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Portrait Posing Techniques

Lesson 4 from: Think Like a 10K Wedding Photographer

Scott Robert Lim

Portrait Posing Techniques

Lesson 4 from: Think Like a 10K Wedding Photographer

Scott Robert Lim

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Lesson Info

4. Portrait Posing Techniques

Next Lesson: Posing the Groom

Lesson Info

Portrait Posing Techniques

Killer headshots posing the groom I actually one time a long ways back when you know when you're first starting out you get on the internet and you start comparing yourself with different people okay, so I did that in the beginning of my career and I fell upon this one website and I was captivated by his photography and he wanted to get into the wedding business but he was primarily a head shot photographer a pretty famous headshot photographer in hollywood in los angeles so he would shoot a lot of these up and coming movie stars and actresses and do their headshots and um out of the blue he contacted me and he said you know what? Scott? I really love these sly features that you put online can you teach me how to put a slideshow? Tio okay, come on. Listen, this was eight years ago, so this is a while like slide shows where it is easy was they were they are now but anyway, can you let's swap skills? I'm going to teach you how to shoot a head shot and you're going to teach you howto put ...

a stupid slideshow together I said yes let's do it right and at that time to he's going to shoot my head, give me a head shot there's no problem and so some of the concepts that he taught me back eight years ago I'm still using today I've refined it a bit I've added on to it, but because I saw his shot all on his website it was just pictures of faces I was so captivated by it because I cz they say right eyes can really show that beauty in a person's soul and I said I don't know how to do that and I need to get some of that on my website so I could feel good about my portraiture so just during the coast so let's been my tradition since then is that every wedding I tried to get a nice head shot of the bride and the groom just a really good clean and and I try to do it with an admitted or so if that's all the time I get and because I think it's such a compelling thing to have that close up of somebody's face, I'm gonna start toe tell you a little bit about how I do it and how actually it's not that hard to understand the concepts it may I'm goingto they were talking about truth here I'm going to give you some some, um kind of tips on how to do it you're gonna understand those quite quickly but a truly master it it will take you probably a few years of really hard work to feel like it's at a world class level I'm going to give you some solutions on how to do it like tomorrow and have good success with it but really fine tune it and to have a shot that's like wow soup rice would she's something like that or what whatever right like really something that you feel proud of it could I felt it took me about three years to really feel like I was doing it decently right okay so let's get into it posing hard to do well many don't even bother you'll see a lot of photographers wedding photographers especially they don't even mess with posing because what happens is this the learning curve to posing is really high so they're going to start teo do there posing and it's going to look terrible because they don't know how to do it and they go teo why should I even do it at all but I'm goingto I'm gonna suggest to you and I'm gonna encourage youto learn it because once you do learn it it's going to put you at that different level I find a lot of times the best wedding photographers in the world know howto pose know how to get that look and it was the one thing that got me to that five thousand dollar level okay so I'm going to give you the shortcut and how to do this okay these shortcuts portrait techniques every successful photographer has a few simple ideas that work in any situation and if you look at all the world class, whatever they do, world class, it all comes down to one or two concepts. Albert einstein, when I say albert einstein, what do you think of e equals m c squared? He's spent an entire life, but he came his everything in his mind came down to that one formula. And so that's what I try I mean, I'm not einstein, but that's what I try to do, yes, I look at my work and I say, what can I just a few simple ideas can't techniques my ideas that can actually achieve the way that I shoot and so that's what? I'm going to tell you how to do it? One thing, the first thing is to find the line and what do I mean by that? Is that there's a line on on the face, right? If you turn the head, if you turn the head right, and so to make this ear disappear right, you're going to see a distinctive line on the face, right and it's going to define the face if let the kind of state limits make myself fat and ugly, right? If you're looking straight at me, there's just like a lot of this stuff here, yeah, I do need to lose about five pounds or so, right? And you can't see the face because photography is what two dimensional it's not three dimensional so it's all going to look as one thing but once I turn the face you're going to get a line and it's going to just is going to define that faces look it's let's look at this picture here right? So I turned curve basil on the left side of her face you see a line that line