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Lesson Info

Shoot: Ceremony Procession

well we just talked about in illustrations but now we're going to go hands on and the cool thing is we've actually got an actual bridal party we have ah bridegroom and efficient the bride's parents bright uh grand parents and best man maid of honor so this is going to get really cool but the cool thing is you're gonna have a very good visual references as we go through a ceremony coverage the first thing I want to cover is the procession so if I could get that trap off so like we talked about my trump has a little bit different at home so it's not so it doesn't take up so much real estate but pretty much you want teo get with photographer see what the photographer is going to be because you do have to work as a team generally of tar for will have one person appear long hopefully seventy two two hundred so we adjust and we'll have a camera pier seventy two hundred right next to a photographer the back camera like I told you is me I'm camera number one with the glide cam all the way in t...

he back and generally that will also be a photographer back there trying to get either side shot or a rear shot as a bride makes your way up to the groom so just figure out how they're shooting if they're shooting wide we should wide if they want to shoot longer we can shoot longer that's the beauty of having these dslr cameras with interchangeable lenses we kind of just sometimes too the photographer style so we don't kind of work against each other during these important moments right here can I get the the camera with um just my camera there and actually in that bag right there I have ah back I have a seventy two hundred so this camera here is going to be camera number two which is going to be the primary camera this is really and I call this the primary camera even though I'm back there and I'm getting these creative shots this is really the primary camp that's got the biggest responsibility which is the bride and her father coming down the aisle it's going to be a very difficult task because like I told you before you're going to manually focusing with his dsr camera which could be very challenging one thing that you can do with this camera ifyou're a camera over to position is you have a lot of guests that are coming down the aisle and a lot of times when you're trying to maintain the focus you can practice on the guests because the guests are they guessed you could get shots of them later on once they're seated but the actual walked down the center aisle to their seats is not that critical to your shots so we try to do is will kind of get the pacing down you know if you are camera too you get the pacing down and try to really start practicing and nailing the focus because like I tell you we just need two or three seconds of that shot really you should you should always be trying to achieve attack sharp focus because that's what that's always what looks the best with these cameras if you have a softer focus you've seen these kind of shots they're just it's just not the same the quality is not the same so just try to practice his best you can as the guests are coming down I just this just make sure everything's level a lot of times you'll probably be shooting and you have uneven footing maybe on the grass maybe you're on beach sand and things like that so it's very important if your tripod has this functionality tore you khun you can level it off make sure you level it off so that way everything on your horizontal plane everything is kind of nice and even so this is this is the primary here and as you can see I have I'll have that just have to adjust my ass so here just exposing people like here and remember always check focus like if you have the opportunity where you have something static that you want to film and they're not moving you're not moving just try toe check focus you know we have some people back there or maybe have some people lined up waiting to make their march down the aisle just uh check focus here and makes on obviously make sure you check focus on whatever is closer um to your camera in here he would be the primary focus I think you just saw himself looking quite studly so there's going to be areas of a room especially if you're ceremonies indoors there's going to be areas the room that are a little bit more exposed than others there's gonna be some under exposed areas so just prepared to manipulate your eyes so to expose those shots properly manipulate your shutter speed depending on the camera sometimes you don't want to introduce um too much of this digital grain to your imagery because and imagery might start to fall apart so just depends as a general rule with these dese or cameras I really don't like to exceed twenty five hundred sometimes if you have to push thirty two hundred it really just depends on the camera at that point and how well it kind of um the output of that signal's going today so the process is going to start we practice a little bit we understand what our responsibilities are during the ceremony procession camera one this is camera two and then we're gonna have the small tripod this this is going to be our safety camera and this is a larger tripod then what we use the tripod that we use is very small it weighs about not even two pounds so it's very small it's it's not so big and bulky like this one and generally along the centre all sometimes you have candles sometimes you have flowers and it's always great if you can if they have set sail like a flower vase or something like that or or base for the candle to kind of took this camera in and around kind of hug that vase with this tripod and you're gonna get your angle here now what determines what side we're shooting on because right now