Original subtitles

I'm particularly excited for this lesson because I

love shooting reception details.

We're going to focus on how I shoot

reception details so that you can apply it

and see how it fits within your wedding

day workflow.

Now, there are various stressful times on a

wedding day.

And for each photographer, depending on your skill

set, it changes.

My most stressful time on a wedding day

is the wedding reception.

The wedding reception details.

Because I have a very limited time to

document the majority of the wedding budget, I

feel this inordinate amount of stress.

Because an average wedding costs X.

Now, what popular magazines are telling brides is

that brides should invest in their photographer 8

-10% of the overall wedding budget.

What they're telling brides for food, decor, cake,

DJ, or band takes up more than 60%.

And what I'm having on my schedule, if

I'm lucky, is 15 minutes to document all

of that.

That's a lot of stress.

I probably am my most unnice at that

time in the wedding day.

So, I have, over the years, developed a

pattern in how I approach it.

I think we spoke in a previous lesson

about what I do to go in so

that I can handle and get what I

need.

And what I needed to do over the

years was practice.

But I only got more effective with practice

once I actually had a list.

A list of what I need to shoot

and how much time I have to shoot

it.

We're actually going to get into that list,

kind of like an abbreviated list, because it

is so long.

And you know that you are going to

add to your list when your time comes.

But here it is in its loosest sense.

Most of the bride will spend the majority

of her time and her budget.

I will be reading these out loud for

those of you guys sitting in the back.

And we'll make sure that we're going to

keep you on point.

So, the food that they eat, the music

that they hear, the basket that they keep

their gift cards in.

All of that she has spent time.

So, the rule of thumb for me is

if it looks like she spent money on

it or time, you shoot it.

And you shoot it well.

And the more original that element is, a

card table, a tablescape, then you need to

shoot more of that.

Originality trumps the basics.

Hand over fist all the time.

I said hand over fist.

I don't know if that's the right analogy

or verbatim I should be using.

But we're just going to go with it.

So, I need to educate my clients for

the amount of time that they need.

Because a lot of times, brides will just

say, okay, so cocktail time ends here.

We're going to do grand entrance.

And then I have to go back and

I have to say, well, I need this

amount of time to document everything that you

have spent time planning.

Now, what is that?

First and foremost, what I need that is

so important that a lot of photographers omit

after based on conversations with magazine editors when

it comes to submissions, is the overview of

the reception.

So, what they want you to do, depending

on the layout of the room, is to

stand in a corner and shoot the entire

layout.

Better yet, if you can get from an

elevated point in the room and shoot down,

you get to see an entire overview of

how many tables, chairs, the layout, the overall

environment.

Those are very powerful photos.

And what you want to do is you

want to take a horizontal photo and you

want to take a vertical photo because that's

what editors definitely want.

Next, the tablescape.

Now, there are now weddings that are having

multiple tablescapes, but generally speaking, tablescapes will all

look the same or they will look up

to three variations.

So, if there are three variations of the

tablescapes, you must shoot every variation.

And the way that you need to shoot

the tablescape is vertical floor to centerpiece, vertical

top of centerpiece down to the floor, horizontal

floor to the top of the centerpiece, horizontal

tabletop to the top of the centerpiece.

So, you have to get these all.

Once I know, boom, boom, boom, this is

what I got to do, then I need

to repeat that same pattern three times over

for the tablescapes.

For the centerpiece, so the tablescape is the

whole entire thing.

The centerpiece is just what goes on, on

top of the table.

Vertical tabletop to top of the centerpiece.

Horizontal tabletop to the top of the centerpiece.

Vertical details of the flowers in the centerpiece.

Moving on.

I need to shoot the menu, what they're

eating for dinner, any sort of paper good,

their names or titles or thank you cards

or desserts sitting at the table with it.

I need to shoot the plate, the charger,

and the cutlery.

Now, basic weddings, you have a plate and

you have a napkin.

The more complex or the bigger the budget

becomes, you get a charger, which is just

like a fake plate to hold the real

plate.

You need to shoot that because they spent

time on that.

Also, the cutlery.

If the bride has invested in renting cutlery

specific to the wedding, that needs to be

photographed.

The guest thank you gifts at each plate.

A bride and groom may or may not

offer thank you gifts at that table.

You need to include that.

The sweetheart head table.

Where the couple is sitting.

