Original subtitles

Okay, welcome to the mountains here.

We will be shooting under the stars tonight.

Erica and I are not expert astrophotographers, okay,

by any stretch of the imagination.

We know enough to be able to pull

it off when we have the rare opportunity

to do so.

It's pretty rare with our couples that we

have the chance to go out and shoot

under the stars, but when we do, it's

cool to kind of know what's going on.

But we have brought an expert actually with

us.

Kaylee April is an expert astrophotographer and she's

actually going to be one of our models

here tonight.

We brought her so she can be here

to help us troubleshoot tonight because shooting under

the stars at night involves a lot of

troubleshooting and problem-solving.

Speaking of astrophotographers worth checking out, our friend

Paul Ziska, who also lives here in Banff,

Canada, does incredible work, so if you're looking

for inspiration, check out Paul Ziska.

So now before we get into it, let's

take a minute, just zoom out, and think

about why we're even doing this, right, because

a lot of photographers get get caught up

in the how, especially with this sort of

thing.

It's very technical, so how do we pull

it off?

And sometimes we forget to ask why, like

why are we even doing this?

And when we ask that question and we

answer it for ourselves, it helps guide the

way we compose, the way we expose, the

way that we light, right, why we're doing

it helps us create a better photo in

the end.

And we think about, okay, why are we

doing it?

Remember back to portraits, we're making portraits here.

Essentially what we're doing is we're trying to

do a really good job of three portraits

for our couple, right.

One for grandma's mantelpiece, smiling, looking at the

camera.

One up close, this is us, this is

our connection, right, emotion.

And then one in the environment, right, where

they got married, or where we happen to

be hanging out together.

And in this case this is just an

extreme example of that, this is us in

the environment, you know, and where are we?

We're on planet Earth, right, shooting at night

beneath the stars kind of places the viewer

on the surface of a planet.

And so that's the why, right, and so

that helps us think about how we're gonna

compose and expose this these photos here tonight.

So as always we're gonna try to simplify

this down as much as possible, so that

we can stay focused on the task.

And so basically when we boil it down,

shooting beneath the stars involves five steps, all

right, and we'll look at each of these

steps individually.

Step one, hope and pray.

Then you'll see why in a second, we'll

talk about that.

Step two is compose for the stars.

Step three, expose for the stars.

Step four, add humans.

Step five, light them up.

So let's start at the top with step

one, hope and pray.

In other words, the stars have to align

in order to have an opportunity to actually

achieve this, right.

Four ingredients basically have to come together.

We need the right location, the right timing,

the right subjects, and the right photographer.

Okay, those four things, it's rare that all

four of those things come together especially on

a wedding day, but let's look at each

of those four.

So first of all, location wise, right, you

can't do this anywhere.

We have to be away from light pollution.

So a lot of, you know, a lot

of places in the world, a lot of

wedding venues, it's just not an option, right.

We're out here in the mountains, we're, you

know, we're away from any light pollution, so

check location.

Timing wise, we need the right night, right,

we need the the right conditions.

If it's overcast, we can't really shoot the

stars, right.

Also, if we've got a full moon out

to compete with, it's not gonna work either.

It's not to say we can't do night

photography in those conditions, it just adds another

layer of challenges.

So if we're away from the light pollution

on a clear, moonless night, like tonight, then

there's two ingredients.

The third one is we need the right

subjects or the right clients.

They have to be game, they have to

be willing, they have to be patient, because

everything at night takes that much longer, right.

There's a lot of challenges to overcome, so

your clients have to be into it, otherwise

it's gonna be painful.

And then the final ingredient is the right

photographer, right.

You need a motivated photographer because of all

the problem-solving that's gonna be involved in

order to achieve this.

So when all four of those ingredients come

together, then that's step one.

Hope and pray, the stars have aligned, okay,

we're gonna go and attempt this.

We can move on to step number two,

okay.

So step number two is compose for the

stars, okay.

So step number two is find your composition.

In and of itself, that can be a

real challenge, like even right now, as we're

losing all of our light and it's becoming

almost pitch dark here, finding our way into

the composition we want could take us 20

or 30 or 40 minutes, right, because we

can't see what's in front of us, right.

So and if we think back to why

are we doing this, right, we're trying to

show them, give the sense of place, right.

And so essentially what allows us to do

that best at night is to try to

fill our frame with stars.

