was shooting at 160 ISO f2.0 and 3200 shutter speed. I can't wait for you guys to see the photos and what transpire from this section of the shoot. So if I can have you look in either that direction or that direction so I'm just getting a tiny bit of you eyes, yeah so then when your not looking directly in this direction it will not be so hard on the squint of the eye thing. Now can you flip your eyes in the opposite direction? Fantastic, can you look down at the cake? Great, now what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna pop both of you guys in for this frame. So now what I want you guys to do, do you guys know each other from your agency? Yes. Okay good, well I'm gonna have you guys get in a little bit close, beautiful. Now, looking at each other, you guys can peel away, peel away, yeah, nice. Great, perfect, and so now what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna take the cake and you are gonna step out and we're gonna get this shot of the bride, I've got it, thank you so much. Okay, so grab it. You're gonna scoot over, this way, beautiful, so we're gonna drop it down, we're gonna drop it down, It's a work out. You're gonna look off to the side, try to yes, try to relax your shoulders a tiny bit, I know it's a work out, you're gonna eat a great dinner, can you move out that, beautiful. That's fantastic. All right. Bravo, thank you look great. Andrew look straight here at me, nice, can you look out towards the reception, nice. Great, and then I'm going to move a couple things, I'm going to put this back when the bride is here but right now, I just kind of want more of a masculine appeal. Oh nice, great, looking up towards the golf course, fantastic, that's great, that's absolutely fantastic. So Jay, any chance you could drop the defuser? Yep, good. Audriann, can you look up towards the hotel? Just face the hotel a little bit more, beautiful. And then Andrew can you look up towards the course? Yeah, boom. Good, Audriann can I pop you in here? Beautiful, leaning into him Audriann, beautiful. Just like that, and then you guys looking at each other, beautiful, gorgeous, I'm sorry. Your good. We could have her bouquet over it Okay. Pat it down, actually let me see the belt, oh never mind it doesn't matter, we'll put it right over, nice. Beautiful, looking at each other, good, good. You are going to be giving me a mix of different things at different times but you just start working it and then I will, beautiful, good this is so cute, can I get your right hand on your right knee? Yes, now over here, nice, look out toward, come out, and then look up towards the golf course, hey, good, beautiful, wave, I know it feels stupid. Yes, but wave at somebody as if they're calling you from the course. Good, with your fingers closed, with your fingers closed, with your fingers closed, beautiful, lean up more, lean up more, lean up more, with your fingers closed, okay and so instead of this, I want a hey, like I feel stupid, wait not yet, that was super cute, I wasn't ready for you, in three two one, leaning out and wave, cute. Beautiful, thank you thank you thank you, can you rest your elbow, yes, that, beautiful. Beautiful, throw your head back and give me a nice big laugh. That's so funny, 'cuz you just look so cute just chilling her on your wedding day gorgeous. Rest the hand down, just rest the hand down, elbow up hand down, elbow up, yes, beautiful, elbow up on the knee, elbow up on the knee, hand down across, that a, thank you. Gorgeous, beautiful, hang out there for one sec. Eyes here, good. Give me a nice big hahaha, I know. (laughs) Good. Eyes up towards the golf course again. Beautiful, beautiful, Awesome, so where we're going start right now, is we're going to shoot the bouquet and boutonniere specifically focused on shooting it later in the day because nice, I get this nice golden light at this time of day. However, it's such a short time, that I'm really gonna capitalize on the golden light I'm going to be shooting this at ISO I'm gonna shoot this at f2.0 and I'm gonna be focusing on just the bouquet vertical, just the bouquet horizontal, I'm going to be shooting it from the torso all the way down and then I'm gonna shoot a full body and that's gonna be exactly what we're headed towards. Can you relax the bouquet a tiny bit, actually I always want it here, I want it squared to you, but I want to see a little bit, yes that, gorgeous, looking off towards the hotel, gorgeous. Looking off towards this way, actually can I see, one thing to note, is I want to make sure the bouquet the back side is always where the buttons are. Oh, okay. So that's, that a girl, we'll drop it in, now I'm gonna start this same thing all over again to ensure that the front side is exactly what the florist wants. That's great. Beautiful. And it's gonna feel repetitive, but because I had, so I just want you looking to the side, beautiful, looking off to the side this way, nice, I'm gonna peel back. That a girl, just take bit nice deep breath, relax the shoulders, swish the weight from hip to hip, that a girl, looking over, yep, nice, beautiful, drop the bouquet in you left hand. Beautiful, now touch the side of your dress with your right, can you pick up a side of the dress, just a little bit, yep, nice, that a girl, ah, beautiful, good, give me a side profile, and then kinda lean back, because your clamped, that a girl, that, beautiful, give me a little bit more hips this way, a little bit more hips this way, hang out hang out, beautiful, good, give me a little bit kink in the elbow, good okay, now I'm going to get Andrew's boutonniere. Can I have your hand in your pocket, shift your shoulders a little bit more towards me, towards me, that a yep, and then square them towards me now, and button your coat, looking down, yep. That's amazing, thank you. So what you saw was the beginning, the middle, and the end, yes there were moments of sheer, I have my business face on, I'm gonna get this stuff done I don't care if there's other cameras around me, and you also heard me talk to J.D. A very specific way, now just to clarify, the way I speak to my husband on a shoot, or on a wedding day, isn't as warm and fuzzy as I speak to him at home, there's a bunch of cuddling and boo and all that good stuff, but know that there is a business Jasmine and there is a wife Jasmine. And when it is business, it is all business, so on that note, and I'm not saying it's right, I should actually speak to him with loving kindness all the time, but on that note, we're gonna get into homework, an on a personal homework note, I'm gonna say, speak nicer to your second shooter, but for you, you can add, is to make a list, of photos that you will need to capture as you shoot the ceremony details. You could walk in and be extremely overwhelmed but if you have a list it will keep you tethered to it. One thing I wanted to note is that I have created a shot list based on years of me working as a wedding photographer, so if you'd like to check it out, download it, and view it, you can find it a JasmineStarStore.com. Now regardless if you choose to use your own list, of if you choose to use my own, or collaborate with your friends, which I think would be fantastic, is I want you to stay accountable to your list. Your list will help you create confidence, and give you assurance that your going to deliver exactly what you say to your clients.