Find Flattering Ambient Light
Lesson 25 from: The Wedding Story: Capture Creative and Authentic PhotosDavina and Daniel Kudish
Find Flattering Ambient Light
Lesson 25 from: The Wedding Story: Capture Creative and Authentic PhotosDavina and Daniel Kudish
Lessons
Class Introduction
03:25 2What Are "Epic" Images?
16:50 3The Slideshow Formula
11:04 4First Client Meeting
08:19 5Establish Client Relationship
20:35 6Expectation vs Preparation
10:39 7Pre-Wedding Checklist
06:55 8Gear for Photographing Weddings
07:16Capture The Subtleties
03:32 10Show The Connection
04:07 11Importance of Capturing Transitions
25:17 12Sidelines & Story Telling Details
23:42 13Anticipation & Patience
09:26 14Let The Scene Develop
21:10 15Sequencing in Numbers
08:53 16Successful "Anticipatience"
19:52 17Examples of Poor Reaction Time
08:57 18HTCG in 10
06:41 19Giving Direction
15:33 20Have Variety With Light & Composition
10:24 21Capture The Mood
07:37 22Take Advantage of Natural Light
05:43 23Be Creative With Video Light
06:47 24On-camera Flash For The Dance Floor
05:32 25Find Flattering Ambient Light
04:09 26Don't be Afraid of Tough Light
04:32 27Composition & Framing
12:07 28Lens Choice
06:11 29Keep it Simple
18:13 30Purpose of the Creative Portrait
29:07 31Scouting for the Creative Portrait
17:06 32Maximize a Location
05:48 33Unique Posing for a Creative Portrait
12:04 34Experiment with Your Photography
12:42 35Make The Image Personal
11:19 36Post Production Overview
05:04 37Stay Organized in Post Production
04:42 38Full Gallery Edits
05:25 39Lightroom Workflow Overview
06:48 40Bring Out Detail in Lightroom
10:55 41Black & White in Lightroom
10:51 42Landscape Images in Lightroom
06:32 43Bold Images in Lightroom
05:18 44Slideshow Edits
07:26 45Importance of The Slideshow
08:18 46Selecting Slideshow Images For a Large Wedding
22:13 47Culling Slideshow Images for a Large Wedding
20:22 48Complete Slideshow Example for a Large Wedding
07:22 49Slideshow Images for a Small Wedding
15:24 50Complete Slideshow Example for a Small Wedding
09:49 51Build a Business Around Storytelling
08:10 52Portfolio for Clients
15:04 53Importance of The Inquiry Reply
11:35 54Price List Best Practices
21:04 55How to Price Your Work
12:10 56Final Thoughts
05:05Lesson Info
Find Flattering Ambient Light
To balance out our continuous flash on the dance floor, what we like to shoot a lot of ambient light photos. And those really help with preserving the mood in the images. So something like this, shot with a flash, is really gonna take away from the feel of that image. Mood and ambient light really go together for us, and that's actually in our section on mood. I think every single one of those photos were ambient light. Exactly. If it means pushing our settings, that's fine, that's what high ISOs and slow shutter speeds are for. Really wanna not take away from the way that this moment felt. This is one of my favorite mood photos. This is in Miami, it's warm, it's a summer evening, just before the reception. You feel the wind because of the slow motion in her hair, the slow shutter on her hair. The warmth of the light, contrasted with the blue of the twilight. Yeah. Do you want to talk about it though? I didn't talk about it. Sorry. Yeah so the idea here was really to showca...
se the warmth of the warm summer night in Miami and we just had the bride come out on the balcony, look towards the inside of the room which was emitting a lot of artificial light and slowing down the shutter, again, just helps preserve that mood of the wind and the warmth and balancing it out with the light in the background. Super, super simple, but even with ugly indoor lighting, there's always opportunities to create something a little bit more interesting. Just gotta use it in the right way. This is almost like the reverse of window light. In this case the light was coming from inside and she's outside, so it still has that narrow direction to it, yeah, basically, the opposite. Yup, and then on the dance floor, we just love to turn off our flash and really focus on the tiny bit of light that there is, be it color, or white light, or even here just the light from the ring on her finger. It just conveys so much more in terms of feeling rather than lighting up the whole scene and showing a little bit too much. This is also great for variety, because you'll go from flash dance floor photos to ambient dance floor photos, it has a different vibe to it, so they're really gonna complement each other and allow us to have that variety. We might not start shooting the dance floor this way, but an hour in, we have a lot of photos of everybody having a good time and dancing and it's time to take a little bit more risks and really experiment and turn off our flash and the success rate on these types of photos, especially when the lighting is moving around the dance floor, it goes from one out of ten photos to one out of 100 photos. You gotta photograph so many. That's part of why we end up with so many photos at the end of the night. You know, again, ambient light just preserves the mood of that room. I really love this moment, it's just totally sideline action, and in between. They're waiting for the family to come for the cake cutting, it was so hot, July with no air conditioning in Los Angeles, and they're just waiting for their cake, and they're fanning themselves, and so in this case, I think the ambient light really preserves the mood and also allows for this artwork and the ostrich taxidermy to kind of show up as well. The good thing is, weddings never happen in pitch darkness, there's always some kind of light, because humans need to see and if humans can see, our cameras can see also. And so it's just a matter of finding good quality of light and using that, if you have to push your settings, don't be afraid, technology has come far enough for us to be able to shoot in extremely dark situations, often darker than what the human eye can see. Push your settings, go and get that mood in the images.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
Holy Moly! I have been very familiar with Davina & Daniel for several years and I also work closely with Image Salon for the past 3 years. I loved their relatability, raw honesty, human connection, and their teaching method. It was also super helpful to see the GoPro footage on a real wedding day and walk through their thought process with them. A refreshing wind of inspiration has now flooded my mind and attitude. I am excited to begin my 8th year of weddings with a clear mind and full heart. These two are the REAL deal and I am so happy I made this investment. Thanks, CL for always bringing the BEST of the BEST.
a Creativelive Student
I’ve been following Davina and Daniel’s work for years and suffice it to say, they are in my top 6 all time favorites. I was so excited to watch this creative live and it didn’t disappoint. From their approach to shooting through the moments, to their stunning locales and minimalist gear, there is something for everyone in this class. Both Daniel and Davina have a tremendous knowledge of photography and their willingness to share and educate is second to none. Oh, and just so you know, they are also the nicest people on the planet. Super sweet, amazingly talented. Thanks for having them on.
a Creativelive Student
Davina and Daniel are fantastic presenters as well as an exceptional photo team (plus they are super nice people, too!). I love their approach and methods and felt like there is so much value in this course. Even though I've been photographing for a long time, I took away a lot of great value gems from their course and look forward to applying several to my own business!
Student Work
Related Classes
Wedding Photography