we're all set up to shoot from this side and camera one would be in the back also on the left side but what determines that go ahead maybe light that's a good answer through through it could be like your lighting could be better shooting this way because maybe the sun is also coming this way you don't want to shoot against the light because maybe you're gonna end up with an under exposed image so that's pretty good but also when your indoor sometimes all the lighting is pretty much gonna be the same but sometimes this side over here maybe the architecture er and just what what what this wide camera seeing on this side is a lot better than looking then if the camera was on this side may be on this side you've got speakers and exit signs and things that are just really going to detract from the image so this small camera believe it or not this the small camera that's unmanned actually determines where everybody's going to position themselves this small camera here because this small cameras shot of fourteen lines on there so it's actually seeing a lot more than what the seventy two hundred sea and also well my glide chemist seeing this is actually exposing a lot lot information's coming into his land because is wider it's or fourteen lens so for instance if this side actually look better or maybe the bride was coming from this side maybe this camera was going to just itself be placed over here so that means all the cameras are going to shift to this site now even me in the back for camera one with glide camp so it just depends show remember wherever the small if you employ this small camera this safety camera wherever that camera goes whatever side it goes that's where all the cameras going just because you don't want you don't want these camera one camera two on this side and then camera three on that side because then camera three is actually going to see camera one and and vice versa and no camera was going to actually see camera three so we're set up for the procession procession happens and now we have to just for of actual ceremony set up does anybody have any questions in regard to procession you guys get on that now procession as you're waiting for the procession don't just get tunnel vision on the center aisle waiting for people to come if you have time what are we looking for on the wedding day emotions from all of the guests there you go content we're still looking for content so if you have time don't just don't just fall asleep at the wheel ok if you have time the procession hasn't started yet start looking for family members because they have to be part of this film if they're here of their emotional if they have racked up a lot of times during the pre ceremony a lot of the rations that you're getting there not as interested in what's going on there kind of just mingling with each other but sometimes you have somebody that could give you look that maybe you can use in the film maybe trick the viewer and things like that so remember three to five seconds three five second three five six and there's nothing there are a lot of times during the pre ceremony there's people taking pictures and when the actual procession is going on people are taking pictures so those air shots that you don't have to get while the actual procession is going on because you're getting them now okay so there's always something to be had that's one thing that jessica's always looking when she's on this camera is people snapping pictures because she can use it later on and edit as people were coming down live during the procession that shouldn't have timeto actually pan away and get these you know amateur photographers should just use the pre shots kind of tie into those shots so always keep working so we're set up for the procession the procession happens if you have time like a tell you that the bright has a long walk you're probably gonna have time to maybe maybe come to the side with this camera and get a shot of the groom standing up here waiting for the bride sometimes you just don't have that luxury because maybe like here it's a very short alice so you're not gonna have a lot of time to work with could I just have the groom just waiting up here so we can see this I think we're gonna have all the lights on for this segment right are we still gonna do that okay we're probably ok yeah way yeah just stand on that side that's fine okay so right now we're pretty well exposed so you don't need as much I s so I wouldn't think remember to check focus always these cameras on ly look good when they're in focus you see that tax sharpened focus and now you have a beautiful image nothing's uh overexposed I still have the details in the white's nothing's under exposed it looks like I still have some good details in the blacks and we have a good image to remember here and jamie I just want you to look at your bride and her parents you see the reaction I have right there I could use this in the edit for two to three seconds if the bride was coming down the owl in the edit and you saw this reaction you wouldn't know the difference that this was actually recorded during pre ceremony so we're good we have the shot and now we just assume our position camera number two make sure everything's leveled off again because we moved and now everything's kind of level ray can I ask you a quick question about exposure absolutely do you try to overexpose by stop underexposed by stop all the time are you always just trying to get your exposure I try to get the exposure as close to perfect as I can if I had a choice and I'm and there's a little bit off is it going to be over exposed a little bit or is going to be under supposed I'll go for a half a stop under because you can always bring that stuff later back in post but with these cameras they shoot so compressed