Transcripts
1. Class Introduction: [MUSIC] Hi, everyone, and welcome to this new class
about wedding photography. My name is Rose, I am a photographer and an entrepreneur from
the Philippines, and I am super excited to
share this class with you. This class is extra special. For the first time,
my husband, Paul, a photographer like me, a videographer, and my partner in this
business will be joining us. Not only that, the wedding
that we photographed in this class is one of our
best friend's weddings. They were kind enough to
let us film the behind the scenes of how we photographed
their entire wedding, and that's what we have
for you in this class. My husband and I have been photographing
weddings since 2017. It started out as a hobby and grew to be a real
business for us. This opportunity gave
way for us to leave our day job and focus on
doing what we love the most, capturing moments in a lifetime. We have evolved from Films by Paul & Seng to FPS
Productions PH, where we cater not
just weddings, but all kinds of events and
corporate photography gigs. We are also growing and
offering part time jobs to aspiring photographers
and videographers. Our photo and video
business grew fast because our clients saw something
in our photos and videos. They saw warmth,
love, and passion. Our specialty is to capture
raw and organic moments, and that is what we will
be sharing in this class. That and all our secrets in photographing an entire wedding. We will go over planning, things to prepare the
day before the wedding, things to do on the
actual wedding day, photographing the bride, photographing the
groom, photographing the wedding party,
the family members, the venue, the wedding
props, the cake, the ceremony,
post-ceremony pictorials, and many, many more. This class is perfect for beginner photographers
who want to learn more about
wedding photography, for aspiring wedding
photographers who want to know what happens in an actual
wedding photo coverage, for anyone who wants to capture a wedding
through photos, for someone with a camera who
has been asked by a friend or family member to take
photos of the wedding, and absolutely anyone
who just wants to learn how to take professional
photos at a wedding. We will kick off with the most important step
in wedding photography, which is planning, then we will quickly move on to preparations and the
actual wedding day. We will share with you our entire workflow and you will see us actually do all of it. Now, if you're ready, let's get started. [MUSIC]
2. Class Project: [MUSIC] For your class project, you will need to freeze
a moment in a lifetime. The photo for your class
project can be one of the photos you took
from your first gig. It could be your
practice shot at home. It can be your family, your friends, or your pet. As long as you freeze a moment
using your camera and you apply all the concepts and everything that you
will learn from this class. But why do you need to
do this class project? Because number one, you will learn or you learn by doing and the first step to
learning a skill is actually doing it
and making mistake. That is what I love about
Skillshare projects. You practice now
and make mistakes, and you might end up making very minimal mistakes on the
actual wedding photo shoot. I hope that you will participate
in the class project, upload your photo or photos
in the project section, and have lots of fun. Don't you worry, I
will be including PDF guides for the
camera settings and photography
fundamentals that will help you get the moment
in a lifetime shot. Good luck. [MUSIC]
3. Planning: You are here, big congrats and welcome to the
very first lesson. You can be excited about all your ideas about your
upcoming wedding gig. But if the couple
is not into it, it's going to be a waste
of time and energy. Working smart applies in
wedding photography too. We do it by beginning
with the end in mind. Our job as wedding
photographers starts the very moment we say yes to
this wonderful opportunity. Our number one priority when
doing wedding photography is to ask the couple what they want for their
wedding photos. In our years of experience, we get answers like making sure we capture
the whole event, like a documentary
style of photography. Some couples are into big poses
and making sure they have a lot to choose from when
posting in their social media. But my favorite is when
couples want us to capture the beauty of the
moment, raw and organic. For most of the
weddings we photograph, we make sure to have at least one meeting
with the couple. This is the time when
we ask them what is their priority when it
comes to the photos, what are their non-negotiables. We also ask them about the timeline and how long
the wedding will take, the venue, hall times, etc. After we have all the
necessary information, we start planning and
creating a shot list. For the shot list, to make our life easier, I'd suggest that let's
create a formula. Let's remember these three
shots for every scene. That would be establishing
shot, the first one; the second one would
be medium shots; and the third one would
be the close-up shot. But most of the time, let's have a medium shot. Around 80 percent of
our shot would be medium shot to capture the facial expression and a little bit of the
environment or the background. Okay, that makes sense. Then for the establishing
shot, of course, to insert it in
the middle just to establish where is the location, where is the scene going on. Where's the magic happening. That's right. Just
establish the scene. To really completely
tell the story. Exactly. That shot probably will take around 10
percent or five percent. The remaining would
be a close-up and like an insert, like zoom, just to show the
details of something, what's going on like
inserting the ring or something or anything they're
doing with their hands. That makes sense. We're in the first location. I think we will take
photos of the house. Like what you said,
establishing shot, wide shot, and then a medium shot and some
closed-up shot. Yes. Perfect. The prep house. Next, the wedding props? The wedding props, yeah. That's simple. We just
take photos of everything. We just take a photo
of everything. For that since this
is very small, that stripe does take
everything like the wide shot. It's the wide shot
and then details. Medium shot and then details. I think it will make sense to use the
macro lens for this. Yes, that's right. The wedding props. After the
wedding props, the bride. [OVERLAPPING] You take
pictures of the bride. The bride, beauty shots. Let's do the
putting-on-make-up shot. After we create a shot list, we do a mental rehearsal
of the actual wedding. Great. I think we have a complete shot list here.