Sometimes they sit with their entire bridal party

or sometimes it's just the two of them.

Either way, I take the same approach when

I shoot that.

Vertical floor to the top of the centerpiece.

Vertical tabletop to the top of the centerpiece.

Horizontal floor to the top of the centerpiece.

Horizontal tabletop to the top of the centerpiece.

So what you're basically doing is I'm getting

a wide shot, then I'm cutting that shot

in half, and if I have time, I'll

go in and shoot it even tighter.

So I'm thinking strategic.

Horizontal, vertical.

Step in, horizontal, vertical.

Step in, horizontal, vertical.

Move on.

Sweetheart table or the head table details.

So once I've shot the table, then I'm

going to go in closer and itemize every

single thing that I need.

This is champagne flutes.

This is the cup that they're drinking from.

The table seat name cards.

This is the first time the bride has

taken on her fiance's last name.

This is the first time she'll actually be

seeing it technically.

Take a photo of that.

Floral decor specific to the bride and groom.

Sometimes bride and grooms will have decor on

their chairs, or they might have really nice

flowers tucked into their menus.

That needs to be documented.

And if there's any sort of signage, sometimes

people will dangle like signs, Mr. and Mrs.

That needs to be documented.

Now let's move on to the cake.

Let's go into the dessert bar instead.

So if a client has a dessert bar

in addition to their cake, I need to

shoot the dessert bar.

Here we go again.

We're going to follow the same pattern.

Vertical floor to top.

Vertical tabletop to top.

Close up of various desserts, usually shot vertically.

From my perspective, from my opinion, those are

the things that get reproduced the most.

Horizontal floor to top.

Horizontal tabletop to top.

Cool.

Moving on.

This is the cake and the groom's cake.

I shoot the groom's cake, if there is

a groom's cake, the same way I shoot

the overall wedding cake.

So I'm not going to get into details.

But vertical of just the cake topper.

Vertical of the cake cutter and the knife.

Vertical from the floor to the top of

the cake.

Vertical from the tabletop to the top of

the cake.

Vertical close up of the cake.

Vertical of the base of the cake.

Horizontal floor to table.

Horizontal tabletop to top.

Horizontal close up of the cake and the

cake base.

So this is all the things that I'm

doing in 15 minutes.

But I can feel so overwhelmed, not sure

what I'm doing and how I'm doing it.

But because of my list, I feel so

much more confident.

In addition to other things, if there's bar

signage, sometimes a bride and groom has signature

drinks.

Or sometimes they make a list of their

hashtag.

That should be photographed.

Bar decor.

Sometimes people will have special bar tables, floor

arrangements around the bar.

Needs to be photographed.

Lounge furniture.

If they rented lounge furniture, it should be

photographed.

And a personalized dance floor.

If they have a monogram or if they

have gobo lights, all of that needs to

be photographed.

Now, now that you know the approach, what

you're going to see now is a video

of how I did it in relation to

a shoot that I had at The Lodge

at Torrey Pines.

The Lodge at Torrey Pines is a luxury

resort in the San Diego area.

They were revamping their entire marketing campaign to

go after a luxury bride and they put

together a shoot.

I was lucky enough to, I was commissioned

to shoot it.

I was very honored because the team that

they brought together were all people I respect

very much.

Now, it put a lot of pressure on

me because they wanted all the photographs to

happen in a very specific time frame of

the day.

Sunset.

And I was okay with that, but I

knew I had to work really fast.

So the Creative Live team came along and

this is the exact same approach that I

will take on a wedding day.

This is what you will see me do

at the Not Wedding, but I probably won't

have as much time to explain what's going

on.

But at least you know that you'll see

the pattern that I am following.

So on that note, we are going to

move into our video.

One thing to take into consideration is yes,

you want to shoot for the bride and

you want to make sure that she's well

taken care of.

But another major consideration would be shooting for

the vendors.

In this particular case, the coordinator and the

baker.

She made the cake as well as the

other desserts on the dessert station.

So I need to make sure that I'm

getting photos and capturing photos that work extraordinarily

well for their portfolio.

Yes, the bride will benefit, but more so

I really want to create relationships with the

vendors that I'm working with to ensure that

they can market their services using my images.

So what I'm shooting right now is going

to be the cake station.

I'm going to shoot this vertical.

I'm going to shoot it horizontal.

