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Creating a Stress Free Timeline Part 3

Okay so now we have we finished with the bride way arrived at bryant at the bride's house and eleven fifty uh for the first half hour I was just smoothing and uh maybe taking a few details shots started shooting at twelve and left the bride's house at two rumor is he's getting ready a notice in forty five minutes. Okay forty five minutes forty five minutes it's a long time you can do a lot of different things in forty five minutes I mean, if you look at if you look at the shooting time like only the shooting time off what we did yesterday the amount of time that we actually took pictures off route about a couple yesterday I don't think that that was more than an hour so forty five minutes you can do a lot in forty five minutes especially if you know your lighting as well because you can create different lighting effects that look as if you're on a different sit or in a different location purely from lighting. Okay okay so now it is sorry what time is it? Not two o'clock ok two o'clock ...

I now leave the bride's house and I'm off to go and see a most I'm off to the ceremony let's just say it takes me half an hour to get this arrive at the ceremony half an hour before it's about to happen when I arrive at the ceremony I'm going to go to the front check out what's going on maybe take a couple of shots of the groom you know who's sitting there he's waiting this shot specifically waas a little moment that happened between the groom and his mom as I was walking into the church I saw in the reflection of a mirror up front and I quickly just grabbed the shot and you can even see at the bottom is a little bit of interest day that was the beveling off the mirror it doesn't bother me at all because it's about that moment if I've gone around that's such a cool moment it's lost I've got no chance so keep your eyes and ears open so that you can continually look for images that are going to have emotional value yes if they are getting ready somewhere at a different location then the ceremony are you how do you travel you travel with the party or you how does that work no no no I'm totally independent self sufficient I'm going I'm going to leave the inside right I'm done here now I'm off to the ceremony and I get in my car if I go there is that the is that the question? Yeah dude trying that obviously get there before their ivan can thing is is I'm not going to get there before he arrives because he might arrive you know, to fifteen on dh to be fair the groom arrives wants such an event okay very very important very very important when you arrive go and speak to the marriage official go and talk to them hi there my name is braked I'm the photographer for today please tell me if you have any rules or regulations in your church or in your venue in your synagogue whatever wherever you are please tell me do you have any rules or regulations now immediately what you're doing there is first of all again psychologically you're empowering him high they I have respect for you what am I allowed to do and what I might not like it because I care about what your rules are so he'll say to you or she will say to you you're allowed to stand over there uh you know make sure that you're discreet please don't use flash and I'm like well no d for I don't care about flash anyway so please don't use flash make sure that you discreet uh don't shoot pictures during the vowels or the rings or whatever you know you can have certain rules and regulations adhere to those rules and regulations there is no other getting no other way of getting around that you listen to what they say that is the office your client has employed them to do their job you do what they tell you to do don't argue with the people you're not gonna win so don't argue on I'm talking about experience and I'm talking about listening on forums where a lot of people have had you know, confrontations with the minister or the marriage official stay offers they sterols so I understand the church that own synagogue those rules will apply but how about if they're outside and public park somewhere here or in a another than you if a bill it's still his show or her show it's whatever if they say to you I don't want you up front that's cool you're not affront because the bride and groom employed that that person the bride and groom can often come to me and say where are pictures from the front you say well, you know I was instructed I'm not allowed to be there and they chose that person you could talk about that for hours but for me as you've noticed, I'm black or white I don't have many great areas okay? So the most expected shot is the bride coming down the aisle but now you need to look around for other shots because the shot off him looking at her coming down the aisle and that's not his wife that's from a different shot but the shot of him looking at her coming down the aisle you make money out of it because there's emotional value that it's such a beautiful shot everybody everybody's looking at the bride nobody's looking at the group you're telling a story this is what he feels when he sees this you put that on a double page spread that is what he sees as sorry that is what he feels when he sees this maybe the hymns are going on maybe there's a little break where you khun discreet theme okay, so now we're in an ideal situation where the minister or the marriage official has said uh you know uh just don't make a nuisance of yourself you can do what you like but don't make a nuisance of yourself because a lot of people are like that these days so during the hymns I discreetly go down to the back of the ill I've already told my assistant so he's coming with the fish because he knows the number five's the fish eye I'll come to the back of the church self timer up with the monarch card bang got my wife shot from behind nobody's really had a shot like that before in that church because they don't have the steps with the choir section at the top day well it's such a beautiful shot never seen it from this angle type of thing meanwhile it's just up on a on your mind apart and you're getting a nice aerial view whilst you're at the back you might be able to go down nice and low get a shot along the aisles