that once you lose the detail it's generally gone and and it's not anything that you can bring back in post perfect let's go so you can stand up there so now we're gonna have the bride come up and I'll just have you have you stop right there now remember remember background awareness is going to be very important we try to do this as best we can with a small camera like I tell you there's gonna be things within the frame that maybe you don't want in the frame you know you have this beautiful bride and the last thing you want to do is kind of detract from this image of this beautiful bright so if I have if I've got a shot like this and I've got a deejay in the background um frame him out but but but be aware be aware of him you know be aware of exit signs be aware of your gear so that your gear's not in the way that's a bigger right you have like a beautiful shot and then all of a sudden post the picture is this big and now you see I'll model pot up against war tribe are some piece of gear that you could have taken out of the shot so just remember to clean up as you're planning these shots and your position your cameras make sure no unneeded gear is kind of laying around and in your shots because we have enough stuff to deal with you know here we have lights and light stands and things like that so the last thing we need is our own gear being visible okay sometimes that can I just have you and your dad stand there together how awesome is this we have a bride and an actual bride's father here and this is creative life has really outdone themselves okay so sometimes you have the bride and her father just waiting at the back entrance waiting to come in if you have that situation and I'll get you guys a little bit closer yeah so you have them waiting there take advantage just get a shot three to five seconds sometimes can you guys just look at each other you know they're getting ready to walk down you know that's typically what you're seeing at an actual ceremony is the father like oh my god I can't believe this is going to happen I'm going to give you away um yeah uh that type of thing so you get this shot and now they're going to make the march down and generally since I'm in the back I'm camera one I'm in the back with a glad camp sometimes I will talk to them a lot of times I'll talk to them and say listen guys when you go down just walk enjoy the moment just walk nice and gracefully nice smiles try not to talk to too much business you know that type of thing that sometimes when they're walking down you see that the moving lips you know they're having some conversation about a football game or something you know with the bridal party s o I just try to keep them in the moment in the zone nice smiles there will be a lot of people taking photos just nice easy pace and just just enjoy this and usually that it's a nice walk but sometimes you have a bridal party that comes down and they walked by themselves and this is a very bad situation has a lot of time to get nervous especially like brides maids will be coming down by themselves and they just get nervous and they want to run down the alley you know because they just want to get it over with that type of thing so you have to be very careful this becomes very challenging like I said and a lot of times you might be relying on that camera number three to kind of cover everything but here you want to make sure if there's anything in the background that you can have removed either by an assistant or something like it jessica was shooting here and there was something in the background maybe even that light stand maybe she would have assistants say hey can you move that license because it's gonna be in all of my shots there's no way to kind of frame it out of the shot okay so bride and groom are ready to come down hopefully hopefully the bride and her father are going to be in focus at least for two three seconds as they're coming down I'm not going to attempt this because I'm not jessica but they're going to come down to you guys you guys can make your march down come out now when when they get close here's the thing because this seventy two two hundred shot this is more of an intimate shot off the bride and her father coming now you can see it literally took them not even two seconds to complete the I'll see you don't have ah lot of time to sit there and try to get a groom reaction and then come back and try to get the bride and her father coming down there's just not enough time so the most important shot is going to be the bride and her father coming down now says the also short on dit did take on ly two seconds for them to get out of frame you wantto probably shoot as as wide as possible and not punching into say like two hundred I mean it looks really good when they're back there but that little second and a half there it takes him to get out of frame it's gonna happen very fast so you may want to start at you know seventy instead of punching into two hundred just be very careful because you don't want to miss a shot but like I said if you happen to miss a shot hopefully you'll have something to cover you and hopefully that's going to be like a camera number three way employ this one hundred percent of the time actually jessica will not even run a procession without having the same camera I mean it's just mandatory because it has covered us a couple of times you know just things happen things air live and they're fast and you can't redo anything so it's a great thing to have okay so once um can you come up and just when you come up I'm gonna have you give your daughter away to jamie that's happened and just go through the motion of just handing her off cool yeah so yeah you don't know him remember took this camera as much as you can and like I said the tripod that