Lessons

Lesson Info

Groom and His Daughter

I'm going to go backto f knowing one sixty with my phil and what I'm going to do at this point is I need to make life as convenient as I possibly can for her I don't want to do it on hello, beautiful. What is your name? Hi mackenzie on doug next to meet you you look so pretty I love your dress and you shoot those fancy dancy she was hot are you going to be my best little model for me? I think you look so pretty. Can you come right over here for me? Can I hold your hand? You look so pretty you're going to come right over here. Okay on what we're going to dio is you're going to come stand right over you oh, so pretty can you turn right here for me? Well, I like you a little tattoo. What is that very cool. Can you come over here? Did you meet mr matt yet? He's a sweet little guy you're going to come right over here, matt we're going to ask matignon right next to you you're gonna put your right leg down matt behind her so bring not let down for me and you're gonna go right here can you com...

e in nice and close beautiful just like that you are doing so good just like that you are doing so good honey looking at me here so now the key mac and you put your arm around her now obviously this would be a tad bit easier if it really was her dad so we're lighting into the face two stops underneath looking at me here can you turn your body towards my princess oh my goodness you were doing so good I couldn't ask for better looking at me matt can you put your hands down at your side honey buddy oh my goodness can you lean in close you were looking at me here just like that oh my goodness can you say monkeys can you say mommy has stinky feet don't did you say that yes you did oh my goodness you are so pretty looking right here hold it just like that hold it can you say ice cream I scary can you say that he is tv does he has stinky feet look at me here got it excellent don't you move stay right there just like that one of the things that I would do at this point is goingto hugging and things like that but she's six years old she doesn't know him so I'm not going to push the envelope so we're going to ask mr matt who's playing her dad to step out one second can you come right over here for a second? Beautiful I'm going to do one thing you stay right there you were doing so terrific oh my goodness can I ask you to come take a seat right here for me you are doing so good mama you need help up oh so pretty can you cross your feet for me princess and put your hands out ofthere and sit up for me big girl now looking over me and honeybunny just like that oh my goodness we light again into the face with two stops under look at how pretty you look you was such a big girl just like that looking all right oh my goodness you are the prettiest girl I ever did see mama liu my good just like that you fixed her hair get old timers with me there can you say monkeys good can you say I hate taking pictures can you say mommy has thinking you may silly I'll keep your eyes I mean look here x so and did you close your eyes that time good no notice I cropped in tighter why dimension I'm going to go from a five by ten on blake right into it or her parents here that's your daughter come on over just you're right so let's just say this is the brides sister at hard daughter one of the things we want to do is I focus on getting this what's the groom's sister and her daughter this is your mama you were going to come right over here can you stand up one second, honey bunny can you come take a seat for me mommy you're going to sit right over here still pretty just like that looking at me here and you're going to come right over here by your mama and coming here oh my goodness mommy coming close they're leaning and look at me princess you look so pretty his mommy really have stinky feet a little bit look at me honey good just like that you know oh my goodness turn it now lean forward both of you you look so pretty oh my goodness just like that do you think this is going to sell do you have any idea how much it would charge you for this good just like that looking at me here you are doing terrific I couldnt acts for better oh my goodness smiling excellent wonderful can you look at each other girl's mom sweep that hair out of your face beautiful stretch of chin out to her a little bit good just like that talking to our oh my goodness smiling looking at mommy can you bite her nose that can excellent just like that we tilt we give a little bit of angle just like that and we got it I'm not hot on my exposure well it's just a monitor okay so the idea behind it is simple and quick and easy get that flow through mitad hot on the exposure pull it down with a little exposure adjustment obviously I can't see it as well but the fact is very simple saying that's her daughter I could do a whole bunch of different shots I got her alone I got her in a mom if this is his niece or any uncle do you understand all the different types of things and do you notice how I interact and change my whole approach toe work with a child am I is aggressive with the child? I don't think so I'm more soft spoken more playful if I was really on with the wedding the truth is I would have a ball with me and I'd have toys with me in my bag and I'd walk up this is one of the best things you could ever do walk a portable be like oh mckenzie can you hold the ball for me and put the bullet go jump did that jump out of your hand mackenzie and guess what she's all happy look tennis even happy good a question for me do you want to take some questions? I'll take a question before we go to groom and getting the sky deep okay great so well that's perhaps where we're going to go but from raz thirteen in new york city how would you handle a ceremony in direct the ceremony and direct overhead sunlight? Well imposing and moving people during the service isn't an option and I've actually experienced eyes his top question is, you can get because the fact is, what he's asking is, what do you do with the ceremony? So since most of you think I'm really arrogant and strong willed, I stopped the whole ceremony and moving no, you can't do that. You deal with it at that point on, what you're gonna have to do is that's when this flash in the pocket was it's become really important because what I'm gonna have to do at that point is make what my main light the flash is gonna have to become the main light. So I'm not the blast on what flash exposed for the flash to compensate for the uneven shadows? There's nothing you could do at that point it's the location, we have them all over long island, and