something like that okay, so the first kiss is obviously a very very important part off the whole ceremony and the whole marriage thing the whole wedding you know there's so many critical moments but the kiss is probably one off those critical moments on our problems she probably should have told you this a little earlier but I need you teo grab your cameras so if you guys can just quickly get your cameras aren't there would be really cool sorry to the production team I should have let you let you know about that I just want to quickly teach you about back button focus you guys know about back button focus you know about that you know about that you don't understand it I know of it don't know how to set it okay cool alright so basically the way back but and focus works is if you look on the back of your camera with the cannons it's a little different to the knick cons but I think there's a star but in here on the cannon and I know that there's a couple of differences there is well within the different models but on the nickens there's an a f on button over here sometimes if you've got a lower end model there's an a a f lock button next do or it could be the only button that's there but this a f button at the back is really, really important and it's a great feature to understand in your in terms of how your camera actually works because so many people don't know how that works now essentially what it does is it activates the auto focus exactly the same way as your front shutter finger operates so if you have to press you have to press the shutter button you can see there that can also see from over here that it's activating the auto focus when it's in focus you're going to then take the shot and fully depress the shutter button this button at the back is exactly the same one hundred percent identical exactly the same to half depressing the shutter so if you activate the back button focus it does exactly the same thing over here you can see there's trying to focus I'm not even touching the shutter release button in the front chair no you're thinking okay well what what's the big deal about that how many times with the first kiss the bride is standing over here the groom was standing over here the bride has got this big veil on there's a lot of white going on it's a dark church the groomers over here he's got dark hair he's got a tux on it's very difficult to find a focus of focal point you're standing in the corner over there and you're trying to focus and your cameras like looking for somewhere to focus there just about a kiss and you're sweating you waiting for that shot you have to press your shutter, you focus, you found something to focus on, you've got it. You waiting, you waiting thinking we're not prisoners window pressed this window places you may now kiss the bride as he's going in for the kiss they just about to kiss and you get this kind of shot there and bearing you get that shot but it's like, you know and then they they go in for the kiss and you're trying to focus again and sze pressing this and your printing and nothing's really happening and as they break away you focus bang, you take the shot and grand is in focus in the middle and the bride and groom are out of focus any of you know that feeling? It's not a cool feeling, right? So what you do is instead of using your front trigger finger to activate the focus, you use your back but and you focus with your thumb, you activate the focus with your thumb. So what happens basically is as I'm looking through this right now focused with my thumb once it is in focus if my thumb is down if it's continually down it's exactly the same as half the pressing the shutter and not releasing so if I now wanted to take a shot, I can just I'm on self timer from yesterday that's fun okay no no no it's not timid so you don't have to work your best smile the gym ok, so I'm in focus I'm waiting I'm ready for that kiss as they coming in for the kiss you can see there it's not trying to focus again because I've held the focus with my thumb it is not auto focus lock it is auto focus activation so as they're going in for the kiss as they're going in for the kiss I have now fifteen options to choose from instead of just duck lips about to kiss and the other shot we grands and focus on the two of them are out of focus so I think that time check it out on the cannons I know that it's I think it's the start button is that right over there e I focus no it's got nothing to do with any of the focus modes it's to do with focus activation look att att the top go higher up yeah up there oh yeah what does it say? That it is a star to stop if you press it doesn't activate the focus it's a custom setting but it is the star button okay there we go do you shoot cannon? I do shoot candid and I use the star and I used back button focus it's awesome would you like to come and present quickly no I'm joking but yeah maybe somebody could put a link on hard to back button focus with a cannon maybe you know if you just take it and just put it on the chat rooms or something like that you know how to back button focus with the cannon it is fantastic it is a great tool to use as well when the bride on dh when the dad takes the veil off the bride as well how I mean that's a cool shot to have but how many times do you take that shot and it's about to happen and you get it you get that first one and the dad's arm is blocking the bride and that's it it's all over finished you're like ok I only got one shot and I don't really have a sequence or a story to tell okay so back parton focus hope that works out for you it does take a little bit of practice does take a little bit of practice right the money shot as they come out of the reception venue that story out of the ceremony this is the mental peace short this is a shot that mom and dad are going teo want to buy you have to remember that you were inside a dark church as you're leaving the church make sure that you change your eyes so change your white balance change your appetite do whatever you have to do too shoot this shot correctly because inside your settings were completely different. So that's where sitting at home watching tv changed aiso change white balance, change everything without even looking at your camera that's the homework for this