is sacred okay you want that line because it defines the profile the face and it has a slimming effect to your face because why photography is two dimensional it's not three dimensional so you'd indeed to see that life so you just turn that face to the side until it covers the ear and you see that line that's the first step you need to see a line there okay, so look at that where is the line? Here you see the line on the face right right there see line distinct line right there it defines that face okay, I see it here right there so I'm turning you don't see her ear, right? So I'm just slightly turning the face so you can see that and have that defined through there another thing is don't cut the eye off so don't turn the face so much that that line splits that I and so ulysse partial of the eye you have to see the entire eye there so you only turn it until like lunch maybe I'll go to the camera right about I can't actually maybe dina you khun it's tell me like how far to turn my face right better wait right where? Tell me when you're good you're good right there see that if I go too far now that line cuts the eye off right? Yeah here, let me make love to the camera okay don't cut the eye off right? Okay, here it isyou see that right? Don't let the nose break that line that line is sacred don't mess with it it's there don't let the nose I still do once in a while but don't try not to do it okay keep the eye there keep the nose there don't let it break you do you understand that concept that the nose right so like again deena do it again let's go to this camera here writing I wanted to well, I don't I'm asian I don't have a nose but anyway so you could do it right go past hey works for me but if somebody had a nose I don't have a butt and I don't have a nose but uh hey shoot asians don't have knows you not to worry about okay, but uh you don't live believe me it's just going to get worse this's these days go on okay here did you see the line you see how I turned her face and I got this established that line it didn't break the nose didn't break the line I got her eye in there it's beautiful it's it's it's just so compelling when you you have that head shot of that person and that tone and everything works together and then also you can come in and and while you're doing that is get that eyelash and they're having closed their eyes you do that with a lot of bright so since you're there you might as well just having close their eyes and then also take that shot also then you can come around and do it this side too I'm using that eighty five millimeter lands here probably about f two or so something like that okay here's another key thing one defined the line do you see that line on her face you see where it is right to find the line to break the spy which means this the spine should never be perpendicular to the floor because that creates stiffness right look at me okay I'm going to do a head shot turned to the side hi smile right but all of a sudden let's say what that's why I always like to shift the way once I shift the weight it breaks the line of the spine it's not quite perpendicular and then if you know leaning forward breaking that so the spine which goes up and down shouldn't be perpendicular to the four if you wantto examine your photos quite honestly I did look at some of your your photos on your website and so I know that some of you have and look at that and you'll see when you're posing people that spine is straight up and it's going to give that feeling of stiffness not fluidity so it always has to be broken forever forward to the side break it no straight up and down I know whenever a person has it their mom has always tell them right when they're in front of the camera johnny stand up that's the worst thing ever that's ruined america photos for years right stand up straight the worst thing problem so that's what you do so listen your clients they'd never had a professional photographer a lot of them ever in their life so they're going to get there they're gonna be like this because that's what their mom told them to do okay but it's got to be broken yes question is that rule for male female yes I'll get into that but yes that's definitely for everything spy should not be perpendicular to the fourth floor so here right that ninety degree angle what did I do put her off to the side had her lean on something broken it got the line defined the line break the spine you got it so watch here you see the line and then I had her leaning off to the side and it gives that flow and if you can see from a compositional point of view in this particular flow photo doesn't the subject kind of the flow of it is the diagonal across the frame that is a great graphic design technique is used the diagonal of a page and it creates flow in your images if you have everything straight up and down it's going to feel stagnant but if you use the diagonal of your frame it's gonna have a nice flow so your eye will lead all way through the entire frame when it's had a diagonal it leads your eye across the entire thing here I didn't really define the line too much here because her eyes were captivating me and I got thrown off because she was so pretty but I did make her lean here so you can see that and just that that's actually exaggerate that looks natural doesn't it? But in real life when you tell somebody to stand over there and lean on it, you're not going to get that um you're just going to get a little