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The Knot Wedding: Wedding Photography Checklist for Photographers

Lesson 15 from: The Complete Wedding Photographer Experience

Jasmine Star

The Knot Wedding: Wedding Photography Checklist for Photographers

Lesson 15 from: The Complete Wedding Photographer Experience

Jasmine Star

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Lesson Info

15. The Knot Wedding: Wedding Photography Checklist for Photographers

It’s the actual wedding day for the Knot couple! Jasmine goes over all she’s done to prepare for the wedding day.

Lessons

Class Trailer

SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

1

Jasmine’s Background and Wedding Photography Inspiration

1:10:37
2

How to Define Your Photography Style

46:10
3

Shooting with Intent: Romantic + Editorial Wedding Photography

1:11:18
4

Shooting with Intent: Natural Wedding Photography + Fun Photos

47:50
5

Overcoming Shyness to Find Success as a Wedding Photographer

56:21

CLIENT ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS

6

The Best Wedding Photography Marketing

53:06

Lesson Info

The Knot Wedding: Wedding Photography Checklist for Photographers

So today is the day. We are here at Samantha and Taylor's wedding for The Knot magazine. So, it's a Knot Dream Wedding today, and we're so excited. So far, you've joined us for many lessons to bring us up to this point. You now know how I've prepared the clients for the engagement session. Now you know how I've prepared the clients for the wedding. So we're here, and what I'm about to do is go and start photographing the day with Samantha. Now, to kinda set the scene and get everything prepped is that I have emailed both the coordinator and the bride in advanced to hopefully, fingers crossed, to have everything ready for me when I walk into the room. So I've asked her to have her rings here. So hopefully that is here and I can start shooting that. I've also emailed the coordinator to ensure that we have the wedding invitations and the wedding suite ready to be styled. Now this wedding is a little bit different in that there are a lot of sponsors to the wedding, so each sponsor has a de...

