Reception details. Now, this is something hopefully you'll have time to sneak in and do between taking portraits and photos or during like a cocktail hour, you'll have a, a moment to sneak into the reception to do some of these details and every wedding is different, right? Sometimes there's a lot of different details. Sometimes there's none. Um you kinda have to figure out and you kinda won't be able to figure that out until you get there. But the main thing is like uh table seating charts, invitations, uh the tables themselves before people are sitting down at them. Um little trinkets or photos, something to sign the cake is technically a wedding uh detail, uh reception detail. So little things like this, hopefully you can sneak away before everyone is in the reception area sitting down. Um This is also a really great thing for a second shooter to go do while you are taking portraits or getting those group photos and stuff. Um or having an assistant go out there and discover what you...

need to take photos of. You can also talk to your coordinator at the beginning of the day and just see like are there anything, is there anything special is being set up at the reception that you wanna make sure to capture? Great question for your couple at the beginning too. So let's go ahead and look back at this wedding and I'll show you some reception details here. So this uh couple's name was Rachel and Michael, right at their tables. They had the R and the M is really cool wood things and there's really no huge technical thing to this other than I did use a macro lens for some of this stuff. Um especially when you get into the smaller sort of detail, detail areas you can see here. And then also over here, um they had the groom and the bride menus specifically and I used the macro lens, um I exposed evenly for most of it, uh which is great and then I kinda up the contrast in editing and post. But the idea here is to get the details of what's happening at the reception because chances are uh the couple wasn't able to remember anything that was going on and they're not able to necessarily focus on these small details. I get a lot of comments. Um when I send back pictures of the tables, right, they didn't actually get a chance to look at the table list even though my reflections in it, getting a chance to look at the table list in the actual place that it was there or take it all in because there's so much going on. Um Also something really important for the detail. Shots are table settings, right? The calm before the storm, like I had mentioned, coming in here before everyone else is here and taking photos of the ambience of what it looks like before everyone kind of shows up. It's also like a really good time to find angles, right? Like this was gonna be a great shot when I come back and shoot when there's tons of people here. So it's sort of like scouting out what you're gonna take photos of at the same time as creating a story and showing the couple what it looked like, what their guests came in. Uh to see. Again, these aren't necessarily photos that are gonna go in your portfolio, but they're also very good for your couple and it will show the complete sort of uh structure of the day. Um I was really excited, let me see if I can find it here. Uh This couple also had a place setting for me specifically, uh which is right here, my name and they had a seat for me, which is really great and I thought that was fun. It has my name, it has their name, it has the date and a little bit of things on uh the menu. And that for me is kind of fun because I don't know the detail shots are really cool and that's something I can use for my website or something later on. But again, the detail shots are sort of crucial in the sense that we wanna make sure that we get the full range of storytelling. There are also things that can be used for other vendors, um which is a really good way to get other work. If you're gonna work with other vendors is showing them and giving them photos that will help uh push it along in the future. Now, I didn't include them in this section. But if we go to the dinner and dance, let me see if I can find. Yes, very important detail is the cake. And if when you're doing this, if the cake is out, that's the time to go and take photographs of it uh as well because you never know when you'll get another chance to really get a good shot of it. Um And sometimes if you wait until it's time to do the cake cutting, it will be too late. So those are the detailed shots. Nothing too um strenuous or curve ball, just go get nice coverage to tell a story. Um Have a macro lens is always helpful. Um Even exposure making sure you have filled out your histogram highlights aren't blown out, shadows aren't too dark so that you can bring and manipulate it. Um Any way that you want in the future, this is a pretty calm time to be shooting uh detailed shots too um, it's a good time for you to kinda take a breath and assess what you've done, what you need to do still and, you know, check on your batteries, check on your lenses, make sure everything's good to go.

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Wedding_Photography_Key_Moments_List.pdf

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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.

2,000+ classes ranging from fundamentals to advanced techniques.

How to shoot: Reception Details

How to shoot: Reception Details

Lesson Info

44. How to shoot: Reception Details

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