bit but so you got exaggerated a little bit more okay can you see that how I broke the spine here you see where the linus so here's thie spine I broke that off there I probably had her pose like this right here it's too bright break that's why that's why it's so the easiest way to break the spine when somebody standing is what shift the weight onto one leg so if you have them lift up the other leg and keep it straight then you can guarantee that it's going to be shifted right so sometimes like it sent somebody just they don't get it and some people can lead better this way versus that way and so let's say they balian really well this way but you're posing them this way they get confused because they're not used to leaning that way but would you just tell him to lift up their foot okay and watch when you tell us somebody to pop their hip and to lean they're going to do this for you okay you need it more and it's super exaggerated it feels uncomfortable to do this but I know I looks thinking hot when I do it so what you do is this is you make him go there because they got a because okay I get these little timid asian brides oh pop the hip right right no no no you've got to give it to me and I need more bam right and then they are then they feel it and they get it and then you turn around you show him the picture wow, then they just start doing it all the time right uh again so it's something that you really have to exaggerate because it's not natural but it looks natural it's it's weird it's not natural but it looks natural okay, the shoulders should frame the head so you don't want to turn a person so much that you just seeing their arm that doesn't look good because the head's just floating above the shoulder and so you need to see both shoulders in there and that will center the face if you don't it's just going to be flying into nowhere is land it needs an anchor your head needs an anchor so you need that triangle, right? See the two shoulders are in the and on each side of the face that you need to see a shoulder on the other side they give it balance or it's gonna feel weird. Okay, so here, even if you do it on the other side you can use the other shoulder or some people use another element for that balance. Maybe they might use that balance with their hair or a hand but that head should be balanced between two elements either you're going to dubai shoulders or you do buy hair or by hand but some way that head just can't float out of nowhere it needs to be looked looked like it's resting on something okay so here it is we're defining the line right which is there we got one side of the face defined very well too I'm breaking the spy and I'm making them lean and the third element that I love doing is what do you think anybody know knows towards the light so I have a light source I always put the nose towards a light because why it's going to give me a shadow on the other side of the face and now I've defined the face see how important that is to no light but you very easily is all you do is put the nose towards the light and you will that's it just remember that that's my lets the mai e equals m c squared just put the nose towards the light and you'll be cool right when in doubt turn that said okay now you're flustered you don't know what to do okay first of all I got to turn that head so the body and the head aren't the same direction I gotta break this side then I got put the nose towards the light you'll be there it may not be perfect but it's going to be a lot better than if you're not doing at all or if you had no idea okay it's going to take you three years to really perfect it get the look fine tune it what I feel about head shots is and head shots you're finding their sweet spot you find the sweet spot you got to do it within one minute so you gotta assess somebody, right? So when I when I'm making them turn let's say I'm making them turn their head and I'm looking at them in the camera I don't look through my camera right away I look at them with my two eyes right and okay let's have, uh, joseph come up and he can just sit here, okay? Let's say, can you just sit here? Kind of like this you're tall, right? And this kind of lean forward okay, right. So I'm going to turn his head here, turn ahead right there, right, he's leaning for can you lean forward a little bit more good? Okay? And then I'm going to put the light where I work here because then I'm going to get this shadow here so I turned his head to define this line. I'm making sure his nose is not breaking that line, making sure his ice is not breaking that line. I've got his spine, I got that broken and then I'm gonna put the light here oh, can you get me one of my video lights it can somebody one of the students just grab that video light back there? I'm sorry I'm not prepared here and I'm wondering if we can kind of see this this shadow, you might have to close your eyes because we're gonna have to make this break. But I don't know if you can get this on camera if you can see the shadow on the other side of his face, do you get that? Can you start to see that shadow there so? Well, I can't. Can I have an assistant? Somebody hold this right? So if the light is by the nose, right, it's not it's. Too bright in here. But you start to see a faint shadow right there. If this light was darker, you could see it. Mohr so foreign stronger light it would happen. There's. A lot of ambient light around here, but that's, the whole