Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
Shooting frames that don't repeat each other in a short time is possible by doing the thinking before the wedding: a few spots chosen at the venue are lined up in a walking order that suits the light, a shot menu built from distance and movement is worked through quickly at each spot, and instead of a pose the couple is told something to do with each other. The time is divided among the spots and tracked, the wedding dress and the couple's skin are protected together in open shade or light from behind, and the couple is sent to dinner on time.
Learning goal
In the short time set aside for the couple on a wedding day, you will be able to shoot frames that don't repeat each other, without tiring the couple. You will walk the venue in advance and line up a few spots with good light and background in a walking order, and at each spot quickly work through a small shot menu made up of different distances and kinds of movement. Instead of having the couple pose, you will use directions that get them to do something with each other, and so get natural frames from a tired and shy couple. You will divide the total time among the spots and keep track of it, updating the order as the light changes. You will choose places and an exposure where a pure white wedding dress and the couple's skin keep their detail in the same frame.
The question
As soon as the civil ceremony ends, the guests move to the dining hall and the couple is left alone. There are twenty minutes until dinner. The garden is large: a pergola, a pool, an old wall, a long tree-lined path. The sun is going down in the west and the light changes a little more every minute. The couple is tired; they've been on their feet all day, and they are a little shy too. Your friend stops for a moment to think which spot to go to first; while they think, two minutes pass. Is it possible to shoot 20 different frames in 20 minutes?
Context
In the day plan lesson you drew up a schedule tying each part of the wedding to a time and saw the venue in advance (Lesson D.3). In the communicating with the model lesson you worked on giving someone who tenses specific instructions describing a single movement, and showing the movement yourself to have it mirrored (Lesson P.3). And in the portrait lesson in front of the window you tried placing two people of different skin tones relative to a light source (Lesson P.6).
The couple shoot is where these skills come together in the shortest and most pressured part of the day. The couple's portraits become the album's most looked-at frames; but at most weddings the time set aside for them doesn't reach half an hour. In this short time the couple mustn't get tired and the frames mustn't repeat each other. The secret is to spend most of the time not thinking but shooting; the thinking is done before the wedding.
Simple explanation
Where do you go?
A location route is a few shooting spots chosen at the venue before the couple shoot and lined up in walking order. While walking the venue during the day plan, three or four spots are chosen where the light, the background and the ground are good: the shade of a tree, an old wall, a pergola looking onto the open sky. The spots are lined up in an order where the walk between them is short and that suits the day's light. As the sun goes down in the west, the shaded spots are used first and, last of all, an open spot where the sun is low. This order is written on a piece of paper or marked on a map on the phone; on the day of the shoot the photographer doesn't think about where to go, they walk the route.
At each spot the couple's skin and the wedding dress are thought about together. A pure white wedding dress shines in direct sun and loses its detail; open shade or a place where the sun stays behind protects both the dress's embroidery and the couple's faces. The exposure is set for the faces and the dress's bright areas are checked. If the couple's skin tones differ, the darker-skinned partner is placed a little closer to the light.
What is shot at each spot?
A shot menu is a small list of frames that don't repeat each other, worked through quickly at each shooting spot. The menu is built from two axes: distance and movement. In distance, a wide frame shows the place and the couple together, a medium frame shows the two of them with their bodies, and a close frame shows the faces or the hands. In movement, there is a still frame and a moving frame such as walking, turning or laughing. When these two axes combine, five or six different frames easily come out of each spot; that is how twenty different frames become possible across four spots.
While working through the menu, the photographer changes their own position, not the couple. At a spot where the couple has been placed once, the photographer steps back to shoot wide, moves in to shoot close, and crouches to shoot from a low angle; the couple doesn't need to be set up again for each frame. This saves both time and the couple's energy.
How is the couple directed?
An interaction prompt is a direction that, instead of describing a pose to the couple, tells them something to do with each other: "whisper into each other's ear what made you laugh most today," "put your foreheads together and close your eyes," "walk hand in hand to that tree, stop halfway and look at each other." These directions turn the couple's attention from the photographer to each other; not a pose but a moment is born. A tired and shy couple often relaxes when given a task. The language of direction is short and concrete; when movement is needed, the photographer shows it themselves.
A time budget is the total time set aside for the couple shoot, divided in advance among the spots and the transitions. In a twenty-minute window, four or five minutes go to each spot and a few minutes to the walks. The photographer watches the clock and, if they stay too long at one spot, shortens or skips the next. If the light changes faster than expected, the order is updated. When the time is up, the couple is sent to dinner on time, as promised; this also increases the family's trust in the photographer.
