Lessons

Lesson Info

Introductions and Toasts Critique

so one photographer wrote in, they were sending in their introduction pictures. I don't really like introduction, so I don't try very hard of them. Yeah, I don't really like Cocktail Hour either, but I have to still try really hard at it because it's a component of the day. So just because it's not your favorite component of the day doesn't mean that it that it doesn't need to be handled really well. And there were some people here who handled it really, really well. And these are examples of toasts and introductions. I love the inclusion of the waiter who is like looking at that ones, but right, like and laugh that. Just think that's fantastic. That's great lighting. That's adorable. Yep, Excellent lighting. Excellent moment. Excellent moment. Excellent moment. Oh, my God, She's gonna die like he's literally just going to snap her neck with his crotch. I want I would love to see the image that happened one second after this, you know, Tough light, well handled. Oh, God, 10 intros. Who...

loves 10 intros? I don't, but that's really well handled. That's good. Yep, yep, That's adorable. She's adorable. They're adorable. That's a great moment That's a great moment. There were, really, so that's beautiful. The captures of the moments here in the toast and intros are really some really spectacular work. That's gorgeous. Yep, that's great. That's great. That's really great. Great. Yep. Oh, that's tough lighting, but well handled. Ah, that's great. That's great. That's weird, but great. That is my least favorite lighting scenario of all time and is very well handled. Thes air. Just wonderful moments. Very well documented. And let's talk about some of the issues again. You'll notice that composition is an ongoing theme. For example, it looks like this woman is crying and holding up a glass, but I can't see the glass that she's holding up to toast with headroom, way too much space going on on the top and the sides of the image. It took me a second to find the bride and groom Head room, headroom but beautiful light Head room. Yes, killing me. Who's gonna go out to the next wedding? They shoot and think headroom, headroom, headroom, headroom. This is a really nice attempt, but it starts cropping off people on the side, so just be aware of that. Beware when you're shooting with wide angle, the people who are going to intrude on the sides and distract from the moment that's actually happening. So you see this here again. It's a little bit wider of an angle. The inclusion of the people on the sides makes it a little distracting. Head room. Really lovely moment, mostly blocked by the gentleman in front of her head room. Really lovely moment here, but the out of focus woman in the front part of the frame gets a little distracting. It takes an extra second to find the great expression on the bride. You know what I'm gonna say? Head room, headroom and foot room. But that's a really great lighting scenario, you know, this is tough. It's kind of a wide angle vertical, and it takes me a second to find the guy that singing to them. Having somebody in the foreground out of focus needs to be way more out of focus than that, because I find them to be the focus of the photograph instead of the bride in the background was a great expression on her face and simple things such as, you know, be careful of the person that's giving the toast that they don't turn too far away from you, or that they turn so far away from you that you can't see them anymore at all. You know that the groom is in focus and the brightest sort of in focus. But the woman in the front is a little out of focus. And then there's an arm down in the bottom left. So you just have to be very, very, very mindful of what's going on in all edges of your photograph. This is almost there. I wish the photographer had taken one step to the left. Just one step to the left, you know, shooting through things. But you have to be careful when you shoot three things that they don't obstruct what you're seeing. Headroom head room. You guys with head room, you're killing me with the head room and again and again. So you see, a lot of these images are beautifully lit. Great moments. Fantastic. And if you strip to the top third off of the picture, your eyes would go straight to your subjects straight. There. Lynn Selection. You have to be careful when you're working with a wide angle. You know of the distracting elements that could be allowed in on the sides. And then again, as we've mentioned before with the wide angle verticals, even at 50 you start to distort your subjects a little bit, you know, and this is 85 millimeter. 16 Nothing's and focus, you know, even if you just because you have enough light to take a photograph doesn't mean that it's good light. So you need to be really, really, really careful. Don't shoot your introductions at, ah, 100th of a second at F 16 99% of them are going to be out of focus like here. You know, it's barely in focus. And just because you can doesn't mean you should. I would highly suggest a little off camera flash here again. 