This is really nice. I think this is going to be a good guide for us
on the actual day. Let's just quickly run through the things that
will happen without the shot list to really get
us prepped for the day. Everything will kick off
at the prep location. We take establishing
shots of the location, so wide, medium, close-up. Yes. Then we collect
the wedding props. We take pictures of
the wedding props. After the wedding props, we take pictures of the
bride putting on makeup. Then after the makeup is done, we take beauty shots. After the beauty shots, we take pictures of
the bride with a gown and then the bride
with the bridesmaid, the bride with the mother and then we move
on to the groom. We take pictures of the groom, and then we take
pictures of the groom with the groomsmen, and then we'll move on to
the groom and the parents. What's next after that? Going to the church. We need to include some
quick family portraits. Make sure. That's important. Then after that, we head on to the ceremony or the
ceremony location. That's right. I know it can look
a bit too much, but we do all of this
so we don't get easily distracted and lost on
the actual wedding day. If you are just starting out, this is going to be one of
your biggest advantages. Expect the best, but
prepare for the worst. Trust me, you can not overprepare when
shooting a wedding. Overprepare ahead
of time so you can relax and have fun at
the actual wedding. Yes, it's possible. Again, just a recap. Have at least one
meeting with the couple. Create a shot list depending on the wedding program
and timeline. Create notes and timeline
of your shot list. Do a mental rehearsal
of the entire event. Finally, have lots
of fun and don't let the little things stress you out on the actual wedding day.
4. The Day Before The Wedding: [MUSIC] Should you be taking your beauty rest too? Absolutely. Weddings are beautiful
and definitely one of my favorite
events to photograph. There is just so much love and laughter and stress and chaos, and it's also fun to photograph, but you cannot give it your best without enough rest or sleep. Yes. Given that there is
a possibility that you may not be able to sleep
due to excitement, if it's your first time, but it is crucial that you rest and eat healthy before
the wedding day. This way you can
optimize your body. Wedding photography will
involve a lot of walking, running, talking, directing
and decision-making. It really pays to
prepare your mind, body, and most
importantly, your gear. A day before the
wedding, or for some, it could be the night
before the wedding, aside from making a shot list, create a to-bring list, just to be over-prepared. Here's what we prepare and pack the night
before the wedding. First is a camera. We're doing wedding photography, so obviously we will
be bringing a camera. In our case, we use our two crop sensor
Panasonic mirrorless camera. We have been using these
cameras ever since we started our photo
and video business. We chose these cameras because
Number 1, their price. Number 2, because they are
weatherproof and finally, one of them has a
built-in stabilization, which is a big deal
for us because we also do a lot of
videography gigs. Next are extra batteries. This is often overlooked but we bring a lot of
extra batteries. You don't want to
run out of battery while shooting for
those at the wedding. Weddings are stressful enough. We make sure to
be super prepared and not add to the
couple's problems. Next are chargers and
charging station. Related to extra batteries, we also bring our chargers just in case the
wedding will take longer and will take so
much time to photoshoot. Next are lenses. For the lenses, we will be using this 50 millimeter
equivalent prime lens a lot. Then for the ceremony, we will be using a zoom lens. This way we don't distract from the event but we can
still get good coverage. We will also bring a wide lens, which is actually
our kit lens for establishing and wide shots. Finally, this macro lens
for a wedding props, especially the wedding ring. Next, the memory cards. The day before the event, we backup whatever is
in our memory cards, then we delete all of it
and format the memory card. This way we start fresh and the photos will not mix
with the other photos. Moving on to tripods
and mono pods. These are useful for wedding videography
but later on you will see me using a tripod to do
the after ceremony pictorial. I cannot imagine shooting
all of that hand-held. I don't recommend it either. Even with photography,
tripods can really be handy. Next, the camera bag. Once everything is ready, we just placed it securely in this camera bag and we
take our beauty rest. Oh, before we forget,
prepare your clothes. Make sure it is
comfortable but still looks decent and
non-distracting. We like wearing black, so we will look like
one of the crews and so that it will be easier
for the couple to find us. Some couples require you to wear a specific color
and that's fine too but just make sure
that it is comfortable and does not interfere
with your photography. Just a quick recap. Make sure to be
prepared mentally and physically and most