week, okay? And then we're back into photo journalistic mode just finding some cool things to shoot the congratulations are really, really important moments that just happens natural moments. So that's when you shooting and maybe you're just looking for different moments that are happening, obviously with a two point eight lens, you can separate your subjects from the background and you can get some really cool shots from that right now. This this is really, really important. I'm going to talk about this thisa afternoon after we've done the ceremony, but what is really important is to make sure that you get beautiful shots off the guests. The reason for that is because that's, where our next wedding is coming from, we've taken a ll this time and effort to target high inclines. We've got our first wedding where the people have spent a lot of money on the wedding and by default like attracts like if those people are rich, they've got rich friends and those people think the way they think they liked what they like, so they are my direct one hundred percent target market. So during the congratulations I've got enough images off the bride and groom I don't need to get more shots of the bride and groom going you know I want to get shots off the guests looking happy looking beautiful glamorous so that when they see pictures off themselves they're like wow that's such a beautiful picture and then therefore you know they obviously going teo acknowledge my brand and I planted that little seed about who I am and I've taken a great shot of you it is also great to add balance to your album because you it's not only about the bride and groom it's about the people that attended the winning as well right way saw this yesterday upon the mono pod nice wide angle shots off everybody at the wedding and then we go on to the family shots family anybody whose family you're gonna have to get a little confident here sometimes I in england it's it's very fancy and it's it's quite very it's quite traditional and it's it's beautiful to watch that have a master of ceremonies dressed up like old period type of clothing and he's like bangs on this on this belle and like hey, you know it's really quite theatrical and they might call the people together so you might not have to instruct people you know in terms of getting people to the family photographs they could have somebody else but this is also where you need to be confident get onto position where it's a slightly elevated good afternoon, folks hi there. My name is bret I'm the photographer I'm going to be doing some family photographs now so if all the family could move to that area over there that would be great the rest of you champagne and kanna pays are waiting at the reception thank you very much. Get down, go over their family comes one group shot off all the family anybody whose family that's why I'm gonna make money on the reprints from all the family because we all know weddings people come together so after that as many combinations as possible with a ll the different people so I'm going to his side of the family her side of the family if they are divorced parents, if you've got a dad with his new wife mom with her new husband make sure mom and dad don't stand together put the new spouse is in between the old spouse is if you get what I'm saying just things like that let me just go back to this one quickly also can you see I don't have everybody in a straight line I don't have everybody just in a straight line what I've got over here this lady here she's gotto back turn to gran and grandad you can see that that's a couple that's a couple they're a couple they're a couple you can see how are instructed them together so you can't have people turning their backs to somebody else as long as they're embracing the sparse and maybe not flirting with other family members as okay make sure you get pictures off the older folk as early as possible so that they can go back to shady pines and maybe gonna have a gin and tonic and relax before they go to the ceremony was still going to be to the reception because it's still going to be another what hour hour and a half maybe they want to go and have a little lie don't make sure that you get the old people done a soon as possible then you can go off and do your bridal party shot so you can see that some of the weddings that I do that's just the bridal party and some of the weddings that that I have shot in the past sixteen bride's maid sixteen groomsmen massive bridal parties so structure them nicely and then like I said teo maybe get them chatting to each other that kind of thing remember I've done all the girls already done all the guys already so all I have to do is one great big bridal party shot maybe two or three just to mix it up a little bit yeah on the photo on the rocks yes that's still just one umbrella that's what uh hold on it's just car they uh okay the shot on the rocks this was shot with the ranger um on the monitor pod uh wait I'm shooting take one shot and make sure that there's a gap over here between the people I took one shot so that the flash illuminated this side first took one shot like that are held it assistant went to the other side took the other shot bank so this was emerged off two images cut down the middle and brilliant to do things affordable at a wedding and when you're moving around your mobile like that that's a great great solved to that one having one light thank you yes but obviously it needs to be premeditated sure so you know what your retouch it can do and then you leave space for them to do that last night yesterday afternoon when I took a shot left just enough space above shaun's head so that the re toucher could even maybe just put in a little bit more space if I if I go on in a little tight it wouldn't have been that easy for them to do but just look at things like that okay, well, how do I like this if I've yeah exactly you know what I'm talking about all right so there we go and then maybe not so structured maybe get a couple of shots of people walking please please I'm begging you all those people are out on the internet please don't paint take people don't take pictures ofthe people jumping please I've never seen that in vogue vanity fair or harper's bazaar anything like that and if you've got it on