Visual evidence
At a cousin's engagement party, your friend had spent half an hour in the garden with the couple. In every frame the couple stood in front of the same flowered arch, in the same pose; each time the photographer thought about the next pose, the couple waited. The frames looked like copies of each other, and one side of the dress had turned into a white blotch in the sun.
The week before the wedding, your friend walks the garden at the same hour of the day and chooses four spots: the shade of the tree-lined path, the old wall, the pergola and the edge of the pool facing the sunset. They mark the spots in this order on their phone and set aside five minutes for each.
On the wedding day, on the tree-lined path, they place the couple once and shoot wide, medium and close; then they ask them to walk hand in hand. In front of the wall they tell them to whisper into each other's ear; the bride starts laughing. At the pergola the dress is in open shade, its embroidery visible; the couple's dark skin is warm and detailed. At the edge of the pool, with the sun low behind them, the edges of their hair shine. At the twentieth minute the couple walks into the dining hall; on your friend's card there are more than twenty frames, all different from each other.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeLooking for shooting spots on the spot.
The time goes to thinking, the couple waits. The fix: walk the venue in advance, draw up a location route and walk the route on the day of the shoot.
Common mistakeShooting from the same distance and in the same pose at every spot.
The frames become copies of each other. The fix: work through the shot menu at every spot: wide, medium, close; still and moving.
Common mistakeDescribing a pose to the couple and waiting.
A tired couple looks stiff. The fix: tell them something to do with each other and catch the moment.
Summary
Shooting frames that don't repeat each other in a short time is possible by doing the thinking before the wedding: a few spots chosen at the venue are lined up in a walking order that suits the light, a shot menu built from distance and movement is worked through quickly at each spot, and instead of a pose the couple is told something to do with each other. The time is divided among the spots and tracked, the wedding dress and the couple's skin are protected together in open shade or light from behind, and the couple is sent to dinner on time.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will do a twenty-minute shoot with a couple, a friend or two siblings.
- The day before the shoot, walk the location at the same hour, choose four spots and mark them on a map in walking order.
- At each spot, work through a menu of wide, medium and close, still and moving frames, and track the time you set aside for each spot with a clock.
- Use at least one interaction prompt at each spot, and when the shoot is over, check your number of different frames and the detail of the skin.
Check yourself
- Did you stop during the shoot to think where to go?
- Are the frames from the same spot different from each other?
- Did the interaction prompts create a moment on the couple's faces?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Location route | Shooting spots chosen before the couple shoot and lined up in an order that suits the light and the walk. |
| Shot menu | A short list of frames built at each spot from the axes of distance (wide, medium, close) and movement (still, moving). |
| Interaction prompt | A direction that tells the couple something to do with each other instead of a pose. |
| Time budget | The time set aside for the couple shoot, divided in advance among the spots and transitions. |
Mini quiz
1. When is the location route drawn up?
- A) During the shoot
- B) After the shoot
- C) Before the wedding, by walking the venue
- D) Never, it is shot on the fly
2. Which two axes is the shot menu built from?
- A) Distance and movement
- B) Color and tone
- C) ISO and shutter speed
- D) Day and hour
3. What kind of direction is "whisper into each other's ear what made you laugh most today"?
- A) A pose description
- B) A lighting instruction
- C) A wardrobe note
- D) An interaction prompt
4. What is done when you stay too long at one spot?
- A) The couple is allowed to be late for dinner
- B) The next spot is shortened or skipped
- C) The shoot is abandoned completely
- D) You carry on at the same spot
Answers
- C — If the thinking is done in advance, on the day of the shoot the time is left for shooting.
- A — When wide, medium, close combine with still and moving, the frames vary.
- D — It turns the couple's attention from the photographer to each other and gives birth to a moment.
- B — The time budget guarantees that the couple goes to dinner on time.
Summary card
- Thinking before the wedding: walk the venue, draw up the location route.
- Order by the light: shade first, low sun last.
- A shot menu at every spot: wide, medium, close; still and moving.
- The photographer changes position, not the couple.
- Interaction, not pose: whisper, foreheads together, walk hand in hand.
- Time budget; open shade or backlight for the dress and the skin.
Bridge to the next lesson
A week has passed since the wedding. This time the tea stall's owner calls about the founding anniversary of the tradespeople's association: speeches in a hall, the launch of a new service, and at the very end the birthday cake of the association's oldest member. A conference, a launch and a birthday on the same evening. The speakers at the podium, the crowd scattered, products and decorations on the tables. The next lesson takes up the balance between speaker, crowd and detail in event and corporate shoots.