signated list of photos that they want to represent their brand and their company as part of this wedding. So not only do I have to photograph the bride prep and what I normally do, I also have to balance a few other things within the mix. So you'll see how I kind of balance that given the time. So this is what we're gonna plan on going it. It's 8:00 am right now at Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma, California. I'm gonna be heading in to shoot the bride. Now JD will be hanging out with the guys. The guys are slated to arrive at 8:30. So up until this point, JD will just kinda be walking around the property. He may or may not be getting behind the scenes, but what he's doing now is he's putting our gear away and bringing out the gear that I need just for this moment. I will be shooting the girls. He will be shooting the guys. We have tentatively slated for him to take the guys outside to shoot them around 9:30. That's in about an hour and a half, so hopefully, I could sneak away from the bride, shoot a little bit of the guys, pop back in with the bride, and then finish her getting ready as she gets dressed. But however, we don't know how the day will exactly unfold. We're just gonna kinda take it as it comes and enjoy the wild ride as it is. So here we are and go, we're gonna walk inside. So what I'm getting right now is everything Samantha wants photographed. So she has this beautiful Knot ring, and then she has a bracelet, so basically her something borrowed, her something blue. We have some shoes here. I have her wedding dress. I'm asking if she has a veil, garter. All of those things right now so that right now she's just enjoying the moment, so I don't wanna have to keep on going back to her every single time I need something. So I'm getting everything and collecting it here. I also noticed that they have pink flasks, so I wanna make sure that I incorporate that into it. And I also talked to the coordinator, and the coordinator will be arranging the invitation for me to shoot as soon as the floral decor arrives. So that's coming. I asked for the rings. The guys are coming with the rings, and they should be here at 8:30. So I made a mental note that at 8:30, I have to make sure and connect with JD to get the rings, and I'll set them up according to the invitation, as well. So, I'm gonna grab a few things. I've kind of walked around where I think I wanna place the dress. I'm not gonna place the dress in this room because there's a lot going on. But I wanna incorporate the dress into the beautiful Chateau, as well. So Sam, let me see. Let me photograph this, just in case. Oh, okay. So that later, and anything that a sponsor has provided, or somebody's given you, let me get a photo of it. And then we'll tie it in all together. Now, your earrings are in right now, and with the 3D bracelet. Now I want the earring, I want all your jewelry. 'Cause once you get into your dress-- Just take it all off. Exactly. (laughing) I can do that. Now, do you have anything else you want photographed, like any notes? The Knot ring. Yes, I have that here. Oh, oh, I do. I do, I do. I want this. This is my grandma's. Fantastic. My mom's mom. Fantastic. That's my something old. I can't show you my something blue. Okay. (laughing) That's inappropriate for the cameras. Okay, we got that fully covered. Let me see. Oh! Oh, my gosh! The most important thing. Great, let's leave that in the box. Okay. That's perfect. I will bring that out-- I'm gonna take this, I'm putting it around my bouquet. And then I'm giving it to him. Good. Yeah. Good. So that's that. And your garter, if you're wearing one. Oh yeah! God, I'm so glad you think of these things. Oh, you know what? You may wanna photograph this. Anything you think, I'll kind of... Are these your toasting glasses? No. This is something I made for all the girls. Great. Great. And then, are the pink flasks something you made for them, too? Yeah. Okay, good. Destiny made those for all the girls. So theirs say bridesmaid. Got it. That says matron of honor, and hers says matron of honor. Perfect, I'm gonna put this right over here. That's perfect. There's a garter here. Oh yeah, there we go. So this is the one-- Which is the one you're keeping? This one. Okay, good. That's the one I want. Which was a new thing to me. I didn't really know that you did that. I said why do we get two? So then, once I'm done with everything. I'm going to place everything back here. Okay. And we'll put your jewelry on once you actually have your makeup on and your dress. So everything will be here. That's perfect. Oh, wait. Let me show this to you, 'cause this is gonna be like... This is something me and mom ordered. Fantastic. Fantastic, I want this. I don't think you can hold the dress. I think it's a little heavy for it. Really? So that's why we put the veil. Got it. I think, I don't know. We didn't try it. I'll talk to Genie. We'll kind of run things over. This is great. And if anything else pops up that you need, just let me know. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, thank you. Okay, so what's happening now is I got a lot of stuff all at once, and so instead of feeling overwhelmed, I'm just gonna place everything down here and then start shooting it piecemeal, so that I'm organized at a later point in time. So all I'm basically doing now is just getting organized so that I have system of everything that needs to be photographed. And then, I will come back to it as I need it. So what I first wanna do is I want to take a look at the dress. I want to see how heavy the dress is. Samantha had mentioned that the dress might be able to be supported by this hanger. So hopefully, it will be. And then, if not, we'll have to deal with that. 'Cause she had told me, I had asked whether or not she had a customize hanger, and so she did, and I didn't need to bring a different one. We'll see how that dress hangs. So, what I'm doing now is I'm unraveling the dress for the first time. Samantha had said that it might be a little too heavy for the hanger, but based on what I'm holding right now, I think that this is gonna be more than enough for the customized hanger. Because if I don't use the customized hanger, my only other option would be to use the plastic hangers that the dress came on, and that's never a good look for such a gorgeous dress. Now, people voted for the bride's dress. And they voted for her favorite, which is a Panina Tourne, and it's beautiful. It just looks like it fits her gorgeously. So this the first time that it's gonna be outta the bag, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna place the dress over the bag, and Jodie, you can rest it. And then, you can rest the bottom on it. And then we're just gonna piece unwrap this all. So in the beginning, when I was first starting to shoot, I would leave the stuffing in the dress, but what I realized later on, as my career matured, was that the stuffing just doesn't look good in photos. So I'm gonna take it out. And because I post so many photos online, on my blog, sorry love. No, I got it. Of how I stylize dresses, most brides are completely okay with me taking it out of the box, re-stylizing it, and then we'll put it back on these hangers when we go back into the room. Okay, we'll get that one here. So, what I've noticed is that there's beading along the top. So I just wanna be extra careful. Bench right there, and then we'll-- So I'm gonna place the beading, and then I'm also going to place, if possible, the actual. We'll see how that goes. I may have to do a test. I make sure it's zipped up entirely. Can I see the front of it real quick before we place it? Yep. Okay. So there it is. So I notice that by using the actual dress lip, this little lip, it was actually making the bodice of the dress not look what I needed. So instead, I'm just going to place the dress in the cusp of each hanger. So I have you this. Great. And then, I'm going to place the dress over here. So I got here a little bit ago, and I said that this would be a good spot. I do understand that there's gonna be hot spots. So I'm gonna try to crop them out. See if there's anybody back there. Maybe just give 'em a little heads up. What I'm gonna do is there's a lock on the door. Perfect. So I'm just gonna lock the door and then make sure that-- You want me to help you with that? Do you got it? I'm good. And so, people will ask if I'm ever worried about getting the dress dirty against a door. We're laying it super lightly. It's not that the door is wet or moist or anything. So it's not really of a concern. But what I do like is that we can incorporate this really old door that Samantha was a fan of, and I'm gonna crop it in here so that I can cut out the hot spots. Can you get me a camera real quick? And then make sure. So one thing that I'm noticing is that the back of this dress, it's a long train, and it doesn't look exactly its most complimentary. So I'm gonna shoot it top to bottom. And then I'm gonna crop out here, too. Because sometimes, photographically, it just doesn't work as nice. So what I'm gonna do is I'm taking the train and I'm twisting it out as much as possible to make it as lovely as I can. So I'm kind of working under the gun right now, because the guys are coming in a short amount of time. Just wanna make sure that I'm covered. I'm gonna shoot this at a 2.0. Gonna get a test shot first. Okay, I'm pretty close to what I want it. I'm at 2.0, 3/20th of a second, 200 ISO. I'm at 200 because it's slightly shaded. In order for me to get top to bottom, I'm gonna have to have a few hot spots around on the ivy, and I'm gonna be okay with that. This light is really pretty. So I'm setting a frame within a frame. So I have the ivy, then I have the door, then I have the dress. I did top to bottom. I'm stepping in. I'm going to be shooting this just from the bottom of the dress without the train to the top, and I no longer have the hot spots around it. My focal point is the center of the bodice. The hanger itself is really special to the bride because her mom and her picked it out and it's her new last name. So I wanna make I'm shooting the dress within the hanger and the hanger itself. Now, what I'm looking for too, is this area right here, this wall, is pointing great light back to it, so it's gonna be balancing. This wall is lighter color, kind of like. A very light terra cotta, and that light is going to be balancing a lot of the green we're getting. So I'm gonna get colors that are true to form, which is just fantastic and ideal in this situation. So I feel like I have the shot that I want. I shoot most my dress shots with the 50mm, my settings have not changed, because my lighting has not changed. So what I did is, I got a full horizontal, a half-- a full vertical, half vertical, details, hair. I'm gonna get one horizontal, but I know that the horizontal probably won't work unless I use the rule of thirds so that I can crop out that hot spot to the left. (camera clicking) Jessica, hop in please. So that's the shot where you gotta get it. Okay, so I'm good. So now that I have this dress