your website please take it off I don't bridesmaids jumping cruise please please what happens if they if they asking for pictures of jumping they're not your target market okay, that is true but if they insist on a specific thing and you're like ah that's like super cheesy I'll do it but it's not going in the final product and nobody is ever going to see it online it's not going to be on the online gallery or anything like that so I'll do it for you because you're the client you're paying me but I'm you know it's not going in the book because it's not brand represents toe okay then once you've done the bridal party now it's time to do just the bride and the groom so off you go you just the bride and the groom a couple of expected shots the shots that mom and dad are going to want to see and then you can start mixing it up a little bit and when we take it to another level and what have we got here guys what's going on there come on prison steamy we've got welcome part of getting blown around in the background with the manfredo led from behind that shot is well over there, ladies minnie's no florence yeah, okay and when you shoot it gorgeous locations you do get opportunities to shoot images like that, you know, it is kind of like a self fulfilling prophecy, you're going to get to be able to shoot things like that, okay? Like I said, look for images that are going to happen look for stuff that is that is a photo journalistic in value, the reception venue get to the reception venue that if you were working with the right cold the night of the coordinate is going to ensure that the guests haven't entered yet so that you can enter because they know that they're getting pictures from you. If the wedding coordinator thinks that they're gonna have to buy images from me and they don't want that, they're going to take their own pictures, let the guests come in and go like, well, you know, I'm sorry for you you didn't get reception venue pictures and I'm going to be at a loss so that interaction with your suppliers is super important so that I can get images like that because what's gonna happen is that the waiting coordinator is going to have pictures like that, then I'm going to need to get it from them because I haven't got it for my book so if you're working with the right people you're going to get there they still busy with a cocktail hour or drinks and then you go and you're gonna take shots like that people coming in bride and groom coming in lit within led coming in and my assistant has got the led on the mon apart and walking with me so that the light is constant and I'm shooting images with the with the media still haven't got the speed light on just yet for the speeches I've got the ranger power pack up at the back and depending on what the ambient conditions are like I might be bouncing off the ceiling or with the white umbrella and I'm going to get shots off the people making the speech is obviously then what's really important is to look for other angles that's the bride over there listening to what the groom is saying it by that shot I can see what she saw and I know what it feels like not to be spoken to by the group get shots of other people listening because it's gonna add to your story line get shots of guests mingling like I said they're your right target market shots off the food very very important they've spent a lot of money on the food and then obviously you're going to do you know the cake by itself the cutting of the cake very cool idea here is because also we've got to understand that now it's time for the first dance uh that's how it works in europe okay, so now we're going to dance people have had their meal and what I'll do as I say all right, all the friends let's get all the ladies or let's get all the girlfriends together because I've done all the family already so now I can get a shot of all the girlfriends next morning I put that up on facebook and I let the people tag themselves and bang bang bang everybody knows who I am great shot of all the girls great shot of all the guys and now it's time for the first dance so what? I need to chat about here very quickly and what I'm gonna do is I'm going go forward and then come back to this let's just have a look here, right? So guests dancing slow your shutter down, crank your eyes up a little bit maybe eight hundred up two thousand slow your shutters be done, shoot on manual maybe if for with your speed lights talking to each other over here you can see I've got the second speed light at the back with maybe a gel over so that I've got this third dimension coming on lots of people having fun and you're going to get great images like that after that take them outside go and shoot some nighttime stuff scott around look for some images that you can go and shoot outside a little later there we go. Oh, beautiful short in florence with the led from above nighttime shots are so easy with the right equipment and it just elevates your brand to the next level this shot over here this was this was from awaiting that I did in italy and this bride and groom they were very, very funky and there were there were interns like some his cufflinks were skulls with black skulls and they were into like this tim burton corpse bride so what's going on from behind their people more tell comm partner now suddenly it looks like we're you know, and then just in postproduction going with that blue kind of cast over there and tim burton, thank you very much for the inspiration. Okay, so just to go back to the first dance, I like to shoot everything. Uh, sean, could you put some batteries in there, please? I like to shoot shoot the first dance only with ambient light. So let me just go back to that. I've got probably two or three minutes just to explain this to you s so what I'd like you to dio can do you have a speed light with you a little flesh okay uh nick cannon people are will explain it to you but let me just explain it to the nick on people first okay? So focusing in the dark difficult time things can focus when it's in focus a couple issues there thank you, shawn. All right, so now on the back this isn't sb nine hundred on the back of the nine hundred on the sb nine ten there's a menu button so what you need to do is you need to hold down the ok button you total down