I use is a fraction of this size so it's not as big and bulky and it's not interfering with this person's legs or anything so and it's actually not even obstructing any part of that because I don't the last thing you want is a bride uh tripping on your tripod they're probably not going to forget that for the rest of the day so you guys can come down and then I'm gonna hold you off like right there so once they're about right there camera number two is already making a transition try a little bit further um a little bit further out and and she and she's gonna widen up here make sure everything's wide and let me just make sure yeah yeah okay and you guys can come up and just kind of handoff so nozzle but a wide shot there's about as wide as I can go without um actually backing up so now you can take your seat there uh we were yep and and everybody can kind of come in um the grandma and you can come in everybody can kind of assume their positions if you want this a little bit congested here because we've got students and very tight space but I tell you sometimes you may end up in a situation where you just have a tight space and you might not even be on a tripod you might be on a can I get them on this space here so tight we're honestly would probably wouldn't be in our tripod with seventy two hundred with this set up because it's just too small a space to maneuver so mom what I told you before if you're not gonna have a shot get a shot just do whatever you have to do to get a shot so what I would do is I would probably have this camera just would have this camera on a mono pod with probably like a fifty lens because you don't really need to cover a lot of real estate here with a seven big seventy two two hundred lens you could probably just get away with a fifty lance the good thing about the model pod is that you could shoot the procession here and then assumes the father was gonna hand his daughter off to jamie just kind of move here and you can get the shot without taking up too much real estate with your tripod and things like that and having tow level it off and all that so the mono pod is very very versatile highly recommend this tool especially if you're in a tight space sometimes the guests on the bright side they're up against a wall so you don't even have the opportunity to come down the side to try to get a groom angle so you really need to make a decision on my going to cover just this bright angle because I really don't have a girl mingle and just the center angle it just depends I've been in very small chapels where there just wasn't a lot of room to move there was a lot of room for your team so pre planning's gonna be critical so there appear now and then I'll probably uh instead of having you guys on his side I'll have you step up a little little war yeah and just faces other okay this room we got all the lights on this room this room is ok the lighting for these cameras I think it's okay I think it's going to work without any type of off camera lighting depending on the situation but sometimes you have to be very careful because you may come into a room uh pre ceremony time and this is the lighting but then as soon as the ceremony the procession starts they dropped the lighting so you have to be prepared that they're going to drop that lighting because most coordinators and most dick or people and most brides they want this little it affair you know so you're gonna have a situation where you have candles running up and down the center aisle and just very dimly lit you know they just think this looks the best on a lot of times it looks very good but for us it's very challenging because now what you have up here he's even mohr underexposed in what you have out here with the candles and everything so you have to be very careful be set up for in every case that I'm inside a ballroom and I'm not outside where I know what the light's going to do for the most part I'll have an off camera light already set up just in case uh what I will generally try to do always is get with whoever taking care of lights and I'll ask them before the ceremony starts that says can you show me what it's gonna look like for the ceremony and generally they'll show me what's it like for the ceremony now sometimes these people that like the banquet manager or whatever they'll leave but I'll see where the lighting control is so as soon as they leave maybe I'll sneak over and I'll just kind of dim it up just a little bit too where I need it and then hope they don't come back and yeah so way need light and let me tell you the light that's in those rooms is always going to look better than the light that we try to employ ourselves you know because that light that's there is part of the lighting scheme you know it's part of the design it's part of that environment whereas our light is really not part ofthe that plan you know so our light is always going to kind of look it's going to stand out a lot more than their own lights and chandeliers and things like that that looked great so sometimes you can just dim up a chandelier just a little bit especially for the center aisle because what's going to happen even if they're well lit up here the centre all is generally dark so you're going to run into a problem there you know so this camera here the camera three and jessica's camera they're going to have to work with their eyes so a little bit just exposed images and hopefully it's not too dark we have had situations in low light where we just had one recently in new jersey where his nighttime the dojo papa it was beautifully lit but the centre all was completely dark and what happens is it was a very long aisle and jessica had a light on her camera just expose the processional was coming at her but in the back it was completely dark so what