But one of the things that I have

to take into consideration is that the facade

of this station is a bunch of mirrors.

So I'm going to position my body with

myself in it as least as possible because

it'll save me time in post-processing from

removing myself from those mirrored reflections.

So right now my settings are at a

2.8. I'm at 640th of a second

and 200 ISO.

I'm shooting this vertically and I'm going to

put the cake right in smack in the

middle of my frame.

And then as I shoot this horizontally, I'm

going to notice that there's patched light in

front of this.

And so I just have to take into

consideration.

I'm going to try to crop out as

much of the mixed light as possible.

But then I understand that it's just part

of the photo and I'm just going to

have to deal with it.

So right now the cake is in the

center most of my frame.

I want to get it from top to

bottom with the cake in the center of

the frame.

I'm going to step up and shoot this

again horizontally.

But I'm not going to include the entire

edifice of the facade.

My settings are still going to be the

same as I kind of creep in.

But then as I step in a little

bit closer, my settings might have to change

because it's going to get a little bit

darker within the frame.

So right now the cake is center most.

And what I'm noticing is that there are

four plates on the right side of the

cake and three plates on the left side

of the cake.

So I need to kind of take into

consideration that it will seem a little off

balance.

But I need always to keep the cake

in the center regardless of how many items

are flanking the cake.

I'm going to shoot the cake vertical.

And I will have some dessert stands next

to it.

I'm going to be shooting the cake the

2.8, 1,000th of a second at

200 ISO.

Everything's in shade.

So I'm not going to be too concerned

about changing my ISO.

I'm going to be mostly manipulating my aperture

and my shutter speed in these given situations.

Now I notice there's a monogram on the

cake.

I need to make sure that I'm shooting

vertical and horizontal including elements around it.

But now I'm going to shoot nice and

close to the cake so that the cake

in and of itself becomes the focus and

less about the dessert station since I already

have that well documented.

I'm going to shoot this straight forward as

much as possible.

And now I'm going to shoot it off

to the side.

So now I feel like I have a

nice safe shot.

I'm shooting it at a 2.8. I'm

getting some nice kind of blurry backgrounds.

But because I can, I'm going to shoot

this at a 2.0 just right now

as I shoot individual pieces.

Because when I really focus on individual items,

I want the stuff in the background to

be really blurred out.

And when you shoot wide open, you're afforded

that luxury.

But because I changed aperture, I'm going to

have to compensate by way of my shutter

speed.

So right now I'm shooting it at an

f2.

I'm going to go to 2,000th of

a second, 200 ISO.

I'm going to get in a little bit

closer.

And the focal point will be on the

monogram of the cake.

And so this is great.

I'm feeling nice and good about how it's

just coming out, how it's like a nice

beautiful bokeh in the background.

So now that I feel like I have

the cake fully covered, what I want to

do now is shoot individual pieces of the

dessert station.

There's a panna cotta, there's a cupcake, and

there's a macaroon.

I only need to shoot a single shot

of each of these things and not have

to worry about everything else.

So I'm going to choose the items in

the best light.

Because there's light that's hitting the ground in

front of this station, bouncing back up into

this, as opposed to being more shade on

this side, I'm going to shoot the elements

on this side, but in this direction.

So we're going to be leveraging the natural

light.

Again, I'm going to shoot this at a

2.0. I'm going to be focusing.

I'm going to get both a vertical and

a horizontal.

I'm going to make sure that I'm lining

up the background so that my horizon is

as straight as possible, even though I'm shooting

at an angle.

My focal point is going to be on

a cupcake right in the foreground, and everything

else behind it will fade off.

I'm going to step in a little bit

closer.

I shot it straight on.

Now I'm going to shoot it at a

slight angle, just for diversity within the portfolio,

both for the bride and for the baker.

I'm going to shoot the panna cotta, and

because I have panna cotta on both sides,

it's going to be flanking it.

I'm okay with that.

For some reason, the cupcake is lighter than

the panna cotta, so I'm going to compensate

by way of shutter speed.

My settings are 2.0, 1,600th of

a second, and 200 ISO.

Now it looks like there's these little tiny

gold flakes, so I want to make sure

that I get a detail of that.

If you notice, I'm shooting straight on, and

then I shoot down at a slight angle,

just for variation, because when you shoot down

into a cup or straight onto a cup,

you kind of lose a bit of the

details.

