All language subtitles for 1.4 Visual Triggers and Techniques

Right, let's get to it, one of my

favourite parts of the shooting module, visual triggers

and techniques, the things I do and don't

do, what I look for and how I

execute my shots and maximise potential in every

scene I step into.

Before I get into the things I do,

some things I don't.

I don't tend to use gimmicks, anything that

is a trick or a way to please

or show off to other photographers, it's not

for me thanks.

I have nothing against it, some people do

them incredibly well, it's just not for me.

So iPhone reflections, metal tubes, double exposures, prisms,

I just don't use them.

Even tilt shift lenses, don't get me wrong,

I have done some of those before, but

after that decision I made in 2015 to

focus on my visual strengths, all of those

ideas were buried.

I also try not to shoot up at

people, it's never a flattering angle in my

opinion.

My first principle starts here, exposing for highlights.

I always expose for the highlight and again,

my subject is usually, as with wedding photographers

right, a person.

So the first thing I always look for

is the highlight and that often happens to

be on skin, so that's my primary aim.

I expose for the highlight on the skin

and let the rest of the exposure work

from that.

And because the dynamic range of a camera,

that's the spectrum of light it can see,

isn't as broad or wide as the human

eye, that tends to give my images a

sense of depth and atmosphere.

This frame for example is exposed for the

bright shaft of sunlight on Lydia's back.

Now the room was actually light and bright,

it was a white space to the naked

eye, but because I've exposed for what is

a strong highlight, the rest of the room

appears to be much darker.

And again, these examples from frames in Tuscany,

both of them are exposed for the skin

highlight of my subject.

And whenever I enter a space or a

scene, that is always my main focus.

Number two, hunt the background.

One thing you may or may not notice

when you go through my work again, is

the lack of sky in my work.

I rarely, if ever, shoot a couple and

position them against the skyline.

And this is particularly important when it comes

to capturing golden hour shots, because in order

to see a sunset, the sunlight has to

sit on a background.

This shot of Amy and Tim is the

perfect example.

Notice how their bodies are framed with an

outbuilding directly behind them.

And look at the small section of skyline

in the top left of the frame, it's

bright white.

This shot has depth and colour to it

because there is no sky in the shot.

The only way to achieve a colour to

the sky would be to silhouette Amy and

Tim, but that's a gimmick I don't use.

The only exception to the sky rule would

be if I have a dark and moody

skyline and the couple are in sunlight.

So again, when you see my work from

now on, you should notice that I expose

for the highlights on the skin and there's

minimal open sky in the shot.

Number three, nail the simple stuff.

In my opinion, I see too many photographers

trying too hard to impress other photographers.

Always going after a big shot, but they

neglect the basics.

Get these right, make them your bread and

butter.

You don't have to use four off-camera

flash guns shot through 15 champagne flutes to

get something beautiful.

We'll explore frames like this very shortly, but

this shot of Claire is a prime example.

It will never win an award.

But remember everything we talked about in terms

of influences and inspiration.

This shot has context with the bride's sister

in the foreground.

We have side light, she's off centre, she

fills the frame.

She is the subject.

Do the simple stuff well and the good

frames will always come.

Number four, one thing you'll hear me repeat

over this lesson and the course is making

the most of every scene.

I do not plan or calculate shots.

I land on them because I trust in

the process and I give myself the very

best chance in every single scene to take

something away.

And landscape, landscape, portrait, portrait, landscape, landscape, yeah,

you did hear that right is one very

simple technique I use on every lens multiple

times during the day, whether that's on the

35mm or the 135mm.

And you'll see here from a recent wedding

how I applied that process to the bride

and the father entering the church.

All of these are shot on one body

with the 135mm lens.

I don't swap bodies until I've made the

most of that focal range and lens.

The first three frames you can see are

all landscape.

She's here.

As she gets to the stage where she

fills the frame, I switch to portrait orientation

and I shoot that hard until she's closer.

