Joe Hendricks 10/2/14 Joe Hendricks 10/2/14

How I Think During an Engagement Session

First, I want to thank you for reading my blog... If you get anything at all from this post, leave me a comment, because I have no idea if you're liking it or not ;) Thanks!

I recently did a shoot with Mark and Tina in Nashville. They wanted to take pictures at the place they first met, Music City Tippler, and so that is where we start today!

The first couple shots I take are just to see how my lighting is and how my couple acts in front of the camera. You can learn a lot in the first few shots, like are they comfortable, happy, nervous, ok with PDA? It's also an introduction for you as a Photographer, so they can see how you handle things. If the first couple shots suck, don't say anything, don't show anything.... just keep going with it, because if you're comfortable, they are comfortable. Their first two shots were great ;)

Fortunately, Mark and Tina are gems and super easy to like and take pictures of! Here are the first couple of shots we took.

getting to a kiss... they were perfectly fine with it ;)

If I am perfectly honest with you, I have a little bit of an idea what I'm going to shoot before they get there, but I forget it all immediately as the shoot starts! :) I guess the creative juices start flowing and my mind starts going into overdrive!

We walked up stairs, I saw a cool couch and told them to have a conversation about how they feel right now. That always makes everyone laugh a little... I pulled out an off-camera speedlight and put my lens next to the coffee table for a cool reflection.

TTL off camera flash... I'll talk about that another time.

I love flash, but I also really love how things look in natural light. Sometimes I just take a chance, switch my camera into aperture priority (nikon) and see what things look like. It literally take's 3 seconds... if the shot's not there, I move on, but in this case it worked well for the next few shots!

cranked my ISO to about 4000 for this one

plenty of sunlight was coming through the window for this shot

I don't mess with a good thing, so when natural light is looking awesome in my photos, I stick with it. It's so much faster than setting up a speedlight all the time!

We continued through the place as I constantly looked for my next shot, while learning more about them at the same time. If there is anything that is truly an art with photographing couples, it's that balance of listening to them and looking for your shot. Sometimes, I just have to stop and listen and turn off my creative brain for a second. Then it's game on again! The next couple shots are just me having them sit and pose in different locations of the bar.

There's always a moment when I realize I need to stop talking and let the couple do their thing! I had no idea how playful Mark and Tina would be, but they were so awesome together!! Mark just randomly started spinning her around and I swear, it was the cutest thing!

I was feeling good after that shot, because I could clearly see they were super comfortable with me :) So, walking up the stairs, I noticed a light shining down and asked them to stop in the middle of the stairs and hug. I thought it was a random place to have them stop, but I could already see the shot before I took it. I ran down to the other side of the bar, got out a long lens and literally laid on the ground to snap this next shot. It was a better than I thought it would be.

a beautiful moment in what would normally be a weird location to shoot

I decided to do the rest of the shoot outside. I personally like a lot of room to run around and get creative with and when I don't have to worry about lighting in a dimly lit bar, it allows me to focus on them as a couple and capture their true self. First thing I do when switching locations? CHECK MY ISO!! Always remember that.

The next few shots, I pretty much told them to talk, play, dance, be in love.... sometimes I don't know what I'm saying and I literally start mumbling, because my focus is on the shot.... hahaha! Again, these are the times I need to step back, stop talking and let the magic happen.

Then, of course, I start shooting through things... because I love to find that different angle!

shooting through leaves adds some depth and color

You can almost always feel the end of a shoot, because you can see the couple getting tired, but Mark and Tina could have probably gone for another hour! They were amazing ;) We were all done, when at the last second, I noticed the clouds! You know how I love doing silhouettes! I got low and had them get close, put my camera in aperture priority and this is what we came up with! My main focus was to get them in between those 2 large clusters of clouds and I feel it turned out great!

a beautiful silhouette to end the session

Mark and Tina were an amazing couple to take pictures of. Their personalities were larger than life