importantly, prepare your gear. We have included
cheat sheets and a list of the things you need to bring and prepare to hopefully help you in your
upcoming wedding gig. In the next lesson, the actual wedding day. See you there. [MUSIC]
5. The Wedding day: [MUSIC] You've done all your planning, you have everything in your bag, you're at the wedding venue. What do you do first? Show yourself to the couple
to let them know that yes, they can take you off
of the stress list. That their wedding
photographer actually arrived and their wedding
photos are 100 percent. If you are not very
close with the couple, it's also the best
time to chat with them and make them feel
comfortable with you. It's a happy and
stressful day for them, so helping them relax, throwing the light jokes
can be an icebreaker. We also extend our introduction to the couple's
parents and friends because we want everybody to be relaxed and just have fun
in front of the camera. I know you are the one
holding the camera, but it really pays to be the one always wearing
a genuine smile. Your subjects will mirror you
and feel at ease with you. After you reassure the bride and the groom that
you are present, if introduce yourself
to the wedding party, the wedding coordinators,
the relatives, et cetera, it's time to start
taking photos [MUSIC].
6. The Wedding Venue: [MUSIC] Welcome to another lesson. We will now slowly but surely unpack the medias
part of this class. Paul and I have been taking
wedding photos since 2017 and we approach it just like
how we approach videography. We tell stories
through our photos. The best place to
start is the venue or what we call
establishing shots. We take photos of the prep area, the house, the church,
the hotel, etc. Basically, we take photos of the location where the
event is taking place. In our country, the couple appreciates it because
they often pay a lot of money for a nice and
fancy prep area and venue. Having photos to
remind them of where the magic happened
means a lot to them. But how do we take
photos of the venue? Common composition techniques
that we use are symmetry, rule of thirds,
and leading lines. Symmetry in a photo
allows you to draw the viewer's eyes to
all parts of the photo. It is created when two
halves of your scene look the same and
balance each other out. Symmetry defines something
being clean, proportional, and balanced, and
we'll make pictures appear neat, tidy, and clinical. The rule of thirds is a
composition guideline that places your subject in the left or
right third of an image, leaving the other
two-thirds more open. While there are other
forms of composition, the rule of thirds
generally leads to compelling and
well-composed shots. Leading lines is what
the name suggests. You use and maximize lines
to draw your viewers' eyes. One of the most effective ways
to achieve this is to put your main subject at the
end of a leading line. Once we are done
taking photos of the venue or taking
establishing shots, we move on to the wedding props. These are the wedding rings, the bouquet, the
invitation, etc. Honestly, it's one
of the easiest to photograph in a wedding
because they don't move, they don't complain, and most often they are not late because they're just there
hanging around in the corner. In the next lesson, we will show you how we improvise and photograph
these things. See you there. [MUSIC]
7. The Wedding Props: [MUSIC] Welcome to another lesson. We are making progress here. We are now onto photographing
wedding prompts. Exciting. What's not exciting is where to photograph
these things and how. We've experienced weddings in tight venues where
finding places to photograph the
wedding prompts was extremely challenging. Over the years, we learned
and developed a technique, find a location
where there is great or if not great,
adequate lighting. In this actual example, you will see us collecting
the wedding props, and then doing our
photo shoot near this big window where
there is natural lighting. I use a diffuser to soften the light
touching the subject, giving us this effect. Before we move on, I just want to quickly touch
on why we are doing this. Why do we need to take
photos of the rings, the bouquet, and
all these things? Couples spend a
fortune on weddings, then 10 years or so later all they have to look back
to are their wedding photos. It is our job to remind
them of that nice bouquet, the invitations that they
handcrafted themselves, and all the amazing, and chaotic things that
happened on their wedding day. Just a gentle reminder there and inspiration of how
important our job is. When we photograph something it's like we freeze
that moment in time and we make it possible for people involved to
always go back, cherish and relive that moment. Now, back to the class. Weddings are usually
busy and fast-paced. To nail your photos, if you don't have
artificial lighting, always look where there
is natural lighting, meaning light from the sun. In photography lighting
is your friend. The best way to light a
subject is lateral direction. Lateral lighting means
your light is coming from the three o'clock or nine