photographed I feel really good, I feel really confident. If I didn't really feel like I wanted this location to be my location, I probably would take it somewhere else, but because I'm working under the gun, because the guys are coming, and because I actually really like this location, it feels true to Chateau St. Jean, I'm gonna be good with it. So once I have this, I'm going to place it back in the bag but I'm not gonna put the stuffing back into it. I'm going to replace the dress back on the original hangers, I'm going to take this hanger and put it back in the room. And I put it back on the original hanger just in case anything happens to the dress, I won't have to be responsible for it being not on the hanger it originally came on. Thank you. (mumbled conversation) Oh, that's. Yeah. So, sometimes I will-- (muffled question) No. No stuffing, I'll take those. Sometimes people ask if I do this on my own on the wedding day, today I have Tammy and JD just due to the nature of the wedding, and the answer is Yes, I do this on my own. I also have more time on a normal day. Today they just kind of threw a lot of stuff at us last minute that we'll probably talk about at a later point in time, but right now, JD and Tenney are just really filling in the gaps. So even though I have less time, I've invited the two of them just to help me in this particular timeline, that's great, super helpful, but normally I do this on my own. So I don't really feel the need to zip it up again, but I wanna make sure that the dress is back in the original bag laying flat, because you don't want to pull out the dress and have the bottom be any wrinkled. So there we are. JD doesn't usually go back into the area where the girls are, but we're gonna be placing it right outside the door, and Samantha said that we had free reign to go in and out of her room. So that's what we're gonna do. So now what I'm gonna do is I'm going to take a few of the details that I think I'll work. I'll be using the veil possibly as a background, but I just wanna get all of these details photographed first. (women conversing boisterously) So I'm gonna choose to go on a different side of the building. This back side where we were shooting the dress is really really really green and yellow. So because of that, I was able to compensate with the natural reflector as when we shot the dress, but I'm go on this side of the house because I feel like I can get a little bit more true to form color. So I'm gonna step outside. We decided to shoot on this side of the building, because on the other side of the building it was green, like I had just mentioned indoors, but what I want the cameras to make sure and get is, I will be shooting in shade, which is going to be fantastic but I have this building right behind us that's going to be kind of color balancing naturally what's going on. Now I'm going to be shooting on a table that just happened to be outside. This is how it works on a wedding day all the time. And what I'm hoping to do is to use some of the foliage in the background as part of the story, to continue the narrative. We talked about, in earlier lessons, about shooting the wedding details in a way that tells the story from beginning to end. Well, me shooting details around a vineyard. Me shooting grape leaves in the background will help continue the narrative. I did notice too, that this little cool table actually looks better than this table, so what I'm going to do is, I'm going to go inside and I'm going to get a scrim or a diffuser. I'm gonna be right back, I'm gonna go and grab that. What's going on right now is I ran out and I got a diffuser, or scrim. Now, occasionally I will use these in bright situations, about 8:30 in the morning, the sun is shining really bright, and that's what I wanna do is create nice, effervescent light. What's going on behind the scenes is the coordinator is setting up the wedding invitations for me to shoot. I had emailed her in advance, I knew that this was what was going to happen. She told me that she would set it up, so we have it built into the timeline. While she's getting that set up, the bride and her bridesmaids are in the room next door, and I'm not shooting them at this time. There's a reason why I'm not shooting them at this time, is because their makeup isn't done. Most girls don't really want photos of them without their makeup done. So if they don't have their makeup done, I don't ever feel the necessity for me to be shooting it at that time. I move furniture quite often on a wedding day. It's completely normal for me to do this. I'm quite often shooting these photos on my own. If I was shooting these photos on my own, without the assistance of Tammy today, I would simply get this table, I would move it this way, I would put the scrim here, and I would shoot on my own. But because I have Tammy, and because we are working with a condensed timeline, I'm very spoiled. So I'm going to place Tammy here, and I'm gonna be placing her exactly at this point so that the shade that she is creating will allow me to shoot the grape leaves. And the reason why I chose this table and not this table, is this table looks too perfect. It looks too much like the linens are just too wedding. So what I wanna do is, I wanna make sure that I'm gonna get stuff that's organic to the environment as much as possible. So the front--the back of the shoes are the money makers. So this is how I'm gonna shoot the shoe, without a shadow of a doubt. Now what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna position the shoes, not in between the gaps, I wanna make sure I'm positioning the shoes so that the background looks full and lush to the best of my ability. And it's just by luck that we end up with this cuter table that actually is gonna make for a nice environmental photo. Cool. I didn't give myself enough space. Cool. Now one thing I wanna note, is that--Tammy, can you put this down for a second? This photo is really pretty. If I was an artistic photographer, I would be working on these shadows. I would be making this really dramatic, but I'm a lifestyle photographer, and I wanna make sure that this is editorial-worthy. Something that a magazine would go through, and a magazine has a tendency to kind of publish photos that are just beautifully lit and soft. Tammy, can you raise that up a bit? Great. I'm gonna get a test shot. That's way too-- My first test shot will be--great. F/2.0, 1/1000 of a second, 200 ISO. (camera clicking) My focal point is on the rhinestones behind the shoe. I'm using the back of the table as my horizon line so that I'm not capturing photos that are too crooked. And the focus, the background is really out of focus, the focus is gonna be on the shoe. I'm shooting vertical, now I'm gonna shoot it horizontal. (camera clicking) Now that I have this safe shot, a shot that I absolutely am okay with, and I know and I love and I adore, and I'm okay, I'm gonna try to do one more, so that the bride has options at a later point in time. One thing that I wanna do, because we spoke about this in a previous lesson, is Rebecca Crumley, the photo editor of The Knot reminded us to pay attention to details. The detail in this case is tying the shoe. The bride had tied the shoe in a way that's just kind of left it open, and I tied the shoe so that it left it closed. Okay cool, so I've just made the editorial decision. I could have had them like this, but I just feel like it looks like a silver shoe, and it doesn't really highlight the Bagdley Mischka kind of signature studs. I can have them off to the side, but it looked like it just didn't work right, so now what I'm gonna do is I'm simply going to place them back to back. That way we can still get the shoe, we still get the rhinestones, and it will feel completely organic to the bride in the scene. (camera clicks) Okay, cool. I'm gonna back this up a bit. The focal point will be on the rhinestone of the right shoe, difference in preference, it could be on the focal point of the rhinestones of the left shoe. Shot it vertical, now I'll shoot it horizontal. Now here's the thing that I have to take into consideration, in this situation the table curves, and if I shot it horizontal I would have a curve on the side and then a flat on this side, so what I need to do is I just need to shift the shoes so that when I shoot it horizontal it's gonna be flat and flat, although I will have a little pocket back here, but I can fix that later in post, or I can just own it for what it is. The only time I would fix it in post would be if the editor actually wanted this photo for a print. Or if the bride wanted it in her album. (camera clicking) Great. Okay, I'm done with the shoes. I really like this background, so I'm gonna keep it continuous, and I tell a continuous story. What I'm gonna do is, the veil is very beautiful, but it's also a very traditional veil. I don't need to shoot it--if it had a lot of details, if it was customized in a unique way. What I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna incorporate the veil as part of the details without me just shooting the veil in of and by itself. It's a personal preference. What I wanna do is I want to make sure and incorporate as many details as possible into one photo. This works well for print magazines, so the editor can have one photo that shows everything all at once, and then I'll kind of take it out piecemeal and shoot what I think is gonna be special to the bride. I just want to clarify a point that I had just made. It was, I want to position a photo--curate a photo with as many details in the frame at once so that the editor will then have the option to use that photo instead of using four different photos, so I'm gonna shoot it both ways. I'm gonna be shooting all of the details in one frame, and then I will be shooting all of the details individually, according to what I think is very special to her. Not every single detail will be photographed by itself, but stuff that I think would be of high sentimental value will absolutely be photographed on its own. And on that note, I think it's gonna be really important to note that this locket belongs to Samantha, but she just had it made today for the wedding. So in it is a photo of her and her mom. Her mom is battling cancer and she was supposed to be at the wedding, and just a few days before they came up, they had to admit her mom back in the hospital. So it's a bittersweet time for Samantha right now, so I'm gonna be adding this into the frame, and then I'll be photographing it--I'll be shooting it on its own in a bit. Now, what I'm realized is, I've created kind of a surface area, but I'm still too short. I can't get everything I want in the frame, so I'm gonna tuck the veil in, and what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna pull a chair from nearby and I'm gonna stand on the chair. In my mind, I'm already thinking I wanna be shooting this with the 50 millimeter, and then I'll be shooting with the macro. So I have the macro on deck. Cool. I think I just ripped my dress (laughs). As I'm looking through my frame I