I did was I took a little light stand with an led light from the back and I just threw it in the opposite direction and actually gave me really good light for the back half of the procession coming down the aisle so just think of different ways to actually can I get that license and again my life stand that I use is probably a third this size it's very light way too probably weighs less than a pound it's very small it doesn't take up a lot of real estate at all and I'll have an led light like this on it and I'll put it down low uh this light the torch really delight that I showed yesterday it's very versatile and it and it's got it's got a lot of throw on it and its dual temperature so if I'm outside during daylight and I'm trying to get daylight balance it has a daylight temperature and if I need tungsten it has tungsten or I can I can blend the two to get what I need so this is what I use probably like three quarters of the way up the aisle I kind of threw it back towards the procession making their way into the area and I was able to actually get some really nice lighting that way and that's it so this is a good handy light the good thing about this this power self contained you know have to plug it in so you could just have this light on a very small light stand anywhere so if you ever need light the wedding that I showed that we lost audio because of the generator you'll notice the groom was he was a black male on dh the bride was you know a white female we had a little bit of an exposure problem because he was wearing a white suit who's darker skin and the way he was positioned at the altar area he was very underexposed on one side of his face we actually set this up on one side and we turned it on you couldn't even notice during that ceremony but actually exposed him pretty well for for the film so you have to be prepared like until you get this central tools so you're always prepared because if I didn't have this and I'd have their leader led light at that wedding I would have been able to do that you know if I didn't have this set up for that procession that was really dark towards the back I wouldn't be able to do and this is a very cheap kit yes ray when you have those led lights do you use any kind of modifier on top of it a grid or barn doors or anything we're trying to throw it nothing okay because I'm not looking for spot I'm I'm looking for more coverage than anything so the these tend to flood out they've got a lot of spill which is fine and it's also dimmable so I can control the intensity so you never want to blow out the image you know you never want to make it so bright tore your light turns into a giant eyesore at these events you just need a reasonable amount of light with these cameras because these these dslr cameras they function so well and low light that you don't you don't need to feed it a whole lot of light we just need a reasonable amount of light and as you'll see here without even employing a light on just minor adjustments to the I s o I'm going to be able to expose this image pretty well andi I usually deal with situations a lot dimmer than this and we're actually gonna take a look I think they're going to cut these lights in a couple minutes to show like a low ledge ceremony and how I employ my off camera light we won't do it now but in a couple seconds but let me let me just move this to the back actually I'll move that to the rear I could take questions if while I'm moving this really okay excuse me so samuel rose I kind of wanted to ask you about for people just getting started you have advice for setting up a wedding solo just one person one vote todd one videographer I think I think definitely a different product I don't think you would be able to uh for instance sell a client ah full ceremony because at some point during the ceremony you're gonna have to move right so if you just gave that one camera angle you'd have to show the clan all your movement during the ceremony which I don't think would be visually stunning or anything like that so I think if you're feeling by yourself definitely have at least a second camera that you can have static maybe on a nun unmanned camera so that way it covers your movement as you move during the ceremony or speeches or other parts of the wedding day you can certainly film a wedding by yourself in fact we have somebody here that film's weddings by himself to use on man cameras like static cameras yes sir you definitely have to have at least one static and you do that to cover your movement yes but when your moment exactly so it can be done it's a lot of work it's it's double the amount of work because if you have two people on a chute you divide the work equally but if you just have one person you know you're gonna have a lot of a lot of headaches maybe and certainly a lot of work to do so is definitely possible it's just I don't recommend it but if you have no other choice I would definitely recommend having unmanned camera on a static tripod yeah that fifty so I want to show you guys what the the center camera's gonna look like can I get everybody to shift a little bit this way because you're kind of off center with a gold fabric there you go so generally once we're done with uh the safety camera like we discussed earlier it's actually gonna become our center all camera so we'll have it back here hopefully make sure everything's leveled off very important okay perfect and you guys can just look at each other not here of the fishy on speaking you're probably gonna want to focus right on the fishing we'll be very careful because if you notice during this time your bridegroom they're probably not gonna be tacked sharpened focus or maybe they are just depending on your aperture but your focus here should be on the efficient as a general rule