Try to find a position for the camera

that allows us to shoot up towards the

stars, fill the frame with stars, while also

having an area wherein we can include our

subjects, right, our couple for context, okay.

And that involves exploring around, finding an area,

we got to work with the topography, we're

working with the backgrounds, and another challenge is

you can't see, right, and we have to

wait for the exposure to see if we

need to change the composition.

Of course we've got our tripod, right, so

we've got camera on tripod, we're moving it

around.

This is a good time for ISO a

million, okay.

When you're trying to get your composition figured

out, crank your ISO all the way up

so that you don't have to wait for

those long exposures.

You could actually see where's the tree, where

is the mountains, what do I, how do

I need to tweak the tripod in the

position to get the composition that I'm looking

for, okay.

So that's step two, compose for the stars,

fill your frame with stars.

Lens wise, usually what Eric and I end

up using is something between 16 and 24,

so either our 16 to 35 mil or

like a 24 prime, and that allows us

to go nice and wide and maximize the

stars.

I just want to mention a few apps

that can really help with you, with, you

know, finding the right location and finding the

right composition.

Sky Guide and Photo Pills, and those ones

show you where the Milky Way is, for

example, you can kind of aim it up

and it'll show you what's happening up there

with the stars and planets, so you, it'll,

it can help you figure out which direction

to shoot, for example.

So hope and pray, the stars are aligning,

compose for the stars, step three is expose

for the stars, okay.

We've got our composition, check, now we're going

to get our exposure figured out.

Remember back to the off-camera flash 101,

right, we basically got the three-step process.

What we're doing here now is steps one

and two, which is essentially the ambient exposure,

right.

Remember we always want to treat our two

exposures independently and separately, so ambient first, and

then the flash exposure.

At night, it's, it's, you know, it's super

pronounced and obvious the difference between those two

exposures, right.

The ambient exposure is the long shutter speed

exposure for the stars, and then of course

we've got our flash exposure, speed of light,

we deal with that after, so ambient first.

Once you've got your composition figured out, we're

going to drop that ISO down from a

million to a workable ISO.

Depending on your camera, what we're trying to

do is basically the highest ISO you're comfortable

with, with respect to noise and grain, and

what we, Eric and I find for our

cameras is we're happy in the 1600 to

3200 ISO range, so we'll dial our ISO

in there.

Aperture wise, we tend to go wide open

with our 16 to 35, so f 2

.8 is as wide as it allows us

to go, and the reason for that is

because we're trying to allow the stars to

burn in as much as possible, so open

it up and let as much light in

as possible without having to leave the shutter

open longer than necessary, because if that shutter

is open for more than about 20 or

30 seconds, then we start to see star

trails, right, star movement in in the photo.

So 1600 to 3200 ISO, f 2.8

ish, and then it's basically tasting the soup,

right, so we dial those in and then

we leave the shutter open.

We might start at 20 seconds, for example.

So what it basically looks and sounds like,

as you're going to see, is click, shutter

opens, right, we wait 20 seconds, shutter closes,

right, and then we wait another 20 seconds

while it, while it burns in, writes it,

and then it shows us, and then we

look, taste the soup, oh we got to

go brighter or darker, we're exposing for the

stars.

So we've got our composition and we've got

our ambient exposure dialed in just the way

we want it, right.

We haven't even turned on our flashes yet.

Step four, add humans.

Obviously we've had to anticipate where they're gonna

go within our composition, now it's the time

to bring them in and place them.

So we'll look at an example now.

So here, if we go back to step

three, we've got our ambient exposure, right, we've

got no couple here yet, we have got

no flash, the shutter was probably open for

about 30 to 40 seconds here because you

can see that little bit of star movement

there, right, and you can actually see a

satellite.

That shutter is essentially how long it took

that satellite to traverse that part of the

sky.

So when it comes to placing our humans

in the composition, we've got a few options,

right, as always the obvious choices are where's

the bright spot, where's the dark spot.

If we're gonna try to feature them on

the bright spot, being the sky, it's essentially

gonna be a which is tricky because they

have to stay still for the entire duration

of the whole shutter, right, so for 20

or 30 seconds they have to remain motionless,

hold their breath, and that's about the limit

we found.

About 20 seconds is the longest that you

can get away with in a standing position

if they're holding their breath before you start

to get motion blur in there.

If you're trying to pull off a silhouette

with a shutter speed longer than 20 seconds,

then you need to have them seated, in

which case you could probably get away with

up to 30 seconds.