o'clock of the subject. You can also do diagonal and backlighting for silhouette, but when in doubt, stick and start with
lateral lighting because it will give you dramatic and
professional looking shadows. Here are some of the photos
we took with camera settings and all to hopefully guide you in planning your
wedding photography. [MUSIC] Just to quickly note that for
the smaller wedding props, we use a 60 millimeter
equivalent macro lens, but for most of the photos, we stuck with our 15
millimeter prime lens. If you are not familiar
with aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, we will quickly explain it
to you while we show you another exciting part of wedding photography,
photographing the bride. See you in the next lesson. [MUSIC]
8. Photographing The Bride: [MUSIC] When we were
just starting out, one of the questions we had was, when do we start
photographing the bride? I know different
photographers will have a different answer to this. But what worked for us is this. Take photos of the bride when
the makeup is almost done. If I cannot time it, I just ask one of
the bridesmaids to call me once the
makeup is done and I will just ask the
makeup artist to do a few brush strokes for
me to take pictures, and viola, I have shots of
the bride putting on makeup. Next are the beauty shots. Now, why is this
important again? Well, for most women, this is one of those
rare moment that they get glammed up
so it is our job to take gazillion photos of it so they will have
something to look back to. Plus, later in the day, the bride's makeup will fade. Everyone's going to be sweaty
so at least we were able to take beautiful photos of the bride before
things gets crazy. There are no limits when
taking beauty shots. You can go from chill to being adventurous with the bride
running barefoot outside. But for us, it will depend on
the bride and the location. In this case, we
were shooting in a very tight space with
not much to do outside, so we start with a nice
bedroom beauty shots. When taking photographs
of the bride, we like to throw in light jokes depending on the personality of the bride to break the ice and help the bride
show organic smiles. For the bride, it is flattering to take photos at
a higher angle. This will help their
face to look flattering. A lower angle, on
the other side, will emphasize double chins, so we don't want that. We also like
complimenting the bride, and this is sincere, almost all brides look
beautiful on their wedding day. They have this glow and joy
in their faces because hello, [LAUGHTER] it is their
wedding day after all. Take advantage of that glow
and that genuine smile, compliment their wedding
gown or anything pretty that you see that day
related to their wedding. It helps them relax and
focus on the good things. After the after
make-up beauty shots, we proceed with taking
pictures with the gown, bride with the mother, and bride with the bridesmaids. As you can see here, we took photos where there is
adequate natural lighting. In some cases, I used a
diffuser to soften the light. For the camera settings, I usually use auto mode since
everything is fast-paced. But if my histogram shows [NOISE] underexposed
or overexposed, I switch to manual mode where
I can set the aperture, the shutter speed, and ISO. [NOISE] Let me just
quickly go over these important camera settings just in case you're
not familiar yet. These three settings are
important because of, number 1, exposure, and number 2, creativity. When you point your camera to
your subject and your photo is overexposed due to
hard light from the sun, you can address one
or all these settings to help you get a balanced
and well-exposed photo. For example, bopping the ISO really low to darken the photo, the lower the ISO, the darker the photo, and stating the obvious, the higher the
number of the ISO, the brighter the image. Now if bumping the
ISO still gives you a bright and over-exposed image, you can adjust the
shutter speed as well. Just make sure to use a
tripod if you will be using a lower shutter speed
because even a bit of camera shake can cause
your image to be blurry. For weddings, I
honestly stick with higher shutter speed
to freeze motions. More of that in the
creativity part. Next is the aperture. This is the opening
of your lens. The lower the number, the wider the opening, and more light is touching
your camera sensor. The lower the number, the wider the opening of the lens and the
brighter the image. The higher the number,
on the contrary, the smaller the opening, and the result is
a darker image. Now moving on to the
creativity factor, the aperture is the one
responsible for that nice blur called bokeh that you
see in most DSLR photos. The lower the aperture number, the more blurry and
shallow the background is. When you adjust the aperture
to a higher number, the less blur you will get, and the deeper the
background will be. Now going back to shutter speed. This setting is responsible for freezing that moment in time. You can achieve it by bumping
up the shutter speed. The higher the shutter speed, the sharper the image, even if it's moving when
you took the photo. High shutter speed gives you the freeze-the-moment