to where it shows you the auto focus infrared facility you click okay which takes you across to that menu and you go down you go down to a if only which is auto focus only you you hit exit and you can see there that it says auto focus illumination only so focusing on non con non contrasting images, images or scenes as well. Big problem, right? Okay, so you need to be on if s so you're on single server a f s and your focal point is works better if it's in the middle gray war absolutely no chance you're going to focus on that if you don't have some sort of facility to focus grey wall auto focus back button bang in focus straight away I mean you can't tell that it's in focus because it's a great wall but you'll see that it's a bit brighter but if you'll see that it shoots out that infrared beam you can see that as I press that as I pressed the shutter it shoots out the infrared beam and when I'm in focus so just make sure it's in focus it takes the shot so you can focus in the dark and it doesn't fire the speed line so it focuses for you but it doesn't fire the speed line so I'm using this purely as an auto focus facility I'm not using it teo to illuminate anything it's purely teo focus with and you can focus in the in the pitch black with no lights on whatsoever shoots out the infrared beam onto your subject in focus the cannon people just wait one sec for me please the cannon people you don't do it on the speed light, you do it in the menu you have to have the speed light on to get into that menu and it says flash firing enable or flash firing disable you need to disable the flash it works exactly the same way but when you're done and you take the flash off, you have to re enable it because later on when you want the flash to work it's not going to work or you're going to put the pocket was it on or you gonna put a radio popper or something like that it's not going to fire any questions? You mean the menu within our camera with the cannon cannon yes in your menu on your camera it's got nothing to do with the menu on the speed line but you don't use tea come outta one why don't I use the camera one yeah they have to come yes, it doesn't have infrared are you talking about the little light on the side? Okay, I'm just going to say this it is because it looks amateurish with light firing out you looked like an amateur what's the internet said you had to say about that way can you get the same results if I don't mind it does it does work to a certain degree but the further you are away, the less task less chance is going to work and if you have a big lanes on it that that and obviously I mean this camera doesn't have it doesn't have that auto focus illumination light but if you've got it there it's going it's going to be blocked by your lanes and your lanes hood if you've got a great big lands on lens hood on but those cameras with those lights are really not a high end professional cameras they're not built for the high end market that's why this this doesn't even have a pop up flash on the top because you're not if you're a pro you not really meant to be using that oh, that was bad. That's gonna cause a lot of you been talking about that there's just that's why we have you here is because there's just a little bit of a different approach to the way you make decisions to shoot these types of weddings, right? So we totally understand that that's that's, why you're here so pretty for a couple couple questions before wait, I'm ready. All right, well, I'm just I'm just going to throw out one of mine on dh I know this is sort of an international question do you do first looks, brian groom coming before the ceremony I have done maybe ten in my in my career. It's not a hugely common thing in europe or in south africa, and I know that it is a big thing over here. It does help a lot in terms of your timing. You could do some really cool things, and I think the benefit to doing that is not only the fact that you can have a little bit more time with the bride and groom with great lighting, but also the bride and groom get to spend some time together. If you think about a wedding, you don't spend time with your wife at all, you know, but in the morning the photographer's got you rolling around in the mud and playing some sort of sport and then you go to the ceremony and you can see her but you talk you can really talk to her then you've got the reception where there's just speeches and you're not really interacting there then you've got it you don't really spend time with your husband or your wife so I think that it is a good option it's not common terms of the way I do things but I'm not ever going to say to a customer a client no, I'm not doing that of course I'm going to you know facilitate their request cool thank you in terms of your group shots for the family and what party the images that you were showing were iconic, their impressive landscape cities they were just beautiful, beautiful locations and this question is from chrissy b who asked how do you work around not so ideal locations with cluttered or unattractive backgrounds? It goes back to my point that if you're targeting high inclines you're shooting at greg venues um I don't really know how to put that any other way because I know how difficult it is to shoot when you're shooting for the middle market or the lower end market and you are shooting in tight areas dodgy venues lift your game in terms of your target market so your market essentially has landscape architects yeah and also you know um if you look at somebody like marcus bell I mean, you and I say, marcus bell, what do you think? What is the first thing you think of high end, classy, yes, destination, beautiful scenery, great, big, sort of like amazing landscapes. He markets himself like that, so that people who are having weddings in lavish areas know that he relates to that so that's, why they employ him. That's. Why he gets great destination winnings, it's a, you know, it's, a it's, a marketing ploy, and it's it's, self fulfilling. You know, I am somebody who is less affluent. Well, look att that website and never book marcus bell. No, they won't even find him for a quote, because, like, oh, he only shoots and, you know, unbelievable areas or great location. So that's, that's, how it works like that.