But more often what we're looking for is

the dark spot within the composition and then

we light our couple up within that dark

spot.

That makes them pop, the flash freezes them,

speed of light, we don't have to worry

about the motion blur.

So then within that dark spot, of course,

like always we've got a few options for

lighting them up.

We could light them up with with side

light, right, we could bring a light source

in behind and rim light them, or we

could create a bright spot behind them on

which to silhouette them.

So in this example what we chose to

do is to light up the rocks behind

them with a really warm gel on the

flash.

And in that case of course the couple

doesn't have to stay super still because the

flash freezes them, speed of light.

Here's another example.

In this situation the only way to line

it up within the dark spot was to

have them sitting.

In this case we couldn't actually figure out

how to incorporate the couple so we tried

to throw their shadows.

And in this case, this was a rare

case where there's some light pollution coming from

the venue itself which is behind us.

And so the beach itself was actually lit

up with enough ambient light that we didn't

need to add flash.

So that's a 20 to 30 second ambient

exposure there and the couple just held their

breath and stayed as still as as possible.

If you zoom in you can look you

can see they're actually not tack sharp.

So of course one of the cruxes now

with placing the humans is how do we

focus.

Okay so what Eric and I do almost

always is we choose to focus on our

couple.

Okay some photographers do focus stacking with where

they will make multiple exposures where they move

the focus ring so they're focused on their

subjects or the foreground and then they'll do

some shots focused for the stars focused to

infinity and then stack those together.

We've actually never done that.

Every star photo we've ever done has been

focused on our couple.

Okay and the way that we do that

is the same way that we achieve focus

always.

We use you know center point autofocus.

Sometimes it's a little bit tricky when you're

working with your camera down low on the

tripod and you end up actually having to

rotate the camera down achieve focus and then

we and then recompose.

So once you've done that you've checked focus

and you're sharp you want to lock that

focus or flip it into manual focus so

you don't lose it and have to achieve

focus again.

Of course focusing in the dark that's the

crux.

We have to light them up somehow so

you can use an iPhone light or your

modeling light on your flash or anything to

give enough light to focus.

Remember with the iPhone it's better often to

just hold the flash right by your subjects

and aim it towards the camera and focus

on that point rather than trying to light

them up.

All right step one the stars have aligned.

Step two we've composed for the stars.

Step three we've exposed for the stars.

Step four we've added our humans.

Now step five we've got to light them

up.

Okay we've got a few options right as

always we can light them from the side

we can light them from behind or we

can light the background and silhouette them on

the bright spot.

So now in terms of lighting them up

the same principles that we've talked about apply

as always.

We'll look at a few examples here.

So in this one here essentially what we

would have had before we started lighting them

is exactly what you see minus the rim

light on the couple.

They're actually standing on a on a stump

there and the reason that we shot in

this direction was well two reasons.

One the Milky Way right I mean there

it is so that was the obvious direction

to shoot.

Also that tree we ended up using that

tree as the dark spot and there was

lots of trial and error here with this

photo trying to get it to work.

I think the first thing we tried to

do was side lighting them and we didn't

love that.

Then we tried throwing their shadows up onto

the tree that didn't work at all and

then we tried rim lighting them with the

flash behind and eventually we figured out that

this was the best option and so then

that's what we worked.

And I think what we ended up doing

in the end is we actually had two

speed lights held like this to have that

rim light wrapping around their upper bodies and

their lower bodies entirely.

Keep in mind that each one of these

test photos where we're tasting the soup and

making a slight adjustment takes a few several

minutes each so just be prepared to spend

the time to work it to overcome all

these challenges and solve all these problems in

order to pull this off and make it

work.

So now keep in mind that when that

shutters open for 20, 30, 40 seconds the

sky's the limit in terms of what we

can do with our flash right.

We can just pop that flash once from

the side or behind or whatever we choose

to do or we can pop that flash

several times right.

So we can play around, we can be

creative, we can use the modeling light to

do light painting anything we want while that

shutters open.

And I remember we had Epiphany when we

were first playing around with star shots and

we finally realized that we don't have to

muck around with our transmitter to trigger the

flash right.

We don't have to muck around with rear

curtain sync.

As long as there's no sort of ambient

light pollution to contend with we can pop

that flash at any point while the shutters

open.