When you shoot down, you can actually get

the details in a really different way, in

a way that looks a little bit more

editorial.

I'm going to switch my focal point so

that the items right in the foreground become

the focus.

The last thing I'm going to shoot is

the macaroons.

There's a flower on the macaroon plate.

Now one thing I'm going to do, because

now that I shot everything, I feel confident

moving a few things slightly.

I can't get a clean shot of the

macaroons, so I'm going to carefully move the

cupcakes, and I do this on a wedding

day quite often, just to get the shot

that I want in a way that actually

works.

I'm going to re-stylize what's in front

of me, get the cleanest shot possible, and

then move on from there.

The thing I don't want is anything in

the background compromising it or making it too

cluttered.

Now I'm backing up, and what I'm getting

now in the frame is a little bit

of the panna cotta, but because I'm shooting

at f2, it's going to be out of

focus, and the focal point will be in

the background on our macaroons.

Now that I'm doing that, I'm going to

readjust.

I'm going to shoot a few of these

things in the foreground, and then a few

of them in the background, just so that

I'm going to get diversity within the portfolio,

make sure everybody else is covered, and make

sure that I'm getting images for the vendors

that they appreciate.

Be extra careful with the cake.

So this is the first time that I've

actually worked with these vendors, so I want

to make sure that the images that I'm

getting, yes, are great for my portfolio, selfishly,

but more so I need to make sure

that I'm getting images for the whole team

that works really well, and that gives them

the ability to market their services using my

images.

So I shot it straight on, which is

always good and interesting in a way, but

at the same time it might be important

for me to get a slightly different angle.

My main concern at this point in time

is that the light has changed so dramatically

that right in front of the dessert station,

we have a really bright floor, but the

station itself is seated in shade.

So I'm going to try to shoot this

as much as possible, cropping out the lighter

floor because it adds as a distraction to

the eye.

So I'm going to back up.

I'm going to bring this to a 2

.8. So one thing that I want to

make sure is I got the straight-on

angle of the cake, both vertical and horizontal.

Now I'm shooting it from the side, both

vertical and horizontal, because I need to make

sure that I can actually show the entirety

of the station.

I'm going to step in now and get

one small final detail of just the dessert

station.

Okay, so I feel good with that.

Right now I'm going to shoot the name

cards.

What I like to do is I like

to shoot them pretty wide open so that

I can kind of distort that background.

I'm going to focus on one card, and

my settings for this are going to be

a 1.6. I'm shooting at ISO 160.

And my shutter speed right now before I

adjust is going to be 1600.

That's okay.

I'm going to slip it up to 1600.

My focal point is going to be on

the front card.

And then I'm going to shoot at the

front card, and then I'm going to choose

the card right behind it so that I

can blur both the front card and the

back card and focus strictly on that middle

card.

I'm going to rearrange the cards so that

I can get a single line.

Great.

What I'm focusing on now is a really

faraway pulled-away shot.

In this situation, because it is tinted, I'm

afforded this luxury, so I'm absolutely going to

focus on that luxury.

I'm going to set this up at a

3.2. My ISO is 160.

My shutter speed is 1250.

And that looks exactly where I want it

to be.

My focal point is going to be on

a chair.

I'm going to shoot this vertical, and I'm

going to shoot this horizontally.

I'm shooting with the 50.

I could shoot it with the 35, but

right now I just kind of want the

focus to be 100% on the actual

reception site.

And I've already had some really wide, nice

pulled-away shots.

I'm going to shoot this straightforward, and then

I'm also going to shoot it at an

angle because anytime you can get down on

an angle and shoot up, you're going to

give it a little bit more of a

glamorous appeal, a little bit of a rock

star effect.

So right now I'm in the best time

of day.

This is what I call God's light, which

is so beautiful you can't shoot a bad

photo.

I will take a bad location with great

light instead of great location and bad light.

So right now we're shooting in the best

light.

What I'm going to do now is focus

on the small details, then get a pulled

-away shot, then I'm going to incorporate the

bride and groom to come back into this.

The things that I'm focusing on specifically are

the small details that each individual vendor has

played and made for this.

So I have place cards.

I have place settings.

I have chairs.

I have the main chairs, which is for

the bride and the groom.

I have the overall chandeliers.

I have hanging lights.

And then I have chandeliers or candelabras on

each of the tables.