concept and what they call what you want to do is get that create a little shadow loop right here on the nose. So if you get the light up higher, see and then over a bit this way, you get that loop right there on the nose and that's going to give you that definition and what you want. Thank you. Um and so do you understand that concept? Okay, and so it's just us easy is that. So let's say if you were standing go ahead joseph standing right so can you place all your weight on one leg for me? Right? Good. And then can you just turn your head this way a bit got the line right now my fine tune adjustment is the chin can you put your chin down? Can you put you put it up so I make them follow my hand so I got full control of them so like this see that like that I am just finding his sweet spot so and that's what I do, I'd look for it I don't because if I'm in my camera's hard for me to find the sweet spot but if I use my two eyes I can see it well, he's got this dude looks so good doesn't matter his got sweet spot wherever and damn they're not thinking joe uh and that's how I find it I find to it I generally know what I'm going to do but every face is different, right? So, um I find tune that head and the ter and that's what's going to take you three years it's not that you got this this and turn it in that it's, that sweet spot of finding it with that right expression and emotion, damn that's three year process, yes question so sometimes when we do portraiture, we're turning the nose we trying to wait to tell the most kind of falls into the cheekbone? If not the nose gets too close to the ones and it's a little awkward. Do you focus on that at all? Or is it just kind of what looks good for the sweet spot for you? I talk about that a little bit. What millimeter lands are you using? Eighty five, eighty five? Ok, yeah, so you have to use a lead if you don't want to make a person's look had looked too distorted, you have to use fifty millimeters or corregidor to do this type of shot. It'll be in the next lines, I think, but so that's going to make it not look distorted and every face is a little bit different if they haven't extremely narrow face. Sometimes they made even look better just straight on and the vagaries got the line to find. And if you turn it, it looks too much because they're too skinny, which is rare. But I would say ninety percent of my clients in ninety percent of just general people looks better when you turn it and you get that line and you get that shadow, I would say most of the people look better that way. And but it's all by kind of your own assessment of how they look good right I was just wondering if you try to make sure that you get the nose to fall into the cheek phone there's no real rules for me I just make sure that I don't break it val I the line is sacred don't don't mess with it it's there just don't break it and then you should be good but yeah whatever works for you and you find that that's great than good okay so here again we could see that defined the line you can see all the principles here you break the spine right and see that shadow knows towards where the light and don't you see the shadow on the other side of her face there this is just using that video light that I used this is inside a bar I'm having her lean on the counter I have some nice lights in the background I'm think I'm using a two point eight lens yes I am using a two point eight I zoomed out to seventy millimeters okay and so I went back mohr so I could blurt out that background keeper and protect I for portraiture I love using the eighty five millimetre that's like my favorite lands to do portraiture ah lot of times when you're in a wedding sometimes fifty millimeter is good because then you don't have to step back as far and sometimes when you're shooting a bride, you're in a confined space and sometimes fifty millimeter that's all that's all I can use, but in general, I like using in eighty five you have to step back a little bit further, but I loved that as a portrait lens, okay? And that's, the other line she defined both, um, ends there of the face and some people asked me, well, what's your secret like shooting, you know, heavier set people vs skinny people like it's all the same to me, man right? Everybody likes to look like they're less than everybody looked like looked like the twenty pounds lighter, right? Most of us are whatever five pounds or if you're right, we all looked a lot like toe look slim and the that's what these principles do that's what they do, and so I'm in general, just use it with everybody it's, you know, you may sum like poses might not be appropriate for some body types, but in general all these basic principles are goingto work for everybody, and what you're doing is making a person look better so it doesn't matter to me their body type I'm making them, I'm finding their sweet spot and I used these techniques on everybody and it works I like to keep it just very simple, right and when you put that on, when you define that, okay, so you're let's say your photographing, you know, someone who's a little bit heavier set right? For sure you want to define that line, and then you put that shadow on the face and you turn around and they've never seen a portrait of them look that beautiful before ever in their life you are their hero at that point and that's, what this does, this enables you to show a person's beauty, regardless of what they look like. You're