So we can open the shutter, we can

make sure they're in position, we can get

everything set, we can say ready here we

go three two one and then we can

manually trigger that flash as you're gonna see

us doing mid exposure.

Pro tip here with the five steps.

You can take care of the first four

steps before you even go and get your

couple.

So if this is at the end of

a wedding and your couple's on the dance

floor and you don't want to pull them

away from the party, you or one of

you can head out, find your spot, take

care of all these things, solve all these

problems.

It could take 20 or 30 or 45

minutes and then once you've got it all,

you know, your tripod's in position, you've got

the composition all figured out, you've got your

exposure dialed in, you've got X marks the

spot right, you've locked your focus, you've tested

the light, you can go get your couple,

bring them out, one click boom right, five

minutes and they're done.

So just keep that in mind.

Okay so before we go out and actually

start doing this, let's just quickly recap those

five steps.

Hope and pray, the stars have to align

right, we need to be in the right

spot at the right time with the right

couple and be a motivated photographer okay.

Step one.

Step two, compose for the stars right.

Find your position, get the tripod set, ISO

a million right, fill the frame with the

stars.

Step three, expose for the stars.

Okay so now we're gonna F 2.8,

ISO 1600 to 3200 ish and then we're

gonna leave the shutter speed for the sweet

spot.

However long we need to allow those stars

to burn in.

Step four, add humans, figure out where you're

gonna have your subjects in the composition.

Step five, light them up.

Okay so we're gonna try out our first

shot here and it's already a shit show.

I've already spent about 20 minutes trying to

compose this image in the dark with a

video team.

It's extra hard because I can't test my

exposures with any of these lights on so

it's on and off and on and off

and on and off but I'm gonna shoot

this direction.

It's just past blue hour here so the

stars are just starting to show so I'm

sure my exposure and my settings will be

a different 20 minutes from now than they

are now but right now I'm gonna try

20 second exposure F 2.8 ISO 1600.

I'm gonna see what it looks like.

I've got Kaylee and Leo behind me here.

They're gonna come in once I've got the

ambient exposure the way I want it.

So we'll turn off the lights on the

camera right now and we'll test this exposure.

Okay so Manny's standing out there.

He's holding the light on himself.

I'm just gonna focus on him.

Look at the shadow Erica.

Then I'm gonna lock my tripod here.

Okay and you can remove yourself from the

frame and I'm just gonna test again here

just my ambient exposure.

I'm waiting till Lenny's out with the flashlight

because any little thing like that can ruin

it.

Actually I'm just gonna make a slight adjustment

here because there's a car in the parking

lot that's headlights are in my frame.

Okay so I'm gonna press the shutter and

wait 20 seconds here.

Okay so shutters closed and then I'm gonna

check here and yeah that's actually looking really

nice.

So because I'm a 20 second exposure and

there's actually a little bit of light reflecting

on the lake at the bottom of the

frame here.

I'm gonna try and see what happens if

I just silhouette Kaylee and Leo.

If they just stand really really really still

for 20 seconds and hold the breath.

I mean there's only one way to find

out if it'll work and that's to try

it.

So that's what we'll do.

Okay so you guys come right here.

I'm thinking side by side holding hands right

Erica?

Looking out at the disc.

Looking away.

Okay and I'm gonna tilt.

I'm just tilting my camera up here to

achieve focus because I've got on center point

focus.

So I'm literally just pivoting on the tripod.

I'm achieving focus where Lanny has the light

holding on them.

Then I'm gonna put it back down.

That's composed the way I want.

I'm actually gonna go a little wider than

I want because I know we can crop

it in post.

Which some people think is cheating but I'm

okay cheating with this because it's hard enough.

Okay so Lanny.

Yeah.

This probably won't work but we're gonna try

it.

So can you step out of the frame?

Yeah.

And because it's gotten darker since...

You've already focused?

Can you step out of the frame?

Okay.

Yeah.

I just yeah.

Anyways I love that shadow.

So because it's gotten a little bit darker

since I did the test shot I'm just

gonna up my shutter speed to I think

25 seconds and we'll just test that out.

So we'll cut the lights and opening my

shutter.

Okay shutters closed.

Okay yep they don't really pop that much.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna

actually get Lanny to use the flash behind

them on the lake.

They're actually really nicely centered in the frame

so I'm not gonna change that.

There is a few little distracting lights on

the left-hand side of the frame but

I know Lanny's good at Photoshop so I'm

just gonna leave them because you can get

rid of those right?