can see my toes in the bottom, so I need to make sure I'm cropping them out. I'm gonna be shooting this at a 2.8, at 1\ of a second. And I'm at 200 ISO. I'm gonna drop my ISO to 160, and this is where I want it. My focal point will be on the inscription of the locket which says 'Mom'. (camera clicking) I'm gonna shoot it vertical. I shoot it horizontal. (camera clicking) As a side note, there are gonna be some pieces of jewelry that are a lot more sentimental to the bride. There's a lot of sponsors for the event, so I'm not gonna be shooting the jewelry that she has to wear by way of sponsorship. I'll be shooting the jewelry--so for instance, this bracelet was done by way of a 3-D printer, and so the 3-D printer is a sponsor for this event, but I don't know if she's necessarily connected to it. The thing I'm gonna be shooting a lot of would be this bracelet, which is her something borrowed. Her necklace of her mom. The veil. And her earrings. Her earrings were purchased for her from Taylor. They're not sponsored, they were bought by her future husband, and she loves them. Now that I know that these are the sentimental things, these are the things I'm gonna wanna shoot. As far as styling goes, I actually just look a lot at how JCrew styles their things. I would never say that I'm particularly amazing at styling, but I do know that I can look at something and see if it's balanced, and in this particular situation, I was shooting her earrings and the locket, and it looked better than adding the bracelet. So I'm gonna shoot this on its own first, and then I'm gonna add the bracelet. I'm at 2.8, eight hundredth of a second, 160 ISO. I'm gonna get a test shot, my focal point will be on the inscription of the locket. And that's where I want it. (camera clicking) I sometimes hold my breath while I shoot to ensure that it's in focus. I shoot it horizontal, I shoot it vertical, and when I shoot horizontal I wanna make sure that I'm using the rule of thirds, because it just makes for a little bit more of a aesthetically pleasing photo. Now I'm gonna add the bracelet and then we're done. I'll shoot this perfectly right down the middle, since I have three components, the bracelet, the necklace, and the earrings. (camera clicking) Great. Cool. The only thing left is her grandmother's tissue. If I'm shooting her grandmother's tissue, I wanna include her mom locket in that. I'm gonna keep the veil as the background just to keep it continuous. What I just did was I used the veil as the bottom base, I used the tissue folded in a 'v'. Not the tissue, excuse me, the handkerchief folded in a 'v' and then I planned on placing the locket at the apex of it. I'll shoot horizontal, I'll shoot it vertical, and then we'll be good, and that will be all the detail shot, and we've been shooting in totality for about 10 minutes. (muffled woman speaks) Thank you. Right now the time is 8:45, the guys should be here any minute, if they're not here already. JD will have them get dressed as soon as they arrive. I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna do a quick swoop of what's going on in regards to their preparation. That's gonna be important for me. I wanna make sure that I get, her hair's already done, I wanna make sure that I get kind of a beginning shot, a set-up shot of her getting her makeup done. And then from there, I'm gonna shoot her details for her bridesmaids, which was the flask and the cup, and I don't have to stylize those gifts very much because they're silly gifts. They're just gonna be true to the environment they're in. I'm gonna be shooting the invitation as soon as it's ready, which I think it is any minute. I'm gonna make sure that all of the details that I have shot go back exactly how I found them. I think we can--yeah. I'm gonna move over here. Oh great. Go ahead, you get your shot. No Matt, you do it Matt. So, I'm gonna take this second to talk about working with a videographer. The shot that I need is the exact same shot that the videographer needs, so instead of working, and me trying to take priority, Matt needs the shot, so the wonderful coordinator Jeannie is actually holding the diffuser for him, that I was just using, and so he had said, "Oh, Jasmine--", he had deferred to me, he had said, "Go ahead, get the shot." But we both need the same shot. I've been working and I've already been in the flow. He should get priority for this, and as soon as he's done for that, I hop in. It's about creating synergy within your teammates, and also having a wonderful coordinator who's willing to hold a diffuser as Jeannie did. Let's talk the lenses I've used so far. I've used the 50mm 1.2, I've used the macro 100mm IS. What I'm gonna shoot now for the invitations, the 50mm and I'm gonna use the 35mm. I'll use the 35mm to get that wide shot. Now, I've been really spoiled today. I have a coordinator who's actually styled this for me. Nine times out of 10 I'm styling my own details for this type of setup, but Jeannie is really on point. She kind of sees ahead of the game, sets everything up the way that I need it. So what we're gonna do-- You don't need to hold this. I'm gonna have my assistant do it. Tammy's here, she's gonna do it. Oh my gosh, and okay, so this is why I'm spoiled. So my coordinator already knows that I need--thank you Jeannie. Thank you. This piece is moved. I just need this tulle parallel to that. Okay, so tell us right now-- That's the right thing. Tell us right now what you're looking for. Probably just this line needs to match that line, and then just make sure-- So what are some of the common mistakes that photographers make when they set up an invitation shot? I think some of it is just not keeping the lines straight and then you have to spend a lot of time photoshopping in the end to try keep everything Exactly. Straight, and it looks worse. So it's easier just to make it perfect now, and then sometimes what we see in the eye is a little different than a lens, as you know. Yeah. Take a couple test shots, look at it close up, and then if we need to re-adjust we'll re-adjust. Exactly. Thank you for saying-- And of course, you're gonna have to crop my tulle. Yes. (Jeannie laughing) And so this area will be cropped out, so my frame will be between here and here, which is why I'm bringing both lenses, the 50 and the 35. We'll be using the 50 to be shooting close up details, and the 35 to shoot mostly overall. Thank you Jeannie. And squares. Yes, Jeannie is an avid Instagram user, and so she loves these detail shots that can fit in her Instagram feed, so I'm shooting it most probably, all the time, with enough room around the edges for cropping. She's amazing. I love her. And just the fact that we were able to work on this wedding together is just so stinking amazing. The fact that we're both from Southern California is fantastic. The fact that I get to work with a friend. The fact that I'm ruining this table. Now, just be careful for this crop. You're unbelievable. No, I'm good, I'm good. I just need to get the chair close, and I just don't wanna show anything to the camera, because that's... Okay, I'm gonna shoot this with the 35. Sometimes if I can shoot on the ground, that would be great, because then I could be able to use the 50, because I have more distance between my frame and the floor, but in this case I'm gonna have to shoot it with the 35. I'm gonna shoot this at a 3.5. I'm gonna shoot it at an ISO 200, it's a personal preference. I know it is bright, but underneath the scrim, and we moved from really bright light to kind of broken up light. I'm gonna make sure that this is cropped out. Cool. Great. I don't really bring details for me to style an invitation on the wedding day, although I think that it's absolutely a fantastic idea. I just--because there are so many details that float around the day, I wanna make sure that the details that I'm using to stylize the invitation, as a personal preference, belong to the wedding, belong to the couple. But I'm not opposed to a photographer bringing what he or she needs. I keep on picking up a side of this over here that I need to make sure I'm cropping out. I'm at 3.5, eight hundreth of a second. My focal point is on the bride's name of the main invitation. What you hear in the background, this buzzing sound, is a drone. There will be a drone at today's wedding. (buzzing) It's gonna be getting some overhead video shots. I think that it used to be this really unique and original thing, and it very much is, but so many more videographers in Southern California are using drones, and so it's really important to learn how to work with the team and understand what they need from you, if anything at all. I've shot it from three varying lengths. One with a lot of room to crop around for Instagram, a shot that I think an editor would appreciate, and now I'm gonna get shooting really tight so that I can crop out everything and really just had the main focus on the invitation itself. (camera clicking) I'm gonna switch my lens. Great. So I shot a lot of horizontal, I will now shoot a lot of vertical because I'm gonna be doing individual pieces. I switched my lens because the 35, as a personal preference is a little too wide for me when I shoot individual pieces of the invitations. And to be honest, the 50mm is my favorite lens. It's just something that I appreciate, I love. Now that I have the shot that I want, now that I know the videographer has the shot that he wants, I'm gonna reframe a couple things, because this is the entire suite and I think that this is what the paper designer would want, but I wanna make sure that I can get a shot that later on I can use as a diptych. A diptych is two photos next to each other, and sometimes adding too many moving pieces makes it a distraction. So again, this is just personal preference, I know that the coordinator styled it in her way, that I absolutely love and appreciated. I'm going to get this fern, I'm going to cut off-- Way to go John. (male laughs) What I'm gonna do is, I cut off a piece of the fern because it was acting as a distraction, and used this bit of the card to cover the end of it. Celeste, can I get a time check? (female speaks) What I wanna make sure, just based on Jeannie's recommendation is making sure that everything's lined up in a way that makes sense. If you see in this invitation, maybe we can use this as our baseline. Use these two lips of the leaves as our baseline, and then we straighten from there. As close as possible. Here's something I just realized, the bride got these rings for her bridesmaids, and I put it on my hand not to forget, and what resulted was me not shooting this ring. So what I need to do is I need to shoot this ring, and I'm gonna shoot this ring by itself with the macro, and I'll be okay with that, it was just a reminder not to do that in the future. Great. I gotta a shot of all three pieces. So what I'm basically doing, I'm just parsing it down, I'm parsing it down, so I started with the whole invitation suite. I now have everything set up the way I want it. I'm gonna bring it in a little tighter. Now what I'm