I think I know where rise is from. S o I think he's one of my competitors, so the fact is, I understand the holes in the dimensions because they're beautiful outdoor light, so it changes everything. Another question adrian, far from england, said, if the best quality of life is near to a horrible background or something that you don't want to shoot against, but the light is not so pleasant anywhere else, what would you do with? Well, you do it, remember if you saw what we did yesterday? We blow out the backgrounds we exposed for the shadow areas let the background blowout change wide open aperture use your zoom to compress the back going to make a point if you look at the photos over there the only reason I've had a depth to them is because I used flash to get more depth if I was using my torch later a reflector I wouldn't be enough nine I'd be bringing it down probably closer toe for two point eight or something like that and letting a blow out don't be afraid to let your backgrounds blow out one of the things people say is what do you do on a beach? Well I'm going walk up to my clients until I'm quite simply I have a choice to make I can make you look absolutely spectacular or I could make the background to expect tacking on which way you want to go with it what do you think they say that's a very simple I'll give up a background because the subject needs to look good that's my first concern on if worse comes to worse I can go and just taken image in the background and that seems setting on just lay lay lay low there and just keep compositing at that point so what we're going to do is we have luck right now because we're in the cloud again what people most people forget is even when you're in the clouds the light is still directional this is when you get the worst stand right so I still have a direction of light mac can I have you come over here for one quick second and what I'm gonna do right now is bring him right in here hand in your pants pocket looking at me here turning your head just like that so look at what we do here we are going to blast matt with light so we're gonna bring this and look at how close we are just like that looking here like it is right on him so right now I am going to go up two to fifty at f eleven I'm going to make the flash white my main light now much to say look at where all of you are moving you're right my background but don't move don't move it is what it is tilt your head to your right lean forward if I would've shoot him just like this a two fifty eight f eleven of sixteen everything behind him all the bushes and trees will go dark wouldn't it so what I'm going to do is shoot up into the sky because what do I want to go doc the sky so I'm going up here tilt your head to your right look right out over here chin down a little bit handsome I'm going to hide him to treat chin down and if you look right now clearly he is in shadow, but I'm exposing for the flash tilt your head to your right chin down leaning forward a little bit you're doing great stay there and let's see what we get if I exposed it right? I should have a deep dark sky and I'm looking at it right now and I can tell I don't have a deep dark sky because I'm completely over exposed so what that tells me is what my flash is way too hot at this point so what I'm going to do right now is take my flesh and I'm going to turn it down that's the benefit of the pocket wizard I'm going to turn it down and adjust the tt l and see what I get so right in here just like that tilt your head to your right chin down lean forward let's see what we get you could see there's less power coming out of it, the sky and everything behind it should start to talking up and what my noticing? I still got a very white sky, so I know that my exposure on the flash I'm in good shape, right? One of the problems with this is you start to get shadows under neck I'm going to drop my eyes so down okay from there not only going to job my ari so down I'm gonna pick myself up to an f fourteen I'm hoping to get a deeper sky tilt your head again to the right lean forward, chin up just a little bit good tilt your head a little bit more let's see what we get so the isil went down the shutter speed stayed the same and now do you see the sky starting to deepen up and I could go even deeper because right now I'm at fourteen so look as he's looking there, I can move over here and start to create more from it looking straight out I have the light in a profile I have all these cars behind me just like that and look firing in a profile light, which means it should wrap around the face right in here and look at that beautiful I do you see the depth of the sky behind him really simple, isn't it? Because what I've done at this point let's go through it real slow, I need flash what the main like the flashes the main light because I've exposed for the sky. So I think I'm a two fifty eight have fourteen with one hundred dollars or so on once I get it, I got it, but the problem is what you're not realizing is when you do something like that what's happening in here, I'm starting to get shadows under the neck and all of that I don't really like that so let me try it again I'm going to do something a little different here turn your head just a little bit mad a little bit more tilt your head to your right looking straight out towards the light right there we're doing terrific and right in there again now I have a two third tonight so it's coming in for almost behind and it's wrapping through here and take a look that's pretty strong, isn't it? But the one thing I don't love isn't getting the shadows under the neck that's something you have to deal with this one of the reasons I don't like making flash the main I don't like it it makes it too much too complicated and it starts to create shadows now these easily eliminated a photo shop of course it is but is it something I really want to dio if I want to get depth to an image then I could start to play with it and adjust keeping it very, very simple now let's see how we could do more shots of the groom? Because afterwards when we do the ceremony you're going to see me add more shots of the groom but let's just finish with what we're doing right over here right now so what I want to do at this point gonna bring this chair out of the way matt, you come over here bring one foot in here I see people matt, can you slide out one second? I see people do this. What is that? Nobody wants to see this. Okay, you want to keep it simple. So if you bring this leg up you starting to create a dynamic of strength where you could stretch out the whole entire