Yeah.

So let's pop the flash at the beginning

of the exposure and then have them walk

out of the frame.

Yeah so what am I doing lighting up

the lake?

Yes.

So I'm gonna turn the flash all the

way down to 2.

Okay so the lowest power that there is.

We're gonna start with that.

You can go ahead and then.

So flash at 2 is 1 128.

Yes but what what well actually we'll just

try one with them staying in the frame

see what it looks like but I think

there's gonna be ghosting and then we'll have

them walk out of the frame.

Do you want this headlamp?

I know I don't need it.

Okay so we might have to use two

flashes right?

I doubt it.

I'm just thinking to make the bright spot

large enough.

I think you can and and we're just

assuming Lanny's gonna Photoshop himself out of this

frame.

Okay so I'll tell you when the shutters

open.

Is that about the right?

You want a little bit more towards their

heads.

So higher.

Like.

Yeah.

Let's try it.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you've got your finger on the trigger

so you can manually pop it.

Hang on.

Okay and you can always pop it a

few times in the water.

Yeah.

Like you see how most of it's falling

by their legs.

I'd like more more of it to be

up toward.

Well I'm yeah.

On the lake.

Well I can flag it.

Okay so you're gonna open the shutter now.

Okay well let's just try this.

Okay pop it.

That's probably good.

Okay shutters closed.

I'm just gonna zoom in.

I want to see what it looks like

on the couple here.

Just some more pops just the same way

Brett?

It's actually um not really lighting up the

water at all Lanny.

But it's lighting up the side of Bailey

and it looks really pretty.

I'm wondering if we could do.

It's not hitting the water at all.

But I really like the way it's hitting

her.

It's really pretty.

Actually I think that looks great.

Yeah it might be cool from a light

from each side.

So we're just kind of kissing them with

the light right?

Yeah.

Is that putting off your flash too?

Yeah.

Yours as well?

Yep.

Not just the other one?

Yeah.

You sure?

Go again?

Yep.

Okay so you don't have to.

And I'm at four.

Actually I'm just gonna trigger these manually at

some point during the.

Is that one at four too?

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay so you can see we started with

a completely different concept.

And this is the way it always goes

right?

Like originally I'm like okay we'll make a

bright spot on the lake and we'll silhouette

them.

That didn't work.

But with the angle Lanny was holding the

light I noticed it it really hit Kaylee

really nicely coming in from the side.

So then I just put a second flash

on the other side with the exact same

settings to light up Leo.

And we're gonna give that a shot.

So just because we can I'm gonna regain

focus again.

Just because I want to be sure.

Focus on the couple.

Okay.

Well we lost our car lights now.

Lost all our car lights?

So you can go as wide as you

want.

And you can see I've got my flash

trigger here as well.

I'm not even putting it on my camera

because sometimes the shutter doesn't communicate with this

flash trigger very well depending on the day.

But like Lanny said we don't need to

fiddle with the triggers.

I can pop these flashes manually using this

test button at any time during that 25

second exposure.

So we'll kill the lights.

We've got focus.

I've got focus.

Killing the modeling light.

Shutting the jacket.

Modeling lights off.

Okay 3, 2, 1.

Shutters open.

Don't worry about popping it Len I will.

Yeah.

Okay shutters closed.

Oh wow the sky looks amazing.

Let me just make sure it's sharp on

the couple.

Slightly overexposed but I don't think it's clipped.

So I'm not gonna worry about it.

We're gonna try one more thing while we're

here.

Just because I don't want to have to

move them.

I want to do a back flash of

them.

So just move that flash in behind Kaylee.

We can probably just use one flash.

Oh you want to hide both flashes eventually?

Squat in the lake.

What we can do Erica I'll turn the

modeling light on you just make sure it's

hidden.

What's that?

Just make sure this is you can't see

that flash.

No I can't see it.

Okay.

And I can't see Kaylee's either.

Okay and then drop the jacket for 25

seconds.

Okay flash is in position.

Okay and I'm going to open my shutter

there.

Okay shutters closed.

Oh yeah that's cool.

Just zoom in and make sure it's sharp.

Yeah the only thing is is I can

see your head behind Lanny.

Can we can you back up a little

bit more?

Are you or will you be in the

water?

No is it when the flash went off

or just actually actually Kaylee and Leo just

back up two steps.

I think that'll work.

Okay yeah.