And now we go back to landscape and

we have a completely different frame as she's

cropped from the waist up.

When they get to the stage where they

fill the frame, that's when I switch camera

and the same approach repeats itself with the

35mm.

But from that five, six, seven second sequence

of Lauren and her dad entering, I have

three very different frames just from switching landscape

to portrait back to landscape.

And I apply that technique when the couple

exit the church or for the confetti or

for couple shots as they walk towards or

away from me.

If you weren't aware of that technique, it's

a really simple one, but hopefully super helpful.

Are we on number five?

I think, I think we're on number five.

Oh yeah.

Don't chimp the bloody screen.

You heard me.

Stop checking the screen to see if you've

got the shot.

You've just missed something.

To illustrate this point, I'm going to show

you Danny and Carlo in Italy.

Here we are.

Look at them.

Right?

Don't they look lovely?

But courtesy of the super talented Paul Vanhoose

site I'll link to below, I have some

footage of this scene unfolding.

So notice my actions in the foreground.

We're approaching the first kiss.

There you go.

Then a little embrace.

I could check the screen now, but I

don't.

I hold.

I wait.

And there you go.

A fraction of a second.

Did you see it?

If you missed it, this happened.

Now, in previous years gone by, part of

me would want to check that I'd got

the first kiss in focus.

But if I'd done that here, I missed

that moment.

You have to have a little more trust

and faith in your ability.

The focus was never going to change.

We were both static.

The light was constant.

What would I have gained by chimping the

screen?

Nothing.

But I'd risk missing a bigger moment.

You will never capture moments with the camera

down by your side.

Always keep one up high, which leads me

nicely onto point six, keeping the camera high.

My resting place for a camera is always

up here on my shoulder.

Never are they both down by my side

on my hips.

I only have this shot of Claire and

her grandmother because I had a camera up

here.

It was the family portraits time.

I have a list of names on a

sheet of paper in my left hand.

I'm calling out names from the next group,

when in the corner of my eye, I

spot Gran stepping into the frame.

Instantly, I'm ready.

I step in and the camera is already

next to my head.

If I have to take the camera out

of my holster and raise it to my

eye, I miss that moment.

I will often say to myself during the

day, especially if it's quiet and in my

head, obviously, get a camera up, get a

camera up, get a camera up.

I've conditioned myself to make this routine.

Always be prepared.

I can attribute so many of my favourite

frames to this approach.

Like so many of my shooting tips previous

to this one, it's all geared towards marginal

gains and giving yourself every opportunity to maximise

every scene or moment.

Point seven, smile.

No, that is not a setting on your

camera.

One thing I've said for many years now

to so many photographers is that when you're

at a wedding, always remember you are customer

facing, which in turn means you are there

to sell.

Just because you've sold yourself to that couple

on the day and they've booked you, it

doesn't mean you need to stop selling yourself.

So smile, be nice and provide a good

experience to anyone you encounter.

But this isn't just about customer experience.

We'll cover that more in the marketing module.

The real reason I mention it is because

I want you to understand and remember how

you can directly influence a scene.

Now, if you're a pure documentary photographer, this

may go against your approach and that's totally

fine.

You have to make this call.

For me, I'm happy and accepting that my

personality is a part of my work and

that it can influence the subjects in front

of me.

That's partly how I achieve natural and relaxed

portraits, because I allow my couples to feel

comfortable.

They engage with me, not the camera.

But if we take this frame as an

example, I couldn't illustrate my point more than

this scene.

We have four wedding guests.

They happen to be Laurie's best friends from

uni.

Now, this is not how the scene was

playing out.

I noticed the four of them standing there,

one of their partners taking a picture, a

very stiff and posed picture on an iPhone

to the side.

And I decided to stand next to the

guy with the phone.

Camera was up high, focus locked, and I

just stood next to him, shooting and smiling,

shooting, asking him if he got the shot.

Did you get the shot, mate?

Did you get it?

Did you get it?