The light is behind my details, which is

how I like to shoot it the best.

I'm going to start first with the monogram

on the floor, the monogram on the chairs,

and then move from there.

This gorgeous gold monogram.

I'm at 160 ISO.

I have this beautiful white light everywhere.

I'm at 800th of a second.

So I'm shooting just the monogram by itself,

and then I'm going to incorporate the monograms

on the chairs.

I'm going to shoot a horizontal and a

vertical.

Now I'm pulling back.

And this, I have, like, tripped before, so

I need to make sure I kick it.

So if I can have you guys scoot

over this way.

Sorry, guys.

I'm going to shoot the monogram and then

the chairs.

My focal point will be on the monogram.

I haven't changed my settings because I don't

need to change my settings, and this light

right now is just so beautiful.

I'm shooting horizontal, then I'm going to shoot

it vertical.

This is what's going to be the nice

thing.

If you can work fast enough and quick

enough, you don't have to worry so much

about the settings.

Given the same light situation, which it will

always be for me right now, backlit, and

then having this nice white floor, white chairs.

I already shot the chairs during the wedding

ceremony setup, but I'm going to shoot them

here because this environment is slightly different.

Again, my settings have not changed.

I'm still at 800th of a second, F2,

160 ISO.

Great.

So I'm still going to shoot with the

35.

I like to shoot my details with the

50 millimeter, but since I have the 35

on, I'm going to just shoot with this

right now and see what it's getting me

so that I get a variety of focal

lengths.

Because I shoot with prime lenses, I want

to make sure that I'm shooting for myself,

but I'm also shooting for the vendors.

I might prefer the 50, say, and they

might want wider shots to show more of

their work.

So I want to make sure that I

have diversity within the portfolio.

My focal point will be on the thing

closest to me, which at this point is

the plate.

I'm going to pull this chair back a

tiny bit because I feel like it's degrading

the overall quality of the photo.

You see me shifting my camera.

I have the 64 point focal system, so

I'm focusing on the lowest point, but I

have to shift and recompose ever so slightly

because if I don't, I'm going to be

including things within the frame that I really

don't want at this time.

JD, can I get, please, individual shots of

each pendant?

I don't even know what those are called.

Each one individually?

Yes, please.

A collection of them and then individuals.

Great, and then can I get the 50?

Pulling out the drink glasses.

And ideally, I'm going to be shooting this.

Ideally, I'm going to be shooting this from

up top, but because I'm shooting on a

white chair, I have to be extra careful,

so I'm going to see if I can

remove the top of the chair.

Right now, my setting is a 2.0.

I'm at 500th of a second, 160 ISO.

I'm having a hard time focusing on the

mirrored menu, so what I'm going to do

is I'm going to find a focal point

that's on the same focal plane, so I'm

going to go towards the knife.

Focus on the knife, and that should bring

me up to find the text on the

menu.

Now, what I'm going to do is I'm

going to...

JD, can I bother you to put these

flowers right here?

These here?

Yes.

So what I sometimes do is I will

shift elements within each setting to ensure that

it looks nice and full.

So, a simple switch.

Shoot this horizontal, and I shoot it vertically.

So right now, what I'm doing is I'm

going to shoot the place card holder for

each place setting.

So right now, this is always important, because

this is the first time the bride will

be using her husband's last name, so that's

going to be a really important element that

I want to curate both for the person

who actually made the place cards, but also

for the bride herself.

So now what is happening is the bride

and groom are going to come in, and

they're going to sit within...

You guys can come on in.

Awesome, thanks.

The bride and groom are going to come

in, and I'm going to actually shoot them

within the reception details as much as possible.

If I can get this to happen on

a real wedding day, I absolutely do, and

what I want to do is to kind

of curate what the story will be.

I want them toasting with their glasses.

They're obviously going to be smiling and laughing

and enjoying their time, and I'm just going

to coach them through.

Right now, this is the last bit of

amazing light, and we can get the chandeliers

illuminated in the background, and we're going to

be talking through how that looks and the

things that I'm looking for as I shoot

the bride and groom.

So here we go.

I'm going to change my ISO to 200.

I'm going to shoot this at a 2

.0 because we're going to be, again, profiles.

I'm going to get my lighting to where

I want it.

I'm going to go up to 320 ISO.

Now, what I want you guys to do

is just to bring your faces in nice

and close.

Beautiful.