So I'm getting the couple a little bit

further away from the flash because I noticed

that the rim light wasn't wrapping all the

way around them.

But this means I have to regain focus.

Right.

And slightly with my composition here.

You guys are getting a real taste of

what this looks like.

So focus on the couple.

Thanks Len.

Okay.

Okay.

Is that good there?

What's that?

Pretty far back.

You're gonna have to Photoshop your backlit hair

out.

Yeah as long as I'm behind the...

And then try and point up like hold

it as high as you can with your

arm.

Is that good there?

Yeah.

Okay.

And then Jack and Kaylee you tell

me when you're good.

I'm good.

Okay lights.

Shutters open.

Flash them.

They're closed.

Okay there we go.

And let me just zoom in.

Oh that's great.

You're gonna have to Photoshop yourself out of

the gray.

Okay one more I want to try here.

Hang on just because I just have a

quick look.

Erica can we do that wider?

Because it's great but I think it'd be

way more epic with more stars.

And how's the light on?

I don't think we need a lot more

stars.

We don't want them that much smaller.

I want them smaller.

Okay we'll go.

And then what can can you do for

the next one I just want the flashes

pointed out to the lake.

Okay.

Okay but yeah because you're at you're at

26.

I think around 20.

Keep them on the bottom edge but just

more stars.

I think it'll be way more epic.

But I turned that flash way up that's

in the water already.

And you have to turn it back around

then.

So Erica this one was at four right?

Yeah.

And it looks like the one on Kaylee's

a little bright so maybe you turn this

one down a bit.

Yeah you could probably turn it down a

bit.

I'll turn this one down to three.

How's the light?

Yeah it looks good.

Okay and then jacket's coming off.

Okay lights off.

Shutters open.

Pop the flash.

Oh there's a there's a satellite in the

sky.

Oh yeah.

Yeah I think that looks great.

Okay let's uh can you just point the

flashes out to the water for me and

turn them up a bit Len?

Yeah yeah throw your jacket on.

Like up to maybe six.

Do you want me to come or can

you do it?

What's that?

Yeah so both both lights out to the

lake now?

Yeah let's just see if it works.

It might not.

Okay so we're all freezing and we've been

out here for probably about an hour already

trying things.

But this is this is the game of

starshots right?

Everything takes just that much longer to do.

But we're gonna try shooting this direction and

you probably can't see but behind them is

a nice dark silhouette of a mountain.

Which is why I've chosen to shoot this

direction.

Because I'm gonna try and place their torsos

and get a little bit more of a

close-up shot within that dark spot of

the mountain.

My settings are the exact same.

Like that's kind of the beauty of these

starshots is once you get your settings for

the stars to burn in you really don't

have to fiddle with them for the rest

of the night.

So I'm at 1600 ISO.

I'm doing 1 30th of a second and

I'm at 2.8 and that's it.

So that stays the same.

So you guys keep your jackets on and

we're gonna get everything sorted out so you

don't freeze your butts off.

So let's see.

I'm gonna go really really wide here just

because I want to feature as much sky

as possible.

There might be a little bit of distorting

in the body on the outside edge of

the frame.

But we'll see.

We've got Lanny to fix that in Photoshop

for us.

Thanks Lanny.

Okay so Lanny's gonna stand in behind here

and he's gonna basically be hiding behind the

couple.

So I can't see the flashes and he's

gonna hold one flash on Leo and then

he's gonna hold the other flash on Kaylee.

Right so cross kind of cross lighting.

So cross lighting so it's a nice hard

light from behind and they're they should both

be at lowest possible power.

So I'm gonna go down.

Yeah.

Hopefully be out of your shot.

And actually I'm just again I'm gonna put

my shutter speed my shutter speed down to

two seconds just so I can test out

my flash exposure with out having to wait

for the 30 second exposure.

Now I'm trying to hold each flash hiding

them behind Kaylee and Leo.

My right my right hand flash is short

lighting Leo and my left hand flash is

short lighting Kaylee.

Hopefully.

Oh yeah that's perfect.

Okay so it's it's wrapping around Leo really

nicely Lanny.

Yeah.

It's not oh it's cuz if it's cuz

of Kaylee's jacket I'll be fine once she

takes it off.

I'm like it's stopping right at her neck.

It's just wrapping around her hair beautifully and

then there's just this abrupt stop but it's

cuz of your jacket.

So that looks beautiful.

Okay.