doing is I'm making sure that the editors have options, that I have options, that the paper maker has options, and that the coordinator has options. In totality this will take me about 10 minutes. Maybe not even that. My settings haven't changed because my lighting hasn't changed. (camera clicking) So what I'm gonna do is because I forgot this ring, I'm gonna now see if I can incorporate it in a very unique way to try to make up for my mistake. What I'm gonna to is I'm gonna place this Knot ring on top of her invitation, and see if I can incorporate the flowers, the invitation, I'll have the scrim up, and let me go and grab my macro in a sec. Okay, I'm gonna shoot this down, I'm gonna shoot this at a 2.8. A lot of times people ask how I meter for something, and I'm 100% looking behind my camera, 100% of the time. I notice that, by simply looking at the back of my camera and the exposure was right, but-- dang it. The invitation was crooked. (camera clicking) Shooting this with the macro because this tiny little detail of the Knot. The bride got these silver rings for all of her bridesmaids that are in a form of a knot, because she's tying the knot, and also The Knot wedding. I needed to make sure I had a photo that we were proud of, and we're good. That concludes all the details for this portion of the day. It took us about, I would say 30 minutes in totality. I'm gonna hop back in, I'm gonna check in with the bride, she's probably in her makeup chair right about now, so I wanna get details of that. I'm gonna leave this here for the coordinator, and then I'll let her know that it's here. I'll hop back in with the bride and then we'll take things from there. One thing that I noticed that the coordinator also got were the boutonnieres, which is fantastic because it's going to be a very warm day. So I wanna shoot these boutonnieres by themselves in the position she had placed them. I had made the decision to shoot them in this case on this table because when I placed it on the gravel floor, it blended in too much, and when I placed it on top of the grass it made everything too green. Just gonna be a decision that I'm making on the fly. I'm gonna use the 50. I'm gonna shoot this at a 2.0, at 12\50 of a second, 200 ISO, and I'm gonna use the just to shoot small, individual pieces within. I'm gonna change this to two thousandth of a second because it was a little bit too bright. I like to shoot a lot of my details around that 2.0 range. Just like the look that it gives off. (camera clicking) I actually like--this is a shot that I know that I think I will use, and the editors might use, because it has the frame within the frame, but I'm gonna shoot this with the 35 because, if the coordinator wants to use it--if anybody, The Knot wants to use it on Instagram, I need to make sure that I can get a photo that will crop perfectly in a square. Great. The settings don't have to change. I don't think that that photo's all that great, but the fact is, they have that as an option. But I'm sure that the smaller, cropped one will work a lot better for what they want. Now we're popping back inside. I know that they're going to shoot this right now, but I'm just gonna be sheisty and try to hop right in and get the shot. I'm gonna be shooting this at a 640 ISO, one sixtieth of a second, 2.0. You have to just get the best shot you possibly can. Oh, this is it. I have the glasses of wine. I have the Chateau St. Jean bottle. I'm gonna turn this out because they're a major sponsor, and I also have the pink flasks, and I'm gonna be cropping out all the junk that's in the background, which were just lights and a lot of other goodness. I'm gonna shoot the bottle by itself. I'm gonna shoot the flasks by themselves. (camera clicking) And I have that shot, and I'm done. Couple things that I'm thinking about right now is, I need to shoot the bridesmaids' dresses in a really pretty area. I'm having her take off her jewelry, because I didn't get a photo of her putting it on, and I actually want her hair and makeup on as she's doing that. They're gonna be starting some videography and filming for The Knot, so there's a lot of moving pieces. And then also in my mind, I'm thinking about getting the wedding rings. So I need to make sure and get those wedding rings, and I also need to make a mental note of where I put the invitation because I wanna shoot the rings on the invitation, as well as them by themselves. What just happened now is that it's an absolute mad house in the bridal suite, so let's bring this down to what it would mean for a regular wedding day. This is a regular wedding day. There's always way too many people in way too small of a room. In this situation, the bride has not had her makeup done. I feel no concern at this point in time. They wanna set up their shots for the live feed for The Knot. Go ahead. Awesome. Do it. She doesn't have makeup, and I think that for video it would work, especially live video, but in regards to me shooting photographs, I feel no pressure. I'm gonna take a step back. I'm gonna take a deep breath. I'm gonna to shoot just the things that I want to shoot. And during this time, I'll be shooting her rings, I will be shooting bridesmaids dresses. Maybe I'll be shooting that out here, and I'll just kind of be taking a breather, because he asked for 10 minutes. Before they start shooting that in there, I'm gonna place her wedding ring on my fingers because I get really nervous, and I'm gonna go grab a few bridesmaids dresses, so I'll be right back. There's a sash on one of them. I'm gonna take the sash out, but can you note that it belongs to this dress? The names should be on the backs. This is Crystal. This is the one that doesn't have-- Great, then that's how we're gonna denote it, and actually, it's a different color green so we'll pull that out. (mumbled question) No no no. I'm totally okay with it. Part of the reason why I wanna shoot these dresses right now the way that they are is because these dresses were donated by Jenny Yoo, and they were voted for by the audience, and I'm gonna get a lot of good photos of the girls in their dresses, but let's just get one stationary. Just in case. I notice that one dress is a different color, so I'm going to place that one I'm gonna place this dress higher because there's a gap in the bush, and I'm okay with them being off-kilter a little. And then there's this little tiny twig that's sticking out from behind, so I need to just tuck it behind a dress so it doesn't become a distraction later on. Okay. Let's shoot this, we're gonna shoot this at a 2.5, ISO 200. I'm gonna use the bushes in front of them as part of the frame in the first shot. I'm at three-twentieth of a second, 2.5, 200 ISO, and I'm where I wanna be. Can you zhuzh the front part of the right dress? I know it's a little top-heavy. Just pop it out. Yeah yeah yeah. Thanks love, that's it. Thank you. Oh, that's great. Thank you. My focal point--I'm using the 50mm, you will see me use the 50mm a lot. My focal point is on the dress in the center, center left. Which fit horizontal. I'm gonna shoot it vertical. If I shoot it vertical and the dresses are right smack in the center, which is what I'm gonna shoot now, it looks a little of to me, in my opinion. So I'm gonna use a little slightly, rule of thirds. Then I'm gonna get some haze, so I'm gonna use my ghetto-fabulous lens head. My focal point will be on the darkest green dress, and I'm gonna use that slightly in the center. (camera clicking) There it is. Can crop out the haze of the hand. Good. Now I have that shot, I'm gonna shoot this vertical again, a lot tighter. If I crop out some of the dresses on the end it doesn't matter to me so much. I just wanna me sure that they get the shot that they want. And the variations that they want. I'm gonna pop right in. (camera clicking) Great. I'm good. Let's see, I'm gonna take some dresses in. I'm gonna check to see if they're filming yet. What just happened right now is The Knot asked me to step away from shooting because they don't want me to shoot right now, and that's okay. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna leverage an opportunity to shoot the vendors doing what they do. Now, we have the florist, we have the coordinators, and they look so beautiful. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna choose great light, so can I have you ladies right here? Tammy? Can I have you move that barrel that says 'Bride' on it? Ladies, I'm gonna take you guys right over here. Jeannie, what are you envisioning for this? Tell me. Oh, just that it's like-- Do you want it-- Do you want it square-cropped? Like, what do you want? Yeah, exactly. (women laughing) Ladies, I'm gonna take you guys right about here, we're using beautiful beautiful light. I'm gonna take you right--come out towards me. Come out towards me, come out towards me, come out towards me. And we're good. So ladies, you're gonna be on this side. I'm gonna pull these boxes out. Okay. (women chattering happily) So the reason why I'm pulling those, I just want light behind them, I'm gonna get cream tones. Ladies, turn in towards the center. Come in, bring your bodies in close close close close close. And then, Jeannie, give me the little Pure Barre leg. Yeah, boom. There we go. (women laughing) We look so short in our flats right now. This is so stinking beautiful. Hang out ladies. Good. We're gonna go for the quer--the quer-- (onlookers laughing) Yeah, thanks guys. See? Good. Now I got that beautiful laugh. Lean in ladies, lean in, lean in. Hang out. Hang out one more second. Last frame. Beautiful, thank you. Actually, come in, come in, come in. Hold the bouquets--well, not bouquets, but... (Jeannie laughs) Looking at each other. (Jeannie laughs) See, Jeannie? You got this. Good. That's was beautiful, thank you guys, that was great. Thank you. That was great, that was great. Okay, cool. What we're gonna do is, we're gonna go shoot the wedding rings right about now. Right now I'm setting up the rings. I will be having a scrim, or a diffuser, and then purposefully choosing--as opposed to using this silver background, what I want, just because it's getting really hot and really bright, is I'm actually gonna be shooting it on this linen table because this will naturally illuminate, reflect light in a way that I prefer. I'm trying to stylize the rings. This takes probably just a few tries, a few seconds. Some photographers will bring putty to a wedding day, but bam, there you go. We have it set up. Make sure it's-- I'm gonna need that chair again. My focus will be, I'm gonna shoot this with the macro. I'm gonna shoot this horizontal and vertical, but I'm gonna really try, to the best of my ability, crop it within so that this is the entire background. I'm gonna set it to 2.8. I'm at 200 ISO. My focal point will be on the-- I'm hoping this guy does not put anything on the table. Okay, I'm at sixteen hundred of a second, 200 ISO, 2.8. The frame is the invitation, and the ring. Gonna try my best to align it as perfect as possible. (camera clicking) Great. Now I'm gonna get in a little bit tighter for vertical so that I don't have the white linen in the background. (camera clicking) You guys trying to come back here? I don't know. Where do you want the umbrellas? (camera clicking) (mumbled chatter) My focal point's gonna be on the diamond itself, I'm doing a vertical and then a vertical. Tight vertical, wide horizontal. And then a horizontal at a slight angle. What time is it right now? 9:30. 