The frame is their reaction to me in

the scene.

If you smile at strangers, they might think

you're a little weird, but what are they

likely to do?

They smile back.

So remember to smile.

Do not hide behind your camera.

Eight.

Perspective.

Eight.

Eight.

Eight.

Eight.

Perspective.

This is a huge and often overlooked element

of wedding photography and something I'm always pushing

myself harder to explore.

Sometimes, like I'll be leaving a house for

the church, it requires a huge risk.

Doing something that might not work out.

But I'm always looking for ways to document

any scene from a different perspective, because that's

how you can make your work stand out

from the crowd.

Shooting an ordinary moment from an angle that

no one else would have seen.

I could have followed Abby down the stairs

and shot her getting in the car like

every other photographer may have.

Like I would have on most occasions.

But I took a risk.

I saw something and trusted my gut to

hang back.

And like this portrait, remember what we talked

about when it comes to shooting sunsets.

Finding that background for the colour to sit

on.

Well, the only way to capture that here

was to stand on a tennis umpire's chair

on the tennis court with my camera held

above my head.

It changed the perspective and allowed me to

shoot down to the couple, therefore giving the

sunset a background to sit on.

What point are we on now?

Does anyone know?

I don't.

Should we say ten?

No, it's nine.

I'm pretty sure it's point nine.

Hands.

Hands are a great way of helping a

viewer connect with an image.

They can help show and illustrate how the

subject is feeling.

And I want that feeling to transfer through

the image.

So I always keep a little eye out

for what people are doing with their hands.

Are they nervous?

Are they embracing or congratulating?

They're a great addition to helping tell the

story of a particular scene.

Now it's ten.

Point ten.

We're getting to the end, but it's a

big one.

Work the scene, people.

I've talked already about making the most of

every scene or moment you encounter.

And part of that is down to shooting

through the moment, before and after something happens.

But this point is really about trying to

see how other people are viewing the scene

you are in.

Can you find another angle or approach to

documenting the space?

And for this, I'm taking you back to

Elle and Matt's wedding, who hired Uncle Funk

and the Boogie Wonderband, still one of the

best bands I've ever encountered at a wedding.

Now when the lead singer dresses like this,

it's very easy to make that subject your

focus and rightly so I did.

There are plenty of frames of this guy

and I'm sure Elle and Matt have this

framed and above their mantelpiece in the front

room.

But it's from working the scene that I

get one of my favourite images from that

wedding.

Just by observing the space and looking for

other ways to document it.

Never do I say to myself, yeah, I've

got the shot I need here, I'm done,

let's move on.

It's always, what next?

Who else is in this scene?

This space, what's happening?

How are they viewing this moment?

Can I change my angle or perspective?

And that's why a 15 hour wedding day

can be emotionally exhausting because my mind is

on overdrive every minute of the day.

I didn't land on this image.

There are 40-50 frames building up to

it and probably 40-50 after it.

Because even though I got that shot, what

next?

11.

Negative space vs wasted space.

Now this is something I've been guilty of

in the past and something I see regularly

as a mistake in other photographers work.

But what is it?

So negative space in photography is simply the

area of a photograph which is left unoccupied.

But it's this space that helps define the

positive space, otherwise known as the main focus

of the image.

Or in this example, the subject, Paige.

The negative space is everything to the left

of Paige.

Or in this example of Ellen.

And notice the other elements at play that

we address in the influence section.

Side light from a window, shooting through a

frame which is a mirror.

And finally we have the negative space here.

Now in a commercial sense, negative space is

used a lot within design as it's a

natural area of an image in which to

use copy or branding.

And I suspect my design background is the

reason I regularly use negative space within my

work.

I like to keep the viewer's attention moving

throughout the frames I show.

On blog posts for example, as you scroll

down the page, I want the story to

flow.

If I centre focused all of my subjects

and never worked the frame, every shot would

just feel repetitive.

And repetitive is, well, it's boring right?

But what's wasted space?