18 she's in, he's out and she's not entirely. And focus. Shooting a moving subject at 18 is really hard. Is the focus on the glasses? Is the focus on them? I'm not sure what the story that's being told is being mindful of your backgrounds. You know, this is a tough scenario. I find myself in this occasionally waiting until they took a couple steps forward and using a longer Lin's would have eliminated the whatever more on park the car in the background during cocktail hour. You know this is I don't know what to say. This is this just doesn't work it f 10 for no reason whatsoever. You know what f 10 it would be because you want to include something in the background, and there's nothing in the background that needs inclusion. But it's also too close, back off a little bit. You don't need to be a F 10 and you'll be in a much better place. So working with light, you know, trying with the off camera flash. This is freaking gorgeous light, but her face is turned to closely towards the camera. You either need to angle your light or wait until she turns her face away because she's not facing me. But it's not a silhouette, either. It's an almost, and then there are a lot of images that are either. I'm guessing this was not lit with anything at all. It's really noisy. Eso 6400 and F 28 little off camera flash would really really help you out, you know, flat on camera flash doesn't help define the scenario at all. Same thing here, as I talked about when I was talking about using one camera or one flash off camera to illuminate your toasts, these scenarios would have really benefited from a set up, such as that you know it would. Adding, on light, adding on an additional light source will really help define your subject. And this is an example of just because you can shoot a scene without flash. That doesn't mean you should, because we still have dappled light and shadows all over everything. Yes, from the Internet. This is from the Facebook page from Jerry Ta Moko Tom Co I Daughter's wedding. Okay, so off camera flash with the toasts, you go into that extensively in the 30 days Correct. So this is more about it. Also covered it when I was talking about when we talked. Very Moon went through the sections last time on the different shooting scenarios, and I talked about where I stand and where my assistant stands. It's super simple. Bride and groom being toasted person, giving the toast, my assistant with a flash. Me, we make a big diamond just like that. And if my assistant with the flash stays right here, right, she can turn a name, her flash towards the person being toasted, she can turn a name, her flash towards the person giving the toast. And I could go wherever I want, because I know that wherever I stand, the flash power will still remain consistent. So I can go to the side and get the light from the side. I can go in front of them and get the light on front of them were usually at either quarter power or eighth power, depending on the size of the room on and again. If you're still sort of struggling with that, you can go back to the video that we made on the day that we gave these assignments. And check that out. You can also check out 30 days. You can check out any of my books that taught, like the reception book talks. Units got diagrams in there. But as long as you think of a diamond with the person getting the toast, the person giving the toast, your assistant, and you, you're gonna be in a really good place to start now. If the person giving the toast comes and stands over next to the person being posted, then you're a triangle instead of a diamond. And then the two constants are the toaster and the Bren groom and light and the light. And then you rotates wherever great, thank you. You're welcome. So this is an example of starting with some off camera light. Doing a very nice job. However, shutter speeds a little bit high. If you brought that shutter speed down, you would lose those block that blacks, and you get a little bit more ambient light. But again, you've got to start working with off camera flash, and you've got to start experimenting with it. Ah, hundreds of a second at F one to the guys barely. And focus on the girl isn't in focus at all, and neither one of them are lit. Well, so you know, starting to experiment with off camera flash a little bit. You just have to work on your angles. For example, whatever is lighting the groom, he's blocking the bride's face, so she's getting shadow on her face. And there's a light, super strong behind this guy, which is adorable. But then it leaves the faces unlit. And, you know, you just you really need to start experimenting with flash of some kind. It will help separate your subjects out from the background You won't be stuck worrying about Oh, God, What am I gonna dio in the case of? You know, the ambient light doesn't work. This looks like somebody tried a little off camera flash either that with a video light, I'm not really sure which one, but it wasn't enough. You know, we need you need light whether you're going to use on camera flash, whether you're going to use off camera flash, you've got to stop shooting toasts and introductions with either no flash all or low powered flash. Because I'm having instances where things were kind of out of focus and things were a little soft or the light isn't, you know in any way helping the situation. So all of these images here, while they're absolutely adorable moments with what looked like really cool clients giving really good toasts, they would really benefit with on additional light. Fourth, to help give it a little dimension. And some people are trying with the off camera flash which is great, but this the flash isn't strong enough, so the the set up is to demand your shutter speed is too fast, and this the light is really great. Your shutter speed is way too fast, your light is not strong enough, and your subjects were turned away. You know, you have to be careful when using flash. Also, that it doesn't cast huge shadows on the wall, which is a really tricky situation. But again, if you're using like if a situation like this, it's a F eight and hundreds of a second, If they're using flash, I can tell because it isn't enough to help the scene and this is getting