9:30? If possible. I have to drop--shift things, since I didn't have so much light above, I have to compensate about a thousandth of a second. (male voices) Great. I feel good with this. Gonna switch-- I think that this might potentially be cheesy. It might. If it's cheesy, it won't make the edit, but I just wanna try it. I like to have a couple options for rings. I mean, this could potentially be really cheesy. I'm not the photographer who places rings in flowers. I'm just not. But, in this case, because I don't really feel like I have the time, and I don't really feel all that particularly... Not gonna go with what I have. Just gonna try to do the best I can. Right now I just need to shoot all three rings in a way that's quasi-horizontal, but when you're placing it on top of a flower, it doesn't always work out that way. I'm just gonna fight for this one. Not exactly what I want. Can I have you hold that white background behind? Actually, just come up right to the-- Let me see. I'm just using-- hang on a second. Let me see what I'm gonna do here first. I'm just using that scrim in the background to cover any sort of green light from behind, and let me get the focal point where I want it. Which is on the diamond. This will definitely not be making any sort of blog post or slideshow, but I think that the bride would appreciate it. I'm okay with it. (camera clicking) Feel free to walk past. Please, please. Thank you so much. Great, so I got a vertical, I got a horizontal, and later on in post we'll see how that works. Thanks guys. It seems like The Knot is done (sighs) filming inside, so my goal is to place the ring back on my finger. I will return it immediately to Samantha. I'm going to get these rings and I'm going to give them immediately back to the coordinator. I hate being responsible for this kind of stuff, so I will meet you guys back in the room with the bride as she prepares with her bridesmaids. What's going on with The Knot right now is that they are filming the bride, and they don't want any other people shooting in that right now, so just have to take a deep breath, and I have to say, "It is what it is." Instead of just waiting there for the bride to be ready, I'm gonna come in and check-in with JD, see how the guys are doing. Sometimes they need a little bit of tough love. I'm Puerto Rican and my dad was a Marine, so I go in there, lay down the law, get all the guys outside, and hopefully start shooting that process. We'll see how fast we can get this done, and how productive we can be in the process. Because I'm a female, I just like to announce before I walk in. Hey, guys? Hey, guys. Oh, so there's people dressing. Are we cool? (female speaks) Oh, you're there too. Okay, cool. Awesome. Okay (laughs). (male laughter) Fantastic. Oh, wow guys. Nice. Cool. Hey you. Hey, looking good. How are you? Good, good. Good to see you. Good to see you. Fantastic. Guys, so are we like a couple minutes out? Yeah, I think we're maybe five minutes out. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. I'm shooting with the 50mm. I'm at 1.2, one-sixteen of a second, 400 ISO. JD's at one angle and I'm at the other. This little blip in the day has actually been great, because now Taylor gets two angles of him getting ready. Get in there, bro. (Jasmine laughing) So the guys are a little bit back-lit, which is making it difficult, but I'm gonna try to crop as much of the window in the background as possible, but we're getting a little glare. (groomsmen talking happily) I'm gonna switch. No, I'm not liking that angle, I'll leave that angle to JD, because we're gonna have to mix the tungsten lighting and the window lighting, so I'm just gonna stay here and do the best I can. (camera clicking) My focal point is on his eyes. (groomsmen chatting) Need to move this back. What's happening right now is, JD met each guy. Now he's using their names. He said, "Hey, Jesse, can you help Taylor with his tie?" That's a great way to personalize the experience and incorporate guys naturally into the frame. I'm getting a lot of ambient shots. JD's gonna get the actual framing shots, like the guys in the background. A slightly different angle. Samantha, do you need anything? So everyone that has their suits on already, we'll start pinning boutonnieres. So JD, in this situation, would still be the lead. When he was working with the guys-- If I'm ever in the opportunity to work with the guys then that's absolutely what I do. So he's still watching everything as it's unfolding. I don't feel pressure to at this point in time. Taylor is actually putting on his pants right now, so I don't need to shoot that, so I'm gonna take a step back, let JD take the lead on this, and then once his pants are on, we get both simultaneously Taylor putting on his jacket. There's a purse in the background I have to move. I'm moving a purse because it just ruined the frame. I'm so sorry, can I have you come out this way? I'm so sorry. Forgive me. What I just did, I just moved a purse that was in the background of the frame, so that I had a clean shot of him adjusting his tie. The window is rather distracting, but I'm gonna go with it and blow it out. It is what it is. His friend got in the middle of the frame, which is directly in the middle of the window, which was great, because it kind of blocks the light. Just getting some last minute detail photos. (groomsmen talking animatedly) Alright Taylor, let's do your cuff links now. That'd be a good time. Taylor, you'll stand right about here. Sam, we'll push you guys back towards the window when you're ready. Only when you're ready. The reason why I'm having them stand here is because I wanna use these frames as a frame. Taylor will stand, hopefully, here, center here. We'll be shooting over the table. Great. After they're on, Jasmine-- I wanted to use this-- That's when we'll do the shot. Okay. Cool. Actually, you get this shot, let me circle behind you. What just happened right about now, was that JD thought it would be a good idea for his best man to come in and help him with the cuff links, and I didn't think it was such a great idea, but JD's lead, and he's right. It ended up working out the way that it should, so we're just gonna get candid photos of this happening, and then hopefully some styling photos later. I always-- (men talking loudly) I just left the groom's room because I have a feeling that the bride is getting ready right now. I'm gonna hop back down. I don't really feel the pressure to get those photos right when she's starting, so I'm gonna be okay with that, but I'm gonna go down, show my face, and then we'll be meeting the groom and the groomsmen outside in about five to seven minutes, so let's head down. What I'm gonna shoot right now is some prep photos from toe to head, and then waist to head. Right now I'm shooting at a 1.2 three-twentieth of a second, 200 ISO. They do have a video light in here which I'm leveraging, which is just fantastic. Now we're doing head to toe. Now we're gonna do waist and toe. Waist to head, excuse me. (camera clicking) (women conversing) Look at the window. Eyes here. Eyes down to the glass. Thank you. (camera clicking) Right now we're shooting for Revlon. Revlon is a major sponsor for this event, so Revlon sent me a list of photos they wanted, so I wanna make sure that I'm styling the photo in a way that's gonna be beneficial for the bride as well as for Revlon. I have the Revlon rep here with us, so I want to make sure that she's pulling the image--the pieces that will actually work. Let me know what you were thinking. Yeah, while you're getting stills, this is fine. I'd like to get that bouquet back there, just cause that helps balance everything out. Looks beautiful. Perfect. If you can find that, and then in addition to the shots that you guys have listed (coughs), I'm just mentioning, we wanna take a top coat with Bet on Love. Perfect. With her rings. Perfect. So we can do that. Great. Just her engagement ring? Or, because the--actually-- (mumbled speaking) Actually, Jeannie, do you have the rings with you? I do. Great. So what we're gonna do-- I'll pass it off to you-- Soon. Here. This is a nice balance, I'm gonna give this to you. Thanks love. Great. What I was thinking about doing was maybe getting--as far as product shots go, instead of an overall, I think that for video it works and you can pan over. And then for stills, what I was thinking, maybe we can shoot aerially and stylize it so we can actually see the color palettes, if you're okay with that. Yep. Okay, great. So for shadow--so there's three main products that we wanna get. Tell me. It's the shadow. Perfect. This collection, although, don't zoom in too much on the top-- I'm not. I'm actually--if I shoot, I'm gonna be shooting down this way on them. Does that work? Yeah. For now, what I think I'm gonna do is use these. Are we done shooting this for video for The Knot? The Knot had already shot this, correct? I don't know, actually. I'll actually just piece it back in exact the order that they were. I mean, base is nice, because it kind of gives some balance sometimes. Do you wanna try to get some of the foundation, because it is part of the collection. But, wherever--feel free to stylize (mumbles). So, the color palettes for the weddings, was it any of these? Yes, it was this one. Perfect. Unfortunately. If you wanna do the look, it is-- Thank you, that would actually be really-- (women conversing boisterously) Do you want the ColorStay Gel Envy as well? Yeah, you know, it's got a funny packet. That's okay. I just am verifying. (rep laughs) That's totally okay. (mumbles) Any of the bridesmaids-- I think the eyeliner... in the room? Candids of the bridesmaids in the room. There was an eyeliner, but she's, I think used the one I brought down. Okay. Just skip that 'cause it's not the most important. So we've got that, that. Okay. And I'm going to incorporate the rings within their box as well. That'd be really cute. Okay, great, let me get her ring. Okay. Am I in your way? No, you're not, ladies. Please forgive me. Sam, I'm so sorry, for Revlon we need your ring. Oh yeah. Here. And we're not giving it back. (women laughing) Thank you ladies. (women conversing) So I'm stylizing this just the way that I would any other details on the wedding day. I'm gonna shoot this horizontal. I will shoot it vertically. And at this point, I'm not actually going to incorporate the flowers quite yet. I'm gonna get a clean shot of exactly what I need. Oh, did you want a foundation in this as well? Yeah. And I'm gonna grab a chair. We can get something that's just close to the color. I mean-- Can you put that foundation that goes from-- Perfect. I'm gonna shoot this