just maximising it, and when you do that, it's it's kind of overwhelming sometimes for a person look, uncle, wow and that's, what I love about photography is like, lookit, you're a beautiful person let me show you and I use these techniques on everybody and if I can give them my goal is when I'm shooting somebody it's like I'm going to give them the best photo that I ever seen in their entire life. They don't know how beautiful they actually are, but my job is to show them that that's what this does, right that's? Why it's worth it to spend three years mastering this? Because how would you like to make people feel beautiful that's like more than whatever money ten thousand or whatever that's really what turns us on, doesn't it? That's that's that's what really the bottom line of what we do and why we've kind of become artist is is the beauty factor right that's why were we photographed people we want to show their beauty now another tip is and I just did it with joseph here is a lot I'm sure write short asian guy it always looks good to shoot down on a person so what happens if a they're taller what do you do always sit him down right and what happens if the light is from above you have to sit him down okay why is that? The nose goes towards what? The light okay let's say you're photographing me okay and you know the light let's say the lights right here where's my nose going this way right here right? You're shooting right up my nostril that's not very pleasing right? So if you get them below you when they put their head up you're not going to shoot straight into there nostril so that's my technique I use a lot I just did it with joe here is like going down and if the light was above the nose goes towards the light it gives me that nice defining shadow right here this photo is really important to me because this guy has a story this guy has a story that has been on national television anybody watch dancing with the stars? Okay this guy was on dancing with the stars I think last year and his story was he was a famous dancer when I took this photo of him he was dancing with gwen stefani and anybody familiar with gwen stefani that he was on their heritage duke of team or whatever he was one of the four dancers that was on there is amazing, you know, break dancing like all these dudes in this hole this wasn't in best wedding to be at I mean, all these guys they dance for everybody they dance from madonna michael jackson you name it they dance worth this was an amazing reception I'm going to tell you that right now but anyways he had a brain aneurysm and he became paralyzed maybe three or four years after his wedding he couldn't move so we had a guy that was vibrant and with full of life and he that's it is paralyzed and he worked really hard to get back into it again and to move and to get to the point where he could dance again and they found out about the story and they put him on dancing with the stars and so a lot of these guys that were in this wedding were there with him dancing can right and so like I follow is his wipe on um instagram and uh is great because just a few months ago he showed a picture of him driving again and for the first time by himself, it's amazing feat your job is important because you're going to capture these moments and you don't know what these people are going to go through after you shoot these photos what's gonna mean to them all right, important tips to remember suit down on your subjects okay, so a portrait in general looks better when you're shooting down on your subjects. So that's, what a lot of times I don't know if you were here or you saw a photo weak when I was shooting and I had jo jo's taller than me, right? So I was doing some examples with him I was using my live you in my camera frame it because I was shooting up here because I didn't have a chair or anything. So I a lot of times I'll bring up my camera like this and shoot good thing that I have live you right? So I went to look at it because I always want that angle down. Some people actually bring little stepping stools or you can be creative and trying to find areas where you can actually get up a little bit higher, but I find it's very easy to find somebody to sit down even if it was like straight on the ground, you could do that and then you're always shooting down on somebody, so it always looks better I'm trying to figure out why that is and the thing that I could deduce is is when you're shooting up okay and you have the chin slightly down the forehead is gonna look better than the chin is that not correct according to the angle of the camera so it slims the face down so that's the only thing that I could do because you hear it all the time like shoot down on your show okay well why is that and I think its limbs down ah person's face every time you're shooting down and if it's just a little bit the chin is a little bit ahh lower than it will magnify that angular look on a person's face okay so that's that's let's talk about that face plain and camera since can I have joe come back here again can you sit down there for me in general to keep a person's face not looking distorted the face plain has teo equal the camera plane okay so turn your chin all the way up okay so let's say I'm shooting him here and he's doing that his chant chin is out of it's looking distorted because it's larger than his forehead now put your chin down now let's say is going down and I'm shooting like this now