And looking at each other.

These ones are all going to be as

candid as possible.

Beautiful.

Can you get your hands underneath Andrew's chin,

and you're going to guide him in.

Both hands underneath his chin.

You guys will be looking at each other.

Beautiful.

And guide him in for, like, just bring

your foreheads together.

It's going to be nice, tender.

Actually, like this.

Here you go.

Hands together, and you're just going to bring

him in like this.

Like that.

Okay.

Yes, but not yet, not yet, not yet.

And then, Andrew, can you put your hands

on her knees?

Yep, there we go.

And in three, two, one.

Looking at each other.

Bring it in nice and soft, nice and

soft.

Relax the shoulders, relax the shoulders.

Looking at each other.

Bring your foreheads in, bring your foreheads in.

All right, noses to touch instead.

Noses to touch.

There you go.

Nice.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Good.

Now, relax your hands on the crest of

his elbows.

Nice.

On the inside, bring him in closer.

Beautiful.

Now, what I want you to do is,

someone's going to be calling you from that

direction, and, Andrew, you're going to bring her

up.

Hold her hands.

Yeah.

You're going to hold her hands.

Like, bring them down.

Actually, hold.

Yeah, there you go.

Now, you're going to look over as if

somebody's calling you, and he's going to be

pulling you in for, like, a little secret.

That's cute, guys.

Hey, we can do that.

That's it.

Whoever that is, I owe a drink.

I mean, that's just fantastic.

Oh, that's fantastic.

Hang on, guys.

Peel away from each other.

Oh, was that really?

Oh, good job.

Okay, we're going to do that just one

more time.

Fantastic.

Good, good, good, good, good.

Nice.

Good.

Good.

Now, what I'm going to have you guys

do is, I'm going to have you guys

stand up.

I'm going to have you guys stand up,

and then I'm going to pretend like we're

going to do the first dance.

You guys are going to be pretending like

you guys are dancing.

So, bring your, beautiful.

Andrew, put your feet underneath her dress so

you can get it nice and close.

Beautiful.

Now, you're going to actually hold each other's

hands.

Yes, just like that.

Beautiful.

Looking into each other's eyes.

I know, guys.

This is a job.

I know.

Good.

Can you guys actually dance?

Just kind of, like, sway a little.

Yes.

Looking at each other, enjoying it.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Oh, this is so freaking beautiful, you guys,

because I'm only focusing on one person at

a time, according to my ankle.

That's going to be my focus.

Relax your arm, Adrian, your right arm.

Beautiful.

Bring your faces in nice and close, side

to side.

Now, look over there at Stuart.

Yay.

Nice.

There you go, Stuart.

You're bringing in clutch, homie.

This is so nice.

Good.

Good.

Beautiful.

Now, what I'm going to have you guys

do is, relax your arms, Adrian.

Yes, J.D. Now, what I want you

to do here.

So, you're here.

Dance with me.

Beautiful.

Now, I kind of want you to peel

back, peel back, peel back, peel back, peel

back as much as possible.

So, I want a nice curve, and then

I'm going to coach you through what I

want you to do for the rest of

it.

Beautiful.

Bring her in nice and tight.

Edward?

Have I been calling you Andrew the whole

time?

Oh, this is epic.

So, I want you to relax your arm,

Adrian.

Edward, I want you to hold her in

nice and close, and then I kind of

want you to lean back as if somebody's

calling you from over there.

Now, Edward, I want you looking at Adrian.

Now, bring her in.

Maybe you can get me a little bit.

And then, lightly.

Here, here, here, here, here, here, here.

Okay.

And we are ready in three, two, one.

Nice.

Oh, cute.

That was adorable.

Looking at each other.

Looking at each other.

Nice.

That was so cute.

Good.

You are going to hold it in your

right hand.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

And then, if I, yes, you are going

to bring your right hand around, Edward.

Do you like that they're different, or do

you want them the same?

Oh, I would love them the same.

I'm going to take this hand, your right

hand, around him.

Simpler.

Yep.

So, Adrian, arm around him.

Beautiful.

And you guys are just going to be

looking at each other.

Yes, enjoying a toast.

Yeah, nice.

Looking at each other.

Yeah, cute.

Clink your glasses.

Good.

Can you toast to somebody at the end

of the table?

Raise your glasses and toast to them.

Hey.

Cute.