So this is the issue I see a

lot and it's born from centre focusing.

In fact, I'm going to draw this out.

Give me a second.

Oh look, a whiteboard.

You may be wondering if I panned this.

You are about to find out why I

never became an illustrator or a product designer

or anything to do with sketching or drawing

of any kind.

I can't draw, like really badly.

So let's start off.

We have this frame.

That's quite a decent square.

No it's not.

No.

Told you.

Told you I'm really bad.

Don't judge me.

Okay.

So we have this frame here.

It's got really long legs.

Three fingers.

Okay.

We'll give him some features.

This is...

Let's call him Pedro.

Right?

This is Pedro.

We've taken this shot of Pedro at a

wedding.

He's having an absolute blast today.

He's even got himself a nice little glass

of champagne.

Which makes for a pleasant change because he

normally only drinks Prosecco.

So he is absolutely made up.

Now, this frame is okay.

There's nothing technically wrong with it.

It's center focused, but there is something wrong

with it.

We have something up here which I would

consider to be a complete waste of space.

All of this up here serves absolutely no

purpose to the frame.

So we have to do one of two

things.

The first thing is we recognize that we're

on the wrong lens.

We either shoot on an 85 or a

135 now and crop in tighter to Pedro.

Or we do the next thing, which is

stick with our 35mm, but

we get in much closer.

Better.

This is good.

I'm feeling this.

We can see Pedro's face.

See him a little bit closer.

We've filled the frame.

There's not all this wasted space now above

Pedro's head.

Can we make this better?

Is there anything we can do to this

frame that would enhance it and make it

a stronger image?

Well, I think we can move Pedro.

Why don't we move Pedro to the side

of the shot?

Let's work the frame a little bit.

And again, this is the process that goes

through my mind anytime I take a photograph

of anybody at a wedding.

It's constant.

It's relentless.

Okay, we've got another really bad frame that

I've drawn there.

But you get the gist, right?

So, here's Pedro.

Yep, we've moved him across.

Okay, now we've filled the frame and we've

got some negative space off to this side.

Still got his glass of fizz.

Excellent.

Still got his few fingers.

Brilliant.

Okay, this frame is now better.

We've filled the frame.

We've moved Pedro off to the side.

Again, is there anything else we can add

to this frame that would enhance it and

make it just a little bit better?

Well, what about if we found some context?

We found a wedding guest that Pedro is

chatting to.

I mean, I don't know what this is.

There we go.

Excellent.

So, we've filled the frame, moved Pedro over

to the side, and we've brought some context

into the shot.

Much better.

Now we just repeat.

I mean, is that okay for you?

Let's move this out of the way now.

I told you I was bad at drawing.

So, I just want my chair up.

Step in, fill the frame, work the scene,

repeat.

I might put that on a t-shirt.

Okay, so remember those stills I showed you

in the inspiration section previously?

Mad Men.

Who's the subject?

Peggy is.

The frame has been filled top to bottom,

with Don and Pete providing a sense of

context and negative space.

Breaking Bad.

Walter White is clearly the subject.

Again, he fills the frame.

Again, negative space off to the right.

Boardwalk Empire.

Who is the subject?

Filling the frame, off-center framing, background context.

Can you see how these simple frames can

influence your work now and how you can

translate them to weddings?

Also, don't forget to step back once in

a while.

This is something I have to really work

hard to remember because I'm usually in the

thick of it.

But scene-setting shots are always worth remembering.

Okay, final headline for you all, then we

can wrap this one up.

You can only shoot what's in front of

you.

Keep moving.

Keep shooting.

Every single moment, every scene, every space is

an opportunity.

And we'll explore this in more detail during

the marketing modules.

Right, that was a lot of talking, along

with a little bit of bad illustration.

Hopefully, I've served up a few ideas there

for you, though.

This one is probably worth a bookmark and

a rewatch sometimes because there's quite a bit

in it.

Let's take a break.

I'll see you in the next episode.