at 2.8. I'm at 320 ISO. I'm gonna do a test shot. My focal point is going to be on the Revlon ColorStay. (camera clicking) Now that I know that I have this safe shot, what I'm going to do-- (camera clicking) This was in my frame. Have to shoot this over again. (camera clicking) Tammy? Can you give me a review once I have the overview shot with the Revlon products? Yeah. No I'm gonna go off the script a tiny bit for Revlon, but I think I'm gonna try to incorporate the rings with the lipstick. See how that goes. (camera clicking) Right now I need to incorporate the Revlon signage as well as the ring, and it's a little difficult because the rings are bigger than the Revlon bottle, so getting them to balance is really difficult. It's just a new thing for me to be shooting product on a wedding day, so I feel like I'm trying to style a product shot for a company. And all of this was just told to me yesterday, so I don't that that I was as prepared as I feel like I could've been, or should've been. But, we're just-- [Revlon Representative] Double-stick tape goes on the back so it will help. I know. Or, not double-stick, but will this help? Yes, thank you. The thing that I'm focusing on now is yes, the ring, but also, for the Revlon products in it. Now that I feel like this is a stronger positioning of it I'm gonna add a few things in it that we had last time. Because now I just like it in a free form, away from the box. I like this styling a lot better. I think it's gonna be better for them. Tammy, can I get a... I'm gonna get the-- (camera clicking) The bouquet. I need to make sure that I'm getting a horizontal, (mumbles) I get a vertical. They have requested the bouquets with the rings. Oh wait, was the bouquet with the product? Right? Right. For a few minutes. (mumbled question) Of course, of course. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Here's the deal, she was making me so nervous, I'm not gonna lie. I'm not a commercial photographer. I'm not that thing, so I feel like that's kind of been a little bit difficult. I think they're asking for photos that don't really make sense, like the bouquet with product, and rings. But again, it's not my job to educate on the wedding day. This was just thrown to me, and I'm just gonna try to make the best of it. Can you hold this? Are you gonna work those in there? Yeah. I'm gonna really be honest and say that this is not my favorite. But what am I gonna do? (bridesmaids conversing) Oh, the guys are partying upstairs, though. The guys are partying it up. They are? Yeah. I'm not surprised. (camera clicking) (women chatting boisterously) After I do this I'm gonna need to get a shot of the bride holding the bouquet with her Revlon-color manicure, but so far, I just feel like, for the sake of time I'm gonna do what I need to do. This goes back to Samantha, I'll take this. It's gonna be important for me to put things back as close to possible as I found them. A new fanny pack? I'm good. I'm gonna take some tape from behind. Tammy, thank you so much for running back and forth. This is the last shot, and then we for sure need to go shoot the guys, 'cause they're waiting outside for us. (Tammy mumbles) I have that, thank you. Alright. Here we go. (clinking) (women chatting) If you're wondering where I got the tape, I'm getting the tape just from stuff that Revlon has already set out. In this situation, I just would use whatever's around me and in this case it's tape. We're just making this work. (woman mumbles) That's right, boo. (laughter) There we go. Let's try this. This is about as good as it's gonna get. Here we go. (women speaking) (camera clicking) Great. I'm shooting this rule of third, horizontal, and then vertical. With the 50mm, shooting at 2.8 400 ISO, one-sixtieth of a second. We'll be popping back in. How far along before you think she gets her lipstick on? I wanna get those last minute details. Ten minutes maybe. Oh, that's great. I'll be back in ten. I'll be back in nine. If I need to fake it, I might need to fake it because I might need to move on to the... Okay, perfect. We'll try to be back in five. So what's happening right now is I have about two minutes to shoot this bouquet because what they wanna do it put a GoPro in it. I wanted to originally shoot that door, but it has a broken light over it. They wanna put a GoPro in the bouquet, and I think that's just gonna make the bouquet look really ugly, so I'm gonna shoot this. I have about two minutes--not even that to do that. We do it at 200 ISO. I'm at 2.0. I'm gonna use this brown door, and I will be shooting it two ways. I'll be shooting this bouquet simply by itself right now, and then I'll have the bride holding it. I wanna create a clean background, to the best of my ability, and I'm actually standing in front of the restrooms, so guys are actually using the restroom and are gonna be walking past me right now. I have to work as quickly as possible. (camera clicking) So I shot it vertical, I shot it horizontal, I'm shooting it at an angle to make sure that I'm cropping out the bathroom doors in the background. I'm shooting at a 2.0, four-hundredth of a second, 200 ISO. I'm gonna let it go and (mumbles) it, because they're waiting for this. So, Tammy, I'll give this to you. Guys, I'm shooting at a 1.2, two-hundredth of a second, 200 ISO. (women exclaiming) There's a lot going on. Tammy, you got daddy? You good? (women chatting loudly) Okay. Hashtag tear patrol. Hashtag tear patrol. (women laughing) Thanks. Dad, you look so nice. I told you. (women laughing) Who dressed you? I did all by myself. I sat down, you'd never guess what happened. I'm shooting dad in the background. And Samantha's in the foreground, so I'm gonna hopefully get him in these candid moments. Gonna wait for the moment. She's talking right through the hairstylist. [Female Offscreen] Did you double check that? Oh, yes, you guys are amazing. Oh my gosh. This feels so much like me too. It really does. I had no idea what to expect to look like on this day. (camera clicking) Sam, can I get you looking in the mirror again? Looking at the mirror. Yep, yeah. I'm like looking in the mirror (mumbles). (Jasmine laughs) Beautiful. Thank you love. We're good. Oh, actually, (garbled). Oh, oh! The lip! Yes. We haven't done the lip, or have we done the lip? No, haven't done it. See? Right on time, boo. Right on time. Here we go. Thank you ladies. I appreciate that very much. (camera clicking) Matt, if you need anything from me, you just let me know. I'm good. Okay. I'm sorry, I have the PA in the back. Lee? Can I have you step just a-- sorry, love. Soften the eyes Sam. Just relax them. There you go, there you go. Beautiful. There we go. (male mumbles comment) (Jasmine laughs) I have no idea what he's talking about (mumbles). (bridesmaid squealing) What did he say? Taylor says no (mumbles). (Samantha laughs) Oh my gosh. This is so pretty. Have one hand right here, eyes down. We want a shot just of that final look. I'm gonna shoot this at a 2.0, increase my ISO to 250. I'm gonna get a test shot. What was the makeup artist's-- I'm sorry. Huh? I'm good, I'm good. (camera clicking) There's stuff in the background that I need to be-- can you bring your face over here, love? And then-- Just my face or my hands? Keep your hands here. You're looking down at my hand. Beautiful. And what was your makeup artist's name? Ashley. Ashley, can I have you take one tiny step out just so I can get a shot of her--there you go. Beautiful. Let's take a deep breath. Relax the shoulders. Slight smile. Beautiful. Eyes here. Relax the forehead. There you--(laughs). There you go girl, that's perfect. No, that was perfect. That's it, we're good. Alright. Thank you, thank you, thank you. She looks stunning. What I'm doing now is I'm just moving all furniture, as much as possible, outside of the frame, and possibly into the hallway. This happens on a wedding day, and I will do it all the time in order to get the shot that I need. JD's here. Fantastic. Can I have you and me, we'll move this out to that hallway? As much as possible, but in case you feel confident moving it that's okay. If not, we'll take it out piecemeal. Thank you. Into the hallway by the orchids. Thank you JD. Here's the deal right now. The deal is right now is, I have this area and I have a light, and I have cords, and I'm gonna try my best to not capture the cords. On a wedding day I probably don't have to hide cords, but I have to hide a lot of other stuff, so this is the same principle that applies. I wanna make sure that I'm not ruining anything. At the same time, I need to make sure that the photos look however I would expect them. Whoa. Right now I'm gonna shoot with the 50 because I don't wanna shoot with the 35 because we have a lot of stuff going on in the background. I'm gonna shoot this at a 2.8. I'm shooting at 800 ISO, and 125-- Yeah, I like that light. I have doors coming in from behind them. Ladies, squeeze in, squeeze in nice and tight, nice and tight. Beautiful. Ladies, I will be cropping out your knees, but if you gotta sell your legs. There we go. Alrighty, there you go ladies. Beautiful. Gorgeous. I love this look. Take a deep breath. Relax. Relax the arms down. Good. Now what I want you guys to do is kind of look at each other. Sam, you're so petite, can you pop out a tiny bit? There you go. Boom, there we go. You can kind of-- now ladies-- This'd be great if you have your hand right about here. So, saying you have hands here. Oh yeah. There you go. Beautiful. You guys are going to be looking at each other. Just kind of casual hanging out. That's good. This is for practice for later on. Beautiful. Everybody's gonna be looking at each other and then Sam, eyes here. Good. Everybody lean in, nice and close, nice and close. Thank you ladies. Beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Quickly, dresses. ASAP. Let's go. What we're gonna talk about right now is recapping what happened during our bridal prep this morning. Overall, I have a pretty positive sentiment about the overall experience. I felt like it was pretty darn good. I think it was only good because I stayed true to who I was. Of course, were there things that I'd wanna change? Absolutely. But overall, I stayed true to the vision, and the vision was cleaning up the bedroom, getting candids, getting posed shots, getting behind the scenes. A few things that weren't expected was having so many different people needing so many different types of photos. We tried rolling with it the best that we could. I will say that overall, I cleaned up the bedroom and the things behind the bride as she dressed. Her bridesmaids were incorporated in it, even though things ran a little bit late, it was fine, because we were able to make up time at a later point in the day. So overall, I feel like there probably wouldn't be much I would change about it, except for the fact of maybe not having so many chefs in the kitchen. But what's done is done, and now we're gonna move on from there, and I feel pretty darn good about it.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials: Shooting Guides