his forehead is larger than his chin because it's not equal so move your head up a little bit okay generally you want to keep that position oh, because it's keeping his face in proportion but if you want to cheat a little bit that this guy's very skinny I don't need to do it but let's say he was a little bit heavier set and I wanted to create more angle what actually pushes chin down just a little bit more or vice versa let's say I wanted his chin it was too skinny and I wanted to give it a little bit more I would raise his chin just up a little bit I don't know every faces different song finding a speak sweet spot so that's why I'm going like this that so I'm going like this that's on going like this and that's why I'm going like that and I'm just finding something bam right there I love it here how I say that is like when I find it I get excited because that's going to be having a reaction to them they're like who I'm doing something awesome look good right? And so I get excited when I find it and I let him know when I find out and then they hold it right there and I take the shot all right thanks joe so you understand keeping that that plane the same I love the I love the idea of cheating you know haven't upper down if in doubt would you mean films cheap nowadays take a few yeah oh yeah yeah for sure I mean I think I used to do that a lot I didn't even know what the heck I was doing a new jet I mean okay I didn't know a lot of these things that I'm telling you that's what's great about this class take me thirteen years to figure out your knew it in five minutes but I didn't so this is trial and error check click click click click if you don't know but generally I'm giving you a general place to start and when in doubt and when the mother of the bride is screaming at you and you don't know what to do and also chaos is breaking loose and look okay I got one minute to give to you what do I do fall back on these rules and it's going at least get you something that's going to be presentable ok and it's gonna get in the ballpark and it's and it's not like you're good it's gonna be bad it's going to be better than if not doing it all okay and that's what it's all about use low f stop to blur the background that's why it's good to use um I don't like to go past one point eight because if you had anybody shoot at one point for before I mean literally one eyelashes and focus and the other one is not you know you got about that much area before things start to go out of focus so that's why I generally keep it at f to on dh then I know that their face in general will be right there and everything in focus so I don't like to go below f two or one point eight so I like to keep it around there and so that's why if hey shoot I don't go below one point eight you got that lens it's a hundred bucks fine do I need one point for well, it might focus a little bit differently at low light and etcetera but if you're shooting in bright light all the time whenever hey man used that lands it'll work, it'll work it'll get you there okay fifty millimeter lens or greater we talked about that and let's go over there if you two find the line break this mine knows towards the light that's it that's my e m c squared right there just follow those rules practice it and you're going to get a decent head shop ok any questions at this point from the chat room or from you guys before we move on to posing the groom? Yes sir, we always have questions that was here a cz you quite know so one of the questions from a pro photographer is how do you keep the subject relaxed while you're posing them because they're in some pretty strange positions yeah, yeah yeah and they're getting married that day think getting there yeah, I'll just tell him to relax. Well, the subject will mirror you that's very important. I get into this a little bit later but basically the energy and the kind of feel that you bring to a session is what you are if you're coming in and can you sit down on that chair over there turned this way that way. Wait. How do you think this client's feeling right now? Bristles I come in. Hey, man, you're looking good. Hey, can you sit down on that chair right there? Oh, yeah. Okay. Lean forward a bit for me. Okay, who, man? You're looking good today. Okay? Turn your head this way. No, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, go back there. Put your chin up just a little bit. You look awesome right there. Hold it right there. How do you think they're gonna feel right it's all about the finger always points at us there's no excuses, man it's all on us and so whatever mood they're in or whatever they're feeling it don't matter. Hey, literally I had to go into a session and photograph brides literally one minute after their brick and bawling their eyes off because something's going wrong with the wedding that day and so I did this one wedding right and she was upset and her relatives and she was so screaming at them and she was like you know just going off about it and it's just like coming out taking pictures of me like a well I was gonna let you come down a little bit before because I could see your little no no no no let's go right what I gotta do to make it happen by he's paying me a lot of money you don't find me all the way out to the east coast and all that sometimes we have to make it happen no matter what that's when we rely on these rules thes rules will get you through the day when chaos breaks loose