there. This is using flash, but it's still too under exposed and two under exposed and the woman's hair is lit. But her face is not let enough, but we're getting there. No, it's got toe have light. And even in a scenario like this, where it's evenly lit, experimenting with your off camera flash will give you a dimension to your light that I think a lot of people would find really helpful. So there's not enough light in this when the light is coming from the wrong angle. It's hitting her in the side of the face instead of on the face. You know, dappled light on this gentleman's face, too much headspace. You know the lights, okay, but it's a little flat, you know. Try coming at it from an angle and try coming at it from an angle. And this is a great attempt at trying to have your light come from an angle. But it's not hitting her face or it's hitting their faces. But it's It's too much, you know? Just keep experimenting with the light. Got shadows on the wall behind you. That's a tough situation. I admit that it iss again a tough situation, I admit it, but you need a little bit more light and more light on the face, and this looks like, you know, I can't tell if this was working with the ambient light or working with a soft off camera flash. But it's not enough. It's not helping illuminate enough. This is a little bit too dark. This is an excellent attempted off camera flash, but it's not actually light in the faces. It's just like in the backs of the heads you know, I can see a light right here. I don't I mean, I can't tell if it's a decor light or if it's a video light or what not, but it's not illuminating the face of the speaker. And there's no light on the face of the speaker. And it says that there's an external flash, but but I can't see it because it's so dark and it's so dark. You know, we just and I understand that toasts are hard to shoot. We've got a flash. It looks like a flash or a video light coming from off camera left. But it's coming from the wrong way because she's turned away from it and then above and beyond that, there needs to be a moment, and it's tough, like it looks like the photographer. Stop the clients here and said, Hey, guys, you know, pause here on the stairs before you go in. But there needs to be a gesture. There needs to be a moment there. When you're shooting people's backs, you're not getting a moment, and this is, you know, it's almost a moment. It's almost a moment, but it's not quite there, and he looks great in her eyes were closed and you can't see anything and you can't see anything. You know, I need to see faces. I need to see context because I don't understand what's happening. And he looks adorable and she's in the middle of, Ah, hand gesture of moving her veil and she looks adorable, but he's looking randomly in the distance. So you see, when you've got two people doing something, you know she is beautiful and he has his eyes closed and she's kind of in the middle of a facial expression on. And, you know, they both looked kind of scared, like you have to judge the facial expressions as well, because there need to be there need to be moments attached to these images to give them power. And then there are just a few other issues. You know, there are some images that I'm not really sure how to critique. It's there's too many distracting elements. You've cut the kid's head off at the bottom. You're getting too much of the back of the other guy's head. You're getting flowers being thrown, but you don't have the whole hand. And then the guy is looking disengaged. It's a good attempt, but I feel like the moment would have hit one second before or one second after. And then everybody's got their eyes closed and no one's in focus, and it's not in focus and it's a table shot. But 9/10 of the images, the table in front of you, like there's too much headspace in too much ground space. Get those people for table shots to get closer together and get some people to go behind them. So you don't have a big, long line of people. It will really help with that problem. You know, again, the guy in the front is better lit, but he's not in focus and you know, I can't see anything. I can't see the guy's face and people have their eyes closed and it took me a couple seconds to find the bride and groom. I'm not sure what's going on, You know, it took me a second to find the speaker, and he's not well let and it's not in focus, so there are a lot of you know there are a lot of problems, but I'm not saying they're irredeemable, and I'm not saying that these aren't problems that I didn't have a problem that I still sometimes stumble into right like there's it's frustrating when you start taking a flash off the camera. Flash is, for some people very, very daunting, but start practicing with it at home. Start experimenting with it at home, and then, when you're comfortable with it, take it to an event and you will find that it will just elevate those images just through the roof. So, Susan, if you wouldn't mind Sandra and Luca missed what you said. What you like to sit your power out for the Flachau? It's not to over power, power, power, depending on the size of the room, the brightness or darkness of the room and the size of the dance floor and your your distance from the subject. And as you keep experimenting with it over and over and over again, you'll start being able to eyeball a room and say, quarter or eyeball a room and say eighth. It will become innate to you over time, and you put him on a fire on there. I have the stuff in Omni balance on it, but the road flash bender that I talk about using every once in a while. That is not a reception tool. I don't use that for the reception at all.