effect. On the other hand, if you set the shutter speed really low, it will result in a
[NOISE] blurry image, not just the background, but the entire image, which is not great
for wedding photos. Finally, the ISO helps
in exposing your photo, but if you bump the ISO
settings really high, you will start to get grains, which is good for some photos because of the film-like effect. For most of the photos, I use a 50-millimeter
prime lens. I use this lens because this is the closest focal length
to the human eye. This type of lens
is best when doing portrait photography or
taking pictures of people. [MUSIC] [NOISE] I know that
was a lot so let's move on. In the next lesson, we will show you how
we took photos of the groom and the
groomsmen. See you there.
9. The Groom: [MUSIC]. Welcome to this lesson. We are done with the
bride's photoshoot; the mother and the bride
and the bridesmaid. Now, moving onto the groom. The photoshoot of the
bride and the groom is our chance to get their
individual photos, because after the ceremony
the couple are inseparable. It will all be kisses
and love poses. For the bride, you want
to capture her beauty. It's the same thing
with the groom. We usually take
photos at lower angle so the groom will look
tall and powerful. We don't do a lot of directing. We take better photos when
we allow them to show their real personality and just be comfortable
with the camera. We would talk to them about
how beautiful the day is and that it will surely
be a beautiful wedding. It helps them relax and
originally pose for the camera. After the groom's pictorials, we move onto the groomsmen. This is where you suggest poses and help them
look great on camera. These people are not
professional models, so it really pays to
give them posing ideas. Most common poses that we suggest are
congratulating the groom, shaking hands, posing handsomely on camera with hands
on their pockets. If we find that the groom and the groomsmen are up for it, we also ask them
to do a jump shot. But basically, you
just want to have a nice photo of the
groom with his buddies. Depending on how many groomsmen, we usually choose between our 50 millimeter prime
lens and a wide lens. [MUSIC]. We are almost done with the
pre-ceremony pictorials. In the next lesson, we will show you
quickly how we did the family portraits before heading on to the next location, which is the ceremony venue. See you there.
10. Family Pictorial: [MUSIC] Welcome back. We're done with the first
location establishing shots. We follow different
composition techniques. We are done with the bride and
groom individual shots and pictorial with the
bridesmaid and groomsmen, we're almost done. But before we move
on to the ceremony, we like to take a
couple more photos with the families before heading
to the ceremony venue. This is us checking
our shot list, making sure we don't
miss anything. This is why it is very
important to have a shot list that you can
review and go back to. We strongly recommend having
a shot list because it can really help with
the pressure and the worry of
forgetting anything. Honestly for us, we are satisfied and we know
we can give ourselves a tap on the back if
we have covered and photographed the most important
parts of the wedding, and we have a couple of
artistic after ceremony photos. Moving on to the
family pictorials. The couple appreciates it
when we include photos with their families before
their makeup wears off. But we make sure we do
this quickly because after this everyone will be off
to the ceremony venue. If you have introduced
yourself to everybody, then this should be easy. In this case, it also helps if the wedding coordinators will ask the family to come together, then we just help them
with their poses, where to set, etc. Just remember to always be helpful and help
them feel relaxed. For a family portraits, you want it to look balanced. When in doubt just start at the center and build from there. When starting out, you
can never go wrong with center and balanced
looking photos. After you take photos
and you feel like they look stiff and not relaxed, throw in some light jokes
to bring out those smiles. My go to joke is
this, okay, everyone, can you give me another
smile and this time, let's pretend that it's a
wedding and we're all happy. [LAUGHTER] This joke works
for us most of the time, so feel free to use it or use whatever you
feel is appropriate. For the photos with family, we try to get photos with
the bride and her parents, as well as the groom
with his parents, especially the bride in her mom. Then the room with his dad. We just find these photos really warm, special, and precious. The couple appreciates it too. Now that we have
all these photos, we feel like whatever
happens in the ceremony, we've won half the battle and we have great photos to
give to the couple. But it does not mean we will slack off during the ceremony. It just means that we are taking off more pressure
from ourselves, giving way to more energy and
creativity in the ceremony. Speaking of ceremonies, that's our topic in the next lesson. Hope to see you there.