So.

Happy?

Flashes look good.

You could move back a tad cuz it

might be a bit bright.

So now I'm gonna up my up my

shutter speed to 1 30th of a second

now and I'm really wide here as wide

as I possibly can.

And wide aperture or wide focal length or

both?

Wide focal length.

Yeah.

Well both.

Yeah.

Okay.

So we're gonna see I don't actually know

if I have them perfectly lined up in

this mountain yet cuz I can't see but

we're gonna we're gonna see right now.

So shutters open.

I'm gonna flash them.

Wait shutters open?

Yeah.

Sorry.

Oh okay sorry let's restart that one.

I didn't know you were shooting.

Flashes are in position now.

Jackets?

Oh yeah jackets off.

Sorry I can't see a thing.

Shutters open, jackets are on, and the lights

are down at my crotch.

Okay ready?

Oh I haven't told you guys how to

stand yet.

No.

Okay.

Oh god.

Do we have a light?

Perfect.

Yeah so if you guys just hold hold

each other's hands right and then almost touch

each other's noses but not quite.

Yeah yeah yeah just like that yeah.

That close?

You want that close Erica?

What's that?

You want that close?

Actually this is good I can dress myself.

That backlight is awesome from my perspective here.

Yeah.

I wish there was some way to get

this the wind in the dress.

I know but I well the thing is

the flash just freezes it right?

I know.

Okay ready?

Okay flashes.

They're a lot closer together now so it

might be we'll just have to work it.

Okay.

Okay lights.

Action.

I'm gonna open the shutter.

I'm gonna flash three two one.

So shutters closed.

Oh wow that is so cool except yeah

you guys need to move a little further

back just to get you in that dark

spot.

Oh yeah.

So maybe just like a footstep back from

where you were.

Yeah so we gotta get focus again.

Yeah.

And Kayla can you tuck your hair behind

your your ears?

Which way's the wind going?

It's like that way.

Just so that your chin's exposed.

But you see his highlights are.

You have to turn this flash down.

Or step back a little bit.

Block gel on them or something.

Well we don't have a block gel unfortunately.

Or that's a good idea.

I think that's maybe a little bit further

that way guys.

In that way.

Yeah I think that's gonna be good.

I guess the only other thing you could

do is you could go up your f

-stop.

If that's still too bright.

Yeah yeah I could up the f-stop

a little bit.

You know what I will.

I'll go to 3.2 just or 3

.5 to lower that flash.

Because that rim light was.

Dreamy.

Yeah but it was blowing out in spots.

Yeah it was.

Okay so I've got focus.

You do?

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay so I'm gonna go farther back.

Yeah a little bit further back.

Yeah.

Drop in the jackets.

Okay.

And lights.

The thing is the farther back I go

the less cross lighting we're gonna get.

That's okay.

Shutters open.

Okay shutters closed.

Oh oh that's kind of cool.

So as the car drove by it light

-painted the slope behind them a little bit.

Which we weren't expecting.

But it actually kind of looks cool.

How it did that.

Yeah zoom out.

We should do one without it but I

think it adds a nice.

And then Kaylee as much as possible just

tuck your hair back.

If the wind were blowing that way or

that way I'd just make sure the wind

was blowing your hair.

Well they could they could reverse positions.

Well would it.

Oh yeah it is blowing that way.

Yeah let's try that.

Oh yeah.

Oh that's gonna be good.

There it is.

That's good.

Oh yes.

Okay a little closer together.

And let me just regain focus one more

time because you've moved.

Okay and a tiny little bit of separation.

Yeah there we go.

And lights.

Okay can you tell me when you feel

it has to wind.

Okay shutters open.

Okay.

Oh yeah that worked out great.

It's nice.

Yeah zoom out.

Oh yeah.

Oh we're just missing the light behind Leo.

Yeah but he's wearing a black suit.

You're not gonna get him.

No it'll still rim him.

Not really.

Yeah okay right.

Okay so let's do I think we can

do one more shot like that's it.

So I think we should try the champagne

one.

Okay so we're gonna try a grand finale

shot here with champagne and two flashes.

So I've got Kaylee and Leo set up

over here and they're against that nice dark

background again.

And the first thing I did was figure

out where they were gonna be obviously.

My settings are still all the same right

1600 ISO, f2.8, 1 30th of a

second.

But now I'm incorporating.

30 seconds.

30 seconds.