body. So you stretching out, you're leaning forward and he got it right from here. Now do I love all this in his head? No. What I shoot here? No, but I want to give you an idea of what to do on the steps again. I'm going to change it up. Tilt your head a little bit to the roof right there. Turn your head to me a little bit. Now you saw how great the pocket was at work. Wasn't it nice to be able to control the light directly from the camera? So now I know I need to go back to what I wass so what I'm going to do here is I know that I'm not going to lean forward to me a little bit. Matty, tilt your head to your right just a tad good. I want to get his head outside the middle of that poll that's really important to me I want to get it in a spot where there's not a distraction, I'm going to go from one sixty I'm gonna go back to f nine which I think this is going to be a little under look at me matt looking right there nice and relaxed and let's see so what I'm realizing here is right now one sixty eight f nine if I shoot it the backgrounds going toe dog because it's talk in there so I'm gonna open to about one hundred and I'm going to go to about six story and let's take a look turn you had matt not bring that right hand forward on you like good just like that turned being forward matt nice relaxed looking at may still keep those eyes open remember I said noticing I bet you those eyes of coast if you look right there if you look at the image he start to get again he's closing down on his eyes on the big thing is to get the stuff out of his head looking right here stay there you're doing terrific I'm soft two stops under which have controlled direct from the pocket was it right in there noticed I took the chair out of his head simple and easy smooth transitions we have questions one question I wanted to ask you doug and I know someone had asked it is when you're on your tripod and say you're shooting at a slower shutter speed and you just whip that thing off to dio a hand held shot are you having to adjust your shutter every single time especially what on the seventy two, two hundred five in manual mode? Yes, if I'm in program apter it'll make its adjustments of here's the thing it's not as complicated to shoot with slow shutter speeds as you may think people tend to get nervous up with all the consulting I've done over the years. I love it when photographers start talking about slowing gunshot of speed I see the way they interact with the bridegroom now like, listen, if you move, nothing comes out and then they do this I'm going to shoot really slow stay still one to three god did I get it? I think I might have shook yeah, you shook it's because you're nervous, it starts with balance take a look. It all starts here whether your handheld or not with this connection if you really want to start to work if this is one of the reasons I love the bracket because it gives me balance I can pull in here and do this to tighten up once I'm framed or look at where my shoulder goes, I'm locking in with my shoulder, pushing my face up against I'm balancing it and I'm a sturdy is convey I have zero problem shooting at a full second a half second if I'm handheld it's all here people asked why did you build this bag out? Take a look here's my tripod and he could be rock steady at that point don't be afraid to slow down especially if you're using this if you use flash it's gonna freeze to subject anyway great thank you some folks who maybe weren't here when you talked about the last time could you just talk about that tripod and well try but again this is in your this isn't my tripod I'm normally using and there's nothing wrong with man photo I think it's a good tripod but it's expensive I used the haram a flashpoint tripod the reason I use it is its carbon fiber it's his lightweight is khun b and of course pennies compared to everything else you don't need a name brand you know how many at around a flashpoint products I buy just because they're about one third of the price I don't need the most expensive stuff I need something to hold my camera the bracket is a different story I've been working on this for almost two years on I used to use another bracket, the problem was it was very wobbly and here so what I did was I need to build something with a foundation tighter and also everybody wants to tell the way I dio so the grooves a right on here so now my cameras locked in at a forty five you can't really screw it up at that point so the bracket we built since the last time we released it w p p I and it's been great people are loving it I don't need a separate adapter for it to go into my tripod you know that was important to me that it come out on to almost any tripod plate so doug I'm jeff of some photography I would like to know in a couple of the people had asked if you ever use modifiers and if you don't think that direct flash is too harsh I don't think direct flashes too harsh if you know how to balance it gary found came up with the genius piece of tupperware it's the best thing on the planet it softens the light but remember most time am I using flash or my using my torchlight? Most of my stuff is the torch light the only time I really need flash is because I want to talk in the sky the reason I went with flash today is because most people don't realize that could use it because they never see me use it but the fact is I do use it and I learned over time for the first shooting twenty four years and shouldn't digital about nine for the first fifteen years of my career I didn't take a single image without flash but then I finally saw the light and once you see it you just fall in love so now I don't really use modifiers unless them in my studio in my studio, it's completely definitely pro photo studio strokes and I have every modifier from strip banks, toe greats to octo banks, I have everything you could possibly imagine then when I'm in a studio environment, he is the thing what people don't realize is they want to back the light up in most cases I want the light right here, I want to be able to control the light, having it is close to the subject is possible to point paint my life. Ok, and how about the last piece of gear? How this is this is a pistol grip, which also I don't buy the name brand one they have won at adirama flashpoint, this one that's on the side. I like it a little bit better because it holds more weight on his heart is I am on the tripod, to be honest with you when I was using other brands, I was going through two or three tripods a year with, but I don't want a cheap, but with the more economical ones that last forever.