it's taken me a lot of years to figure these rules out and toe organizing my brain and I can guarantee you if you use them they will work fine tuning it again of getting that create right emotion and finding that sweet spot doing it immediately making that person feel comfortable and engaging okay that may take you three years but at least this is going to get you in the ballpark right now tomorrow okay. Any other questions? Yeah scott robert I follow up again from pro photographer yeah how often and under what circumstances do you break the portrait rules do I break the portrait rules on lee when I have a lot of time that I can experiment but typically on a wedding day I got one in about one minute to do everything so when you got old, this is a this is a great point when it comes to wedding photography you can't afford to be messing around and experimenting that's on your own sessions that's on your own time I come in and I'm like I do these rules it made not may not be the most amazing photo but guess what? It's like going a bat and I hit a single that's fine, I'll try to hit a home run later but now I need to feed my family so I'm hitting a single now because I got one minute and so I followed these rules and I do it and until I get more time and they're looser and then eh let's try this and I set up for light I want to do that and whatever, but during this time I got if I usually most wedding photographer okay, guess what that little schedule that you get itinerary that's like ten pages long don't believe it throw it out the window because ninety nine point nine percent of the weddings they always what run late always so if you're all feeling good about yourself god, I got scheduled a half a knauer to shoot that bride that's awesome don't think it that's a lie because that's just gonna put you in a bad mood when you get there and now you only got two minutes instead of thirty minutes your ah I just take that schedule just throw out the window when you want me there that's when I begin and I just forget about that stuff but following up on that seriously part of putting together a quote unquote ten thousand dollar package I'm assuming that this is a very very important shot for me it wass yeah I mean in terms of what the bride's anticipating for a delivery ble would be I'm guessing as a couple very nice individual portrait right say a minute I mean really ten minutes no it's literally a minute sometimes in and out but yeah okay, but yeah, it could be five minutes of whatever is in the planning stage or you gonna try to tell them you need twenty and hoping yeah five or ten yeah yeah yeah yeah, you know we'll see okay it's a little bit different now before then after I did when I was not as experienced I would say, hey, I can you get me this? Can you get me that can you but right now I kind of play it off as I'm mr I'll do just give me whatever and I'll do it that's that's my persona I wantto portray myself as a professional expert hey, you know what would be great if I get there a couple hours beforehand and I can shoot you guys and if I can get twenty minutes with you alone, that would be great but if not whatever, we'll just go with whatever and so I'm confident and that whatever some whatever time somebody throws me I couldn't get off something, but in the beginning I was very like want that but then I realized that when I was hoping on that when I was hoping on that twenty minutes and I didn't get it was thrown me off for the whole wedding day and it's like how man it's ruining my psyche here I'm just going to go in and let's have fun and whatever happens I'm going to make something fun out of it if I get twenty minutes, I get twenty of a good ten whatever let's just go with it I can't you know wedding it's it's shooting a wedding is very much like playing sports it's like let's say you're playing basketball right in your shot is off and you just feel like all day and I haven't got one good photo today and it's putting you in that mood and you start to lose confidence and until you get that shot then you can start feeling yourself again and confident again, right? I don't want anything to make me feel like down because I'm so absorbed with the wedding day. And so, if I'm expectation is huge, so if I'm expecting a certain amount and I don't get it it's going to throw me down, so I rather not. I'd suggest it. But in my mind, it's, like, I'm just gonna go with whatever. And if you're if you're feeling that you're off, and you're whatever, guess what, your class really not going to know what? You just fake it, right? And you just say, I'm and you will yourself to have a good time and having fun just in your mind, we're going to have fun, because then you're going to keep positive, they're going to keep being positive and then it's gonna flow for you, okay, so don't get down on yourself.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Master Flash Guide.pdf
Day 1 Segment 1 Best Job in the World.pdf
Day 1 Segment 2 Headshot & Posing the Groom.pdf
Day 1 Segment 3 Posing the Bride.pdf
Day 1 Segment 4 Posing the Bride & Groom.pdf
Day 2 Segment 1 Crazy Stupid Wedding Light.pdf
Day 2 Segment 2 Lighting Review Group & Dancefloor.pdf
Day 2 Segment 3 Wedding Workflow & Money Shots.pdf
Day 2 Segment 4 Starting from Scratch.pdf
Day 3 Segment 1 From 0 to 5K.pdf
Day 3 Segment 2 5K and Beyond.pdf
Day 3 Segment 3 Creating a Luxury Brand.pdf
Day 3 Segment 4 Seventeen Ideas to Change Your life.pdf