So, instead of bringing it out in front

of your nose, drop it in front of

your chin.

No, yes, but bring your hands back.

Just relax them.

And then we're going to call for the

toast in a sec.

And then you guys are going to look

out for two and then at each other

for two.

So, it's going to be cheers, out for

two, at each other.

So, three, two, one, cheers.

Yeah, smiling.

You're smiling out.

Good, nice.

And then looking at each other.

Good.

Nice.

Good.

Now, we're going to get a little bit

more comfortable.

Can you sit in his lap?

Nice.

Can you bring your left arm around his

side?

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And then rest it down.

Yes, from his shoulder.

Nice.

Looking at each other.

Jay, you're shooting tight.

Please.

Fire in.

Nice.

Looking at the candle lighters again.

Nice.

Then back at each other.

Yes, yes, yes.

You guys, can you guys, can you guys

toast?

And you guys, okay, beautiful.

Now, what I want you to do is

relax the hands, peel away from the toast,

look at each other, and toast.

And smile.

Yes.

Yeah, look, talking to each other is great.

Thank you.

And it's working.

It's so good.

Can you guys look out towards the opposite

big chair and toast, like cheers?

Raise your glasses, raise your glasses, raise your

glasses, raise your glasses, raise your glasses.

Yes, nice.

Good.

Great.

Hang out, hang out, hang out.

Now, drop your hands again.

Drop them, relax them.

And then, J.D., J.D., I'm tossing

them again.

Here we go.

And you guys are just going to do

the same thing all over again.

Nice.

Nice.

Oh, Adrian delivering it now.

Woo!

Okay, good.

I'm going to put you guys back here

at this chair, and this will be the

closing shot.

You're going to bring your right leg here.

I'm sorry, Libby.

You're going to kind of straddle a little,

like a tiny bit, just like that.

Beautiful.

Hands on her hips.

Beautiful.

Come in a little bit closer, and you're

just going to bring your foreheads.

You guys are not going to look at

me.

This is a private moment before your ceremony,

looking at each other.

Yes, yes, yes.

Relax that front shoulder, relax that front shoulder.

Put your hands underneath his chin.

Atta girl.

Beautiful.

Good.

Relax your left hand down, Andrew.

Andrew, really?

Oh, my gosh.

Relax, Adrian.

Relax your left hand down Edward's back.

There we go.

There we go.

Eyes at each other.

Edward, can you have your right hand, your

left hand on her leg instead?

Yes.

And then, Adrian, your hand.

Yep, there we go.

And then eyes at each other.

Nice.

Nice.

Good.

Good.

Okay, great.

Turn you this way.

Fantastic.

There.

I'm going to have you sit on this

side of his lap.

Let me get the 35.

Okay, so team is good.

You guys are going to be looking at

each other.

I love where your hand is, Edward.

Adrian, can I have your hand on his

hand?

Yep.

And you guys are looking at each other.

Just relaxing.

My focal point is on the bride and

groom.

It is really dark around them, but I'm

picking up silhouettes from around the trees.

I'm metering for them inside the tent.

And then I'm going to bring up their

portion of the photo in post.

But for right now, I'm just going to

get a nice overall look and feel.

Eyes at each other.

Nice.

Foreheads to forehead.

There you go.

Thank you.

Awesome.

So, as you saw in the video, there's

a lot of bases to cover in a

short amount of time.

Even as we ended that video, you could

see how dark it got and how quick

it got.

How quickly it became dark.

So, in both of those situations, you saw

what I would do.

And that's very close to how we would

photograph things at an actual wedding reception.

And which is what you guys will see

happen shortly at the Not Dream wedding.

Now, I explained in the session that it's

really important for me to shoot these images,

obviously, selfishly, for my portfolio.

But that is the third concern.

My main concern is for the bride.

My second concern is to give the creative

team images to market their own business using

my images.

I'm always thinking, first and foremost, in marketing.

My approach to marketing is I am not

so concerned about getting weddings right now.

I'm thinking about the weddings that will come

by way of a recommendation from a future

coordinator vendor that I had just met at

that time.

Foster that relationship.

Prove myself and give as much as possible

as I can.

The general rule of thumb when it comes

to things like this and shoots like this

is when you care, other people care.

And when you give, people give back to

you.

So, on that note, let's move into our

homework.

I want you to make a list of

reception detail photos.