11. The Ceremony: [MUSIC] Welcome to the climax of the wedding, the ceremony. As wedding
photographers, we see to it that we are always
one step ahead. That is why we overprepare, plan, and arrive early. Same thing with the
ceremony venue. In this case, the
venue is a five minutes drive from
the prep location, so we want to make sure
we get there first. When we are early, we can scout the place and look for after-ceremony
pictorial locations. We can take nice
photos of the venue. In this case, it's nice
because the sun is still out, so we have adequate
natural lighting. The couple really
appreciated that I was able to get photos
of their cake, the table setup, and all other beautiful things
at their wedding venue. Because we are early, we can also plan and talk about where our station will
be during the ceremony. This is where we use
our zoom lens a lot, because we don't want to disturb anyone
during the ceremony. We try to maintain a
distance from the altar, but still making sure we
are capturing everything. This is where you should know how to anticipate great moments. You should always be
ready to take snaps. What do we do is to
set our cameras to a manual mode or
shutter speed priority. Shutter speed priority because things here will be fast pace. It is not like the couple
will pose for you. Basically, they will
just do their thing, and your job is to capture
as beautiful as you can. What we do is to take one full shot where the
surroundings can be seen, then a medium shot from a
waist up and close ups. We also like to stick
with a balance centered, or the rule of
thirds composition. For the ceremony,
we make sure to be alert and aware of everything
that is happening. Always be prepared
to take photos. It is okay to move as long
as you keep it subtle, and you don't distract
from the ceremony. We also like taking pictures
of people's reactions. Remember when we did the mental rehearsal
in the beginning? Did you know that once
we are in the ceremony, Paul and I do not need to talk. Because of our rehearsals, we already know what the
other person is thinking. It greatly helps in anticipating the great
moments to photograph. I strongly recommend
doing 2-3 rehearsals in your head to help you
anticipate great moments. Just a quick note though, that it will not
be easy at first, but after 2-3 weddings, you will definitely
get the hang of it. Repetition is the
key to mastery. If you feel that
wedding photography is your thing, or even better, your passion, don't ever give up and just continue
giving it your best. It is priceless to see
a couples' reactions to their wedding photos and to be the one making it
possible for them, to have access to their
special day forever. In the next lesson, we will show you how we did
the after-ceremony pictorial. Again, see you there.