The Complete Wedding Photographer's Experience Keynote
Gallery Access
Shooting Guide: How to Pose a Curvy Bride
Shooting Guide: How to Shoot a Tall-Short Couple
Shooting Guide: How to Shoot in the Worst Light
Shooting Guide: Shooting with Intention

Bonus Material: Syllabus

Syllabus

Ratings and Reviews

user-eee241
 

Do not just watch this video. Eat it up, live it and breathe it. I am a recent Jasmine Star convert (a.k.a. evangelist) and a newbie photographer. I was looking for inspiration online and her name had come up before in conversations with another photographer and I am SO GLAD I stumbled upon her blog, her store and her Creative Live classes. I have to say that in the 9 months now that my business has been in operation, she's been with me every step of the way (in internet spirit) and although I've never spoken to or corresponded with her, her online presence has served as a guide for many steps in my business. I am not a high-end photographer or teaching my own classes, like I said I'm brand-spanking new to the industry, but her blog and this class has helped me develop a clear vision and plan for my business, and to me that is half the battle. If you want to feel good about your business, know what you stand for, your style of photography…if you want to know your 2-minute why-hire-me speech in an elevator full of brides or whoever your audience is, listen, really listen to what she has to say. Then DO DO DO what you need to do for yourself a successful business takes a lot of work. But if you love it and it's a passion of yours, then you can make your business what you want it to be. Thank you, Jasmine Star and JD for being an amazing beacon of light to many photographers around the world and for being my wedding day warriors who amp me up on the mornings of my professional shoots! All the best from Ohio, Donna May

user-0dde51
 

Remember when Magicians kept all their secrets to themseves ? Well its as if Jasmine said enough is enough I'm doing a 30 day class on the A to Z of Wedding Photography and I'm not holding anything back baby!! I'm even going to wear a mic and speak my thoughts out loud! Is this really happening? Creative live said its free the first time around? Am I dreaming? Jasmine your giving us a wealth of knowlege and I cannot thank you enough I love and look forward to your teaching everyday Talk about step by step! Jasmine your the Tony Robbins of Wedding Photography, You've inspired me to pick up my camera once again Thank you so much for doing this course for us and explaining everything so clearly and sharing every tip you know with us I feel like i'm shadowing you on the shoots :) Thanks to creative live and JD too An awesome class that I will be buying Highly recommend!

Charlie Ketchen
 

WOW! So inspiring! This course really shook things up for me! I've never seen a live wedding, meeting, engagement/bridal shoot before and it was so valuable. Edited nicely, easy to follow and so relatable. It's been truly inspiring to watch this over the past few weeks. I purchased the course and I am so glad I did, the course materials saved me making 1,000s of notes, but I still had documents open to make notes because EVERYTHING she says is helpful/moving/game-changing. Don't skip the Q&A's at the end of each session, or the last sessions as she either recalls and compounds what we learned over the 30+ lessons and there is value in all of it! I can't be thankful enough for Jasmine, JD & the CL team for bringing this to us in a shiny, clean format for us to enjoy. For bearing all, for wearing your hearts on your sleeves and pulling back the curtain on how the J* brand operates and came about. So so so so inspiring. BUY IT!!!

Student Work

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