You now saw a peak of what that

looked like for me.

There are more things that get involved.

But just for the sake of brevity, you

guys got a very good sense of what

that was.

Now you have to make one for yourself.

Now, you can see my detailed shot list

on jasminestore.com in case you just want

to save time or just use it as

the basis and then add your photos to

it.

And what I want you to do is

I want you to stay accountable to the

list.

There's going to be times that you're tempted

to just move away and divert and say,

oh, I see something shiny.

I see something pretty.

Stay to the list because you know priority

-wise that's where you need to be.

And then work faster and get ultimately the

things that you think are going to make

you smile at a later point in time.

This also goes back to a very, very

powerful thing of working with a second shooter.

What the video also showed is how quickly

and efficiently both J.D. and I work.

And the photos at the end, I was

shooting wide.

I was shooting with a 35 and J

.D. was shooting with a 85.

What was interspersed in this video were actually

his images because he got more focus on

the bride and groom.

But overall what the creative team will probably

want is a photo that I was getting,

which was wide, showing off all of the

work in addition to the bride and groom

in it.

So we're shooting two ways but being very

cognizant of what we're doing at the same

time.

So are there any questions in relation to

shooting wedding reception details?

How often are you restyling tables or anything?

Good question.

All day every day.

Here's the thing.

Let me just take this back.

People ask, well, how did you start shooting

weddings that look like the weddings that you're

shooting now?

When we first started shooting weddings, our weddings

were literally the basement of churches.

Our fourth, fifth wedding was at a church

in Koreatown in Los Angeles that was so

dark, every person sitting in a pew was

silhouetted.

Then we walked across the street and we

had their wedding reception in their gym.

So there were streamers hanging from one basketball

court to another.

And it was a Korean-style potluck.

And all of this that was going on,

I'm thinking in the back of my mind,

how can I make this work to my

advantage?

And what I discovered was that the harder

I worked to create pretty photos in a

less than desirable arena, that was the thing

that helped me move forward.

Because the bridesmaids that were at the wedding,

they saw a slideshow of the wedding photos

that I made that day, and I put

it up, and they saw that, and their

reaction was, if she can shoot that here,

imagine what she could do at my wedding.

So what I started realizing when it came

to reception photos was, if I saw a

table and it was decorated sweetly, I needed

it to look fuller.

So I might collect other flowers from other

tables and decorate, stylize one table.

I know people have different approaches, but I

view myself, as much as I am a

photographer, I'm also an art director.

I will take time.

If there's a cup with a chip in

it, I move that.

If the forks look off-center, I do

that.

There might be a flower that I might

take from somewhere else and insert it in

the menu to make it look like something

a little bit more.

I am constantly restyling.

Now, less with weddings that I have these

days because they're of different budgets, but still,

I still shoot very simple weddings.

In fact, there was a couple years ago,

J.D. and I, we don't broadcast it.

No, that's going to be on CreativeLive at

my, I should be careful, no.

There was a girl who had emailed me,

and she just wrote the nicest email, and

we kind of corresponded a few emails, and

then she had just said, the reason I'm

writing is because of X, Y, and Z.

She was going through really personal things with

her family and her friends.

She's like, I've been reading your blog.

We connected, and then she said, I would

love for you to be my wedding photographer,

but I can't afford it.

Can you recommend somebody in my neck of

the woods?

I'm leaving her city out.

We got to talking, and we came up

with a creative arrangement so that she covered

the cost of us shooting the wedding, but

not what we would charge.

And so basically, as long as she covered

our cost, that we would eat any sort

of profits that we would get on it,

and we shot it.

And I adore her, and I adore her

husband.

I think they're doing amazing things with the

trajectory and the hope that they want for

their lives.

But nobody knew that that wedding was a

budget wedding, and nobody knew that we shot

it for anything other than what we charge

our other clients.

And I think that is a testament to

how hard we work to curate the day

in a very different way.

So if you are shooting ghetto weddings, you

make them ghetto fabulous.

You work twice as hard to get what

you want.

You're laughing because you do that, right?

Like, you do that.

Like, we do that, and that's what makes

you good.

That's what makes you great.

Because again, you cannot book a client based

on what she does not see.

Are there any other questions?

Great.

Well, that was a good closer.

Thank you so much for asking that and

clarifying.

I look forward to seeing how you guys

totally rock and totally restyle your reception photos.