12. Post Ceremony Pictorial: [MUSIC] Depending on where you are, where we are, or where we live, it has been a tradition
to have a post ceremony pictorial of the couple and
their families and friends. For this pictorial a
tripod is my best friend. Basically the wedding
host will just call in each family and friends
according to their professions, school, etc, or according to groups. This will be in batches, so get ready to say the words 3, 2, 1, smile gazillion times. Now, this couple is clever. They did not want just
a charming conventional poses and smiles from
their families, friends, and guests, so they flashed, post this on the screen that
the people could imitate. Here are the results. For these photos, I set my settings to auto
because it is getting darker and the main light is
coming from the spotlight, which is not very flattering and it's changing every time. Good thing, I also shoot in raw, so I was able to fix the
exposure in the editing room. For the post ceremony pictorial, I just stick with center and
balanced looking photos. If I see that the guest needs help in
arranging themselves, I am always happy to help
because it will also help on how the final
photos will come out. After the post
ceremony pictorial, it is time for the couples
artistic photoshoot. This is what you usually see on wedding photography websites and wedding photography
portfolios. Remember earlier we
scouted for places so we can do the after
ceremony pictorial. Now is the moment for that. We found this nice garden
with all the lights. In photography, again, lighting is your friend. In this example, we
also took advantage of this natural frame and placed the couple
inside the frame. Framing is another
composition technique where you look for
doors, flowers, or anything in the
surroundings that form a frame and lead your viewers
eyes to that subject. [MUSIC] For the poses, we just let
the couple find their rhythm. We usually just ask them to talk about how beautiful
the wedding is, and that is finally done and
it's a huge achievement. We just tell them to enjoy the moment that they are now officially husband and wife, and to tell each other
how they're feeling. Most of the time, the couple
will naturally create poses that are organic and real. All we need to do is to capture
it the best way we can, and it can turn into a really
beautiful wedding photos. Remember that the
couple is usually extremely happy
during this moment. They are savory
their wedding day, so it won't be difficult
to capture joy and love. Our job is to help
them enjoy the moment. [MUSIC] We are almost at the
end of the event. Hooray. The next lesson
will be light and easy. The reception. See you there. [MUSIC].
13. The Reception: [MUSIC] Based on experience, the trickiest part
when photographing the reception is the lighting, because it is usually the
spotlight from the venue. For some, they like
using the color blue, so it does not look flattering
when photographing people. This is why we take
photos in raw, so we can save bad photos
or poorly exposed photos. Bad photos are
usually results of mixed lighting in the reception, giving the photos an
incorrect white balance. Another thing to
watch out for during reception is the
camera settings. We like to stick with manual so we can
adjust the aperture, the shutter speed, and ISO
depending on the situation. This is also the
best time to use a higher shutter speed again, to freeze the moment and
capture sharp images. A low shutter speed can
cause blurry photos, especially when
it's time to dance. For the reception, you want to capture the entrance of
the bride and groom, the entrance of the wedding
party, the speeches, the eating of cake, wine-toasting, and
finally the dancing. Basically, that is all. Some couples like to have
a quick send off ceremony, sparklers, and fireworks. After that, you are good to go. Make sure that in all of this, find time to eat, and breath. Relax and check your shot list, making sure you did
not miss anything. At this point I
wish I could tell you that you can rest and relax, but just to be safe, we normally import the photos to our computer before
sleeping just to be sure. That is it. We will
just quickly go over photo editing tips
in the next lesson, and we are almost done. See you in the next lesson. [MUSIC]
14. Basic Photo Editing And Exporting: [MUSIC] Just when you thought you've done a great job and that your work is done. You check your files and
you have gazillion photos. This part requires
a lot of patients. What we do is choose the best photos and create
another folder for it, usually named, For Editing. For editing and enhancing
wedding photos, we use Adobe Lightroom Classic. Based on experience, it is
easier and more efficient. Let me quickly show
you how you can edit in Adobe Lightroom Classic. First let's open
the application, Lightroom [MUSIC], next is to import the
photos we want to edit. To import we need to be in the Library tab or
the library Module. In this case, everything
I want to edit is in the folder for editing the
one that you saw earlier. I will just drag
and drop [MUSIC]. In this case I will
just check all. These are all the photos
and then click Import. Once done, we need to switch
to the develop module. This is where we will
do all the editing. As you can see for this one, this is overexposed and on the right-hand side is where
you can make adjustments. For the exposure, you can
lower down the exposure. You can adjust the highlights. You can adjust the
shadows, the whites, the blacks, the
texture, the clarity, the vibrance, and
you can even adjust the individual colors using
the HSL sliders here. Let's say if you
adjust the blue, you will see the
blue changing colors or changing its saturation. You can change the luminance. Basically you can
do your own edit. But in our case, what we do is use a preset. We have presets for weddings
