- What's up, guys?
My name is Pye, and I wanna welcome you
to SLR Lounge Unscripted.
Unscripted is a series where we get to take you
onto actual shoots to show you how we light,
how we direct, how we pose, how we problem solve
in real-world shooting situations.
This episode is brought to you
by our good friends at B and H,
and we wanna thank them for sponsoring this video.
In this episode, we'll be talking through the process
of creating the final images that you see here.
Unlike our typical shoots, the client for this shoot
was actually the Langham Huntington Hotel up in Pasadena.
It's a commercial shoot, and they commissioned
Lin and Jirsa Photography to come out
and create a set of wedding images.
The images were designed to fit their style
and their existing marketing materials
which was on the more bright and airy side.
As we watch the video, we're gonna be discussing
each scene and set up and what you can incorporate
into your own wedding photography work.
- [Photographer] Okay, and...
- [Woman] Are you pulling a (mumbles) here?
- [Photographer] Yes.
- [Pye] Attention to detail is huge for your studio.
Now during the shoot, you'll see us making tons
of small modifications to pose and wardrobe.
Attention to detail is a big deal on any shoot,
but even more so on a commercial shoot.
So, I'd encourage you to watch the video,
and even re-watch it, noticing all the small things
that we're gonna be correcting as we go through.
There you go.
Right there.
That's perfect just like that.
Let me see it.
Gorgeous.
Hold that.
Don't change a thing, okay?
Kinda straighten the neck.
Right there.
Perfect.
Let me show you the lighting set up for this first scene.
So, our couple is actually right there
on this balcony, right?
So, here's their shoulders.
They're standing side by side,
and the balcony is directly in front of them.
And they're looking out towards the view,
and I have her kind of looking back
and down towards the right
just so we can see some of her profile
and see who she is, basically.
The camera is placed back here,
and we're using the frame of the doorway
to actually frame the shot,
and it's also doing something else.
It's hiding the light that we have right here.
So the light is actually right here.
So this is the light, and it's a Profoto B2,
and we're firing with a Magnum and the light direction
is actually going towards her.
So the light's actually angled towards her,
and we're using the spill to light a bit of him.
We're also allowing the exposure to err
on the brighter side, so we're not ending up with images
that are too stylized.
(upbeat music)
It's worth noting that you're gonna see quite a few
of the compositions are leaving space in the frame for copy.
We're leaving space for marketing purposes,
to be able to put whatever text they would like
and be able to crop the images how they would like.
One thing I'd encourage you all to do is
after getting the shots that you need for your client,
take 30 seconds to get the shot that you want.
This is one of those shots, kind of something
that I noticed and I wanted to capture it.
It takes less than a minute, and it does a couple things.
Number one: It's a lot of work to go in and do these shoots
and it's just a matter of moments to grab the shot
that you wanna have for yourself.
In addition, it shows your client an artistic vision
beyond simply what they might have commissioned you for.
And it can give them ideas for future shoots.
We're still shooting in the same scene,
but let's talk about this adjustment that we just made.
I'm pushing the camera angle over towards this side,
and with the camera shooting towards the couple
from this direction, we're utilizing two things.
The sun is actually setting behind them right now.
So we have this nice glow kind of coming
through the building itself.
In addition, the natural direction of light
coming from the sky is coming from this side.
By shooting this angle, we can encompass
the entire dynamic range into a single exposure,
while giving us good shadow direction
and this beautiful kind of golden light in the background.
The end result are gonna be images
that have beautiful color.
They still retain their shadows,
and they have the depth and tone range in the final shots.
It's worth noting that you'll see the composition
actually shows the other wing of the hotel.
Again, this is a shoot for the hotel,
so you wanna feature and showcase the property
as much as possible.
Turn the chin toward the city.
More, more, more, more, more.
And then Jay, look towards her.
(upbeat music)
Look kind of down and forward as you're kind of in step.
Beautiful.
In this second scene,
we have our couple placed right here.
The sunlight is actually coming from behind them.
This was earlier in the day,
and it's coming through the trees creating a really nice
and kind of beautiful background.
We're shooting directly against them,
and into kind of the rails of the balcony.
The light is placed off to the side,
and this is the important piece
that you guys can incorporate into your own shoots.
What we're doing here is we actually have
a large sun-swatter placed up.
And what that sun-swatter's doing is essentially creating
a larger light source where we don't necessarily have
a larger light source.
And I know you might be thinking, "well, I don't have
a giant sun-swatter or two assistants to hold these lights."
That's totally fine, because you can take
a small portable flash, it can be any flash,
and just a standard reflector and do the exact same thing.
You're gonna put the flash onto a stand,
and then you're gonna simply have an assistant
hold the reflector out in front of him.
Then, you're simply gonna fire that light in the scrim,
trying to fill the entire light source without letting it
spill off to the sides,
because we'll get direct light on things.
We just wanna fill and even out the light
inside of that scrim, or inside of that shoot through.
This is gonna give us a really beautiful and soft light
that you're gonna see in the images here.
Again it's worth noting exposure.
Remember, we don't wanna create overly stylized images
that couldn't be used for commercial purposes.
So, these images are left with an exposure that's bright.
Our blue tones in the sky, they're getting very bright.
We can still see hints of blue there,
but for the most part, they're just very light overall.
In addition, we're probably flashing with about
50 watt seconds of power, which on a B2
is somewhere around one-quarter power.
For a standard flash, that'd be around full power,
for just a regular pocket strobe.
With every scene that you shoot,
I'd recommend taking additional shots
once you have your light and your scene set up.
Remember, we're shooting for an entire story.
We need to go wide, medium, tight.
We need to capture all the range and details in between.
Too often, I see photographers setting up their light,
getting the shot that they want, and moving on
before creating a story-telling set of images.
Whether you're working with models or couples,
a lot of times it's difficult for them to have
an expression that matches their pose
or what their bodies are doing,
specifically when you just set them in the final pose.
So what I'm doing here is I'm actually having him stand back
and I'll do this with couples all the time.
I direct them into what I want for the moment
and I actually have them act it out.
And what you end up with is expressions that actually match
what the bodies and what the poses are doing.
A quick tip for your veil shots
is to make sure you have a natural curvature in the veil.
One of the errors and mistakes I see people making
is that they pull the veil too taut
and it looks artificially created.
It doesn't look like it was naturally caught by the wind.
So in this case, we're having the assistant drop the veil.
You can also just kind of create action
and put motion in the veil but the goal here is
to have natural curves that you would expect to see.
Want to again thank B and H for making this video possible,
and if y'all liked it help us out by
giving the video a thumbs up,
subscribing to the channel,
and letting us know in the comments below
what questions you have
or what future content you'd like to see.
Also be sure to check out our channel @SLRLOUNGE.
My name is Pye, and I'll see you guys in the next video.