Sorry not 1 30th of a second.

And now I'm incorporating two flashes.

Okay and I've tested out my flashes at

with my shutter speed at 2 seconds.

Right so I don't have to wait for

the 30 seconds.

So the first thing I did was put

this flash up over here to the side.

Okay so this this flash is gonna side

light them right during that 30 second exposure.

And then Lanny is gonna be my second

light stand.

And he's gonna be behind Kaylee and Leo.

And the reason I'm back flashing this as

well as side lighting it is I want

to see the expressions on their face.

But you can't really pop a champagne bottle

without back flashing it.

Like they're they just go hand in hand.

So we've got one chance at this.

Well actually no we got two because we

brought two bottles of champagne.

But we're gonna try and get it in

one shot and drink the second bottle.

So Kaylee's gonna shake that mother up as

hard as she can and stick her thumb

over it.

And we're gonna get all sorts of spray.

And you're not gonna be able to tell

what spray and what stars.

That's the hope.

So let's give it a shot.

Okay we got to get focus again right?

Okay yeah.

So yeah let's get focus.

So okay I've achieved focus.

Okay we're good.

Okay all right.

So going behind.

This flash just make sure it's still on.

So just doing a quick another test shot

just because we got one chance at this.

So I'm focused.

I've got the side light.

You're doing the full exposure?

No that's good.

I'm just gonna turn this one up just

a touch.

Okay so you guys are gonna spray.

Which what did we decide?

This way.

Yeah that'll be more fun that way.

Okay and we're looking for like super animated

right?

Okay so just like.

But you have to tell me when it's

at the climax.

Because I won't be able to see.

Okay.

But when you feel wetness.

This is so dirty.

Should I make a climax noise?

Yes.

And then I'll press the button.

Once the volume crescendos.

Yes!

And then I'll pop the pot.

Okay and I don't have to pop it.

You're gonna.

I'm gonna pop it.

But turn the modeling light off.

Yep.

When you're done.

Yep.

Okay so jackets off.

And yeah the ground's not in it.

So you guys are good.

Now I have to just hope.

I have to try to hide the flash.

Hide behind the couple.

Yeah.

Leo come forward a little bit for me.

Yeah there.

Yeah maybe a little closer.

That's perfect.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Lenny that way.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay wait.

Okay lights.

Lights.

Hang on.

Hang on.

Lights.

Clip.

Shutters open.

Pop it whenever you're ready.

Okay.

I hope I timed that right.

I waited for the climax.

It looks good with the naked eye.

Let's see.

Let's see.

Let's see.

Did it work?

Did it work?

Does it taste good?

I'm gonna have some.

It really helped with these numb fingers.

Shutter closed yet?

No.

Okay.

What?

Did it not go?

The flash went.

Yeah but why isn't it?

Don't even tell me.

I pressed the shutter.

It didn't go.

The goddamn shutter didn't open.

I thought we got two bottles of champagne.

So we'll try that again.

Take two.

Here we go.

Okay.

Tell me when for the light.

Turn the modeling light off.

Okay.

Okay.

Really animated there guys.

Okay.

Just wait till this this goes off.

Okay.

Okay.

Shutter's open.

Start shaking.

Shake it.

Oh god it's stuck.

Okay.

Tell me when you're at the climax.

Please.

Please work.

Did it flash twice?

It just might have.

It seemed to have flashed twice.

Damn it.

Well let's just see what it looks like.

You know what?

The thing is it flashed once with one.

The one flash didn't go off the one

time.

Shutter's closed.

Not yet.

Well then maybe we got lucky and they

went independently.

Uh oh it flashed twice.

Okay.

When you're ready tell me when it's good.

Okay.

Okay.

Well that was our last chance.

I think we went a bit premature there

on the flash.

What?

No.

No.

There was spray.

Okay.

There you have it.

Shooting under the stars.

Hopefully we got a few workable shots in

there.

We'll see.

We'll see.

We should have brought four bottles of champagne

instead of two.

I thought two was safe but we should

have brought four.

But I really hope that gave you guys

an idea of how much effort it takes

to do these these star shots.

Like everything takes three or four or five

different times.

There's tons of problem solving.

It all takes so much longer because you've

got no light and you can't see anything

and you know you're making all these micro

adjustments in the pitch dark.

And it's freezing.

And we're all freezing our asses off.

So we're going to go home and have

a hot toddy now.

See you in week 10.