installed and we just set the settings to all the photos and normally it does the job. In our case, if we have
a preset that matches the mood and theme that we
want for a particular wedding. We just use it instead of adjusting all the different
settings manually. This is the preset
that we have chosen. It looks light and airy. Here is the before and after. The best part is we
don't have to manually adjust all the photos
one-by-one in Lightroom. Basically we can just
select [MUSIC] all of these photos or
all the photos we want to adjust and
then turn on the sink. When we click on the Preset, all of the photos will be
edited as you can see. Here's that before and after. Now for the after
ceremony pictorials. For example, this photo, we chose a different
preset because it is nighttime when
we capture this photo. Plus we want something
that matches the dark, moody, and romantic vibe. We selected this preset, and again here is the
before and after. You also have the option of
not editing your photos. You can just leave it here, If you want to edit it, you can just maybe adjust the white balance
or the exposure, but it's totally up to you. But in our experience, it really pays if you do. [MUSIC] Basically
you can do the same. Either experiment with
your own settings or use a preset that matches the colors and the vibe that
you are going for. We just choose a couple
of special photos that we think will look
right in black and white. Again, apply a preset for it and make little adjustments. Couples will usually upload
their photos on social media. That is how we export
most of the final photos. To export you just go to
File and then Export. For Facebook uploads. What we do is we set
the quality to 85. Then of course the
image format is JPEG. This is the format
that is accessible for most uses for web,
Facebook for prints. Then the color space
is sRGB and then we don't click on the
check for limit file size. We click on Resize to Fit. Then we select the
long edge option. For a Facebook, it's best to
select the 20, 40 pixels. Then the resolution is 240
or 240 pixels per inch. We sharpen for screen and
then this is just standard. Basically we don't put a watermark and we
just click on Export. Now for prints like this, we use a different export setting for our
package we include a central frame and we give the couple a hard copy
of their favorite photo. For this couple, this is
their favorite photo. This is the one that
we had printed. To export for print, basically you just go
to again File Settings, same format, JPEG, color
spaces is sRGB for the quality we like to set it to 100 so we get the best quality. Then we don't Resize to Fit
and for the resolution, we want to bump it up to 300. Again, for the sharpening
for this frame, we wanted the matte paper. We're not using the glossy one. The amount is just standard
and basically that's it. Those are the settings
you need to remember when exporting for printing
or for wedding albums. For wedding albums, we also
export for print quality. Don't worry, you will
attach a guide on exporting for
different purposes. Once you have exported
the final photos, set aside special photos for a special uploads or
for your portfolio. This time, you are
really good to go. You are done. You have accomplished
a great job of capturing an entire wedding. You created something
that will be cherished by the couple and their
families forever. You deserve more than
just a tap on the back. You deserve to celebrate. Don't ever forget this part. Always celebrate your
wins, big or small.
15. Final Thoughts: [MUSIC] You made it. We learned about the
most important step in wedding photography
which is planning. We have learned how to
create a shortlist, what to bring and
what to prepare. We have learned more about
the three cameras settings, which are aperture,
shutter speed, and ISO. We have learned about flattering angles to photograph people, low angle to make them look
superior and powerful, high angle to make the
bride's face more flattering. We have learned about different composition
techniques such as symmetry, rule of thirds, leading
lines, and framing. We have learned about full shot, medium shot, and close up. We have learned about
finding the best lighting and help our subjects get comfortable in front
of the camera. We learned about anticipating
great moments and bumping up your shutter speed
to freeze a moment in time. We also learned about
basic editing and exporting techniques for social
media upload and prints. If you are still nervous about your wedding photography gig, please go back to the video
lessons and check out all the pdf guides we have
included in this class. Again, congratulations
on finishing this class. You have seen how we
photographed an entire wedding, and I hope you are
convinced that the secret lies in
planning and preparation. I hope that watching us work
will give you the confidence you need in capturing a
wedding using your camera. If you haven't already, please make sure to do
the class project and attach your work in the
project section of this class. Again, capture a
moment in a lifetime, freeze a moment and make that
moment accessible forever. It can be your
wedding gig or just a simple family get
together at home. Whatever moment it is, make sure to capture it. Practice a lot and
share your work. I hope you enjoyed this
class and found it valuable. But either way, please
leave a review. I would love to hear from you. If you haven't already, you may follow me
here on Skillshare too because we have
more classes on photography and
videography lined up for 2022 that I can't wait to
share with all of you. Thank you so much for
sticking around and for choosing us and this class. We appreciate you, you rock. All the best and see you soon. Bye. [MUSIC]
Rose Nene, Photographer and Videographer
