Welcome to the next lesson we've gotten through everything, right. We've gone through so much stuff. Let's get back into the computer. I wanna show you a positioning technique for the bouquet and garter toss. Now, to be honest, a lot of weddings lately for me, they've opted out of this mostly because it happens at later at the end of the night and they didn't wanna keep a photographer around so they don't really necessarily need to do it or I didn't get a chance to photograph it. But on bigger days and bigger weddings, this is a very um popular and important thing. If you're a single photographer, one person, it is not necessarily very easy. You kinda have to pick and choose and you have to be on top of things because it's gonna happen quickly. Um Look for the DJ Q, look for the m the person who's conducting the ceremonies to know when this is gonna happen and talk to your bride and your groom on what they're gonna do with it and make sure that they make eye contact with you before it ...

happens the best place to be. And this is for both I'm just using the bouquet because it's a little bit more popular. The best place to be is our green camera and that would be because we wanna shoot her looking at you and then when she tosses it, you'll be able to rack focus or get it in the air and shoot, um, the people behind her and you'll be able to walk in and take photos, whomever catches it. The second best place to be is a sort of, uh, um, I guess what you would call it would, would be a profile of everybody, right, having the bride on one side and all the people who might catch it on the other side and taking a sort of arc of uh of the bouquet. I like being in front because you're able to see her face and it's kind of fun to see them, uh like jockey for position and you can see faces better, which to me is more storytelling in the wide. Um It's not as easy if you have a second shooter, having your second shooter at the wide spot, keeping you at a frame is much uh easier. And in that sense, the wide shot would need a wider lens, right, like a 16 to 24 if you're in front and at my angle that I like, um I would be using closer from a to 100. I probably even maybe use an 85 or 50 prime. Um it's a good place for a 7024 to 70. Um So you can adjust, you can go wide, you can go in. Um It just depends on how it goes. So here's a couple of examples of that. Here is right before the garter toss. I'm actually a guest at this wedding and um I'm in the wedding. I'm a groomsman and my friend here knew that I was, I am a photographer and I had my little camera with me. So he kept playing to me and not his actual photographers um which may have been a detriment, but you can see that they are all on the profile side, right? Just like I am, I was on the profile side, but I was with a lot of the crowd. Their photos probably came out better than mine, but he's looking at me unfortunately, as probably my fault for um being right there, but he's doing the garter toss and all the gentlemen are behind him. So he's going to toss it behind him and you can see they're all doing that profile shot. Now adversely here is the front shot. This is one of my favorite bouquet tosses that I have. It was a spring wedding. I'm right in front of her. I timed it out. So I took a bunch of pictures right when she threw it. She's in focus. The bouquet is in focus and the next images would probably be of them catching, uh catching this shot actually used in my portfolio quite a bit because I think it kind of nails the mood of the wedding. Her excitement, the bouquet, all the girls that were there in her wedding, the colors, everything. Um It's part of the reason I like this position a little bit better than the other position. It just, it says more, it shows more. Um And it's just a little bit more impactful. So you as a photographer can decide what your style is. Fast shutter if you can high iso if it's night time and indoors, which typically a lot of them are, um, choose your lens based on the position that you're in. Check your focus. Auto focus is always good. Face detection is always good and remember to make eye contact with your bride and groom and know that you're ready, they're ready and we can go because the timing is gonna be quick. It's the end of the day. They're having fun letting loose. They wanna keep going, they get nervous. This is a very exciting time for them. Um So communication is really good again, you know how to take the photo be in the right place. Have your stuff set up ready to go be confident and calm and let them know you're ready to go. Um This is a really good way that you could practice this with your friends very easily. Um Just get a bunch of groups together and have your friends like, kind of do a bouquet toss or whatnot. I would recommend doing that with the camera equipment that you're gonna use on the day of the wedding. Just so, you know how it works. This is the same thing as the first kiss. Right? You're not gonna get another shot at this. You're gonna have to like nail it and that's part of the stressful part of being a wedding photographer, but you can do it. I have no doubt I've been doing it now for years and once you get used to it, it's gonna be fine. So let's go on to the next lesson.

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Philip Ebiner

Professional video & course creator, photographer & teacher to 1mil+ students; 10+ years experience with 1000+ videos.

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Will Carnahan

11+ years experience as a cinematographer, camera operator, and photographer. Working with Disney, Nike, ESPN, PredPol and many others.

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How to shoot: Reception Bouquet and Garter toss

How to shoot: Reception Bouquet and Garter toss

Lesson Info

47. How to shoot: Reception Bouquet and Garter toss

Lessons

What this course is about and how to succeed

Why you should become a wedding photographer

Business Section Intro

Building your kit

Where You Should Invest Your Earnings

Will's Wedding Photography Kit

Choosing Your Business name

Action Item - Choose Your Name

How to build your Wedding photography package

Setting Your Wedding Photography Prices

How to Get Your First Clients

Talking with Clients

The Importance of Contracts

The Wedding business workflow

Good Accounting Practices

The philosophy of a well run business

Wedding Day Overview - Schedule of Common Events

Taking care of Business before the shooting day

Tips for working with a wedding coordinator

Action item - List out the key moments - Try to memorize

Know what you will be photographing ahead of time

Conclusion to section/ recap

Introduction - The meat of the course

Equipment checklist/ cleaning lenses and cameras

Do you need an Assistant/ 2nd shooter?

Being a second shooter

What to wear as a photographer

How to shoot: Getting Ready/ Hanging out

How to Shoot: Dress/ Rings/ Bride details

How to Shoot - Groom Portraits & Posing

How to shoot: Groomsman

How to shoot: Bride Portraits & Posing Interior

How to shoot: Bride Portraits & Posing Exterior

How to shoot Bridesmaids

How to shoot: First Look

How to Shoot: Posed Couples Portraits

How to shoot: Walking down the Aisle

How to shoot: Ceremony Coverage and vows / ring exchange

How to shoot: First kiss and walking out

How to shoot: Formal family and group Photos

Action Item: Save your fav pose

Action Item: Find inspiration

How to shoot: Reception intro and Grand entrance

How to shoot: Reception Details

How to shoot: Reception Speeches and toasts

How to shoot: Reception First Dance