bonus material with enrollment

10 Percent Discount.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

mc
 

There are a few courses in CL that just keep giving - they exceed expectations - on numerous levels. This is one of those courses. For context: I am not a wedding photographer; i do not aspire to be a wedding photographer, but i saw a re-broadcast of this course and thought i have got to put the pennies together to order this as someone aspiring to be a better photographer. Here's why: The title: think like... In a lot of business and coaching approaches, the way to get better we're told is to be around people who are further ahead than we are - who are as close to where we aspire to be as we can get. Think Like a 10k wedding photographer is an invitation to get insight into how i'm already thinking in this headspace or where i'm not. is this course for you: If you're not already a 10k/wedding (or gig) photographer, there is likely something of value here for you. THE COURSE the course is v.grounded - from the ttitle again - that this is a course about photography as a business - and how to get to a place where one is thriving in that business. It's clear there are steps to getting up the ladder towards 10k, and Scott Robert puts all the milestones in to understand when to up prices, how to pace gigs, how to schedule weddings, how to start. But this course also excels at covering off what's included in creating an excellent wedding photography experience for a particular type of shoot: luxury, glamour, style. This is not documentary wedding photography - though the skills learned here can be applied in that space. Here - just take a look at the photos - people who want what Scott Robert Delivers want to be glamourous, exciting. And Scott makes the point - that looks "natural" but it's constructed, and so we have to know how to engage with people in order to construct these results. Thus the course offers Posing and Shooting techniques for photography - using natural and flash light using flash and video light posing men; posint women; posing groups how to get the checklist of wedding shots from dress to cake. And how to get the business. This course is worth the money just to get the tips for posing - you'll use them right away whether you're doing corporate shoots or what in the us is "seniors" portraits. THE KIT A particularly inspiring element of Scott's work is how minimalist the kit seems to be. No strobes; just speedlights. Lightstands and umbrellas. And small video light(s). Considering the shots he gets that seem so constructed, it's fantastic to see that they are constructed fundamentally with a set of modelling principles about the human form that work work and work. The BUSINESS As said the progressions for the business side to move from a starting photographer to a 10k photographer are clear. The detail is good. The motivation, unflagging. Participants who want to get there need to do the hours of practice. There are a couple people who have used Scott's methods to get from starter to 10k shooter so it's possible to see their path. - One who was a videographer mayn't be as inspiring because already pro etc, but it is cool to see a pro in video testify to the value even for him of scott's approach. LESSON the best advertisement is word of mouth you have to have the work to get that endorsement. Scott is the one person on CL where you'll hear him say he's not working on his social network particularly, but on the quality of his portfolio and referals within jobs to get the jobs - it's plainly working for him. For him, it's clear he wants to be regarded as the best photographer - not the best customer service that trumps adequate photography. THE INSTRUCTOR As other reviewers have commented, scott's attitude is amazing. He has a burning entrepreneurial spirit and a drive to be successful to support his family - which means getting to a point where he's shooting fewer weddings for more money in order to have more time with his people. Nice. No matter what area of photography you're in, there are insights to be gained from this course. Related Courses There are a lot of wedding photography courses on CL. The others i've seen are Wedding Cinematography, Doug Gordon Wedding Project, Master the Business of Photography (which turns out to be based in a wedding business) and Start and Grow your Photography Business (also based around weddings). These all have good things to teach. The biggest contrast to Scott's is Sal Cincotta's Business of Photography - in that course while there is a goal for his teams / shooters to be professional and get all their shots at the wedding and deal with the unexpected well - and there are great tips for how to cover your butt if there's conflict about being able to take a shot or who wants what shot - the focus seems to be way way WAY more on the sale in the studio and selling all kinds of prints. This is v.much the flip side of Scott's work where the focus is on getting the wedding (and why he actually likes 5k weddings more than 10k weddings - fascinating). For scott, it seems the 10k is about figuring out what the package is in terms of what's the difference between 10k vs 5k - and what you promise to deliver in that experience vs SC's focus on what are the materials produced that are worth that charge. And how the wedding can be used to hook people in for life - for portraits, baby photos, seniors etc. Kevin Kebota's class similarly has some nice stuff around bonuses vs discounts. I can see a very interesting panel discussion on pricing btwn sal, scott and kevin... For scott, it's not about shooting the lifecycle and getting money off prints: he does weddings - some engagement and boud. around that, but it's the Wedding that is the star - the quality and amazingness of the images - not the number and size of prints. Perhaps this is a weakness in the course not to go into that part of the deal - but i didn't find it so. What's great is that he has a dropdead line in the sand too: if you're doing X and you're not getting to Y by Z, do something else! fantastic. he even has a part time shooter plan. COol. He also knows how and what to outsource: so will you. He's also cool about how long it will to take to start making a real income. (and what's the difference between a 3k and 5k wedding?? you'll learn). Why would you buy this course? If you're a WEDDING photographer, shooting under 10k /wedding then this will be interesting - lots to learn about what's possible in a wedding context, and seeing examples about how "natural" can be constructed. If you're just considering weddings and want to understand what it would take to make a living or part time living as a photographer here IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT POSING -- there are lots of CL classes involving posing and philosophies of posing so why this one? 1: Robert is v.good. that simple: the way he's translated everything he's learned about posing into heuristics - in other words rather than memorising poses, you learn heuristics about what to set up for any shot to get more from it. Fantastic. 2. Posing in the context of a live wedding under pressure is a litle different than in studio 3. We see posing for different lighting conditions/contexts for an event - in this case a wedding. Powerful stuff. What's also cool in the demos is that you don't have him doing tethered shooting, but focusing on teaching posing and having the class learn it. That's cool too. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN LIGHTING - and not spend much on lighting kit and get great results this course is inspiring. INSTRUCTOR - v.engaging - doesn't suffer fools, i'm betting; expects committment to do the work to get to aspirations. EXCELLENT. heck i watched most of this with a friend who just found Scott so compelling, in particular how the posing section worked, it was just that engaging. hope that helps. good luck on your mission.

Kerry Sleeman
 

This is the best Creative Live Course I have purchased, well worth the Money! Scott is fantastic and has a lot of great advice! Even though I am not a wedding photographer I am a Boudoir Photographer and has given me a lot of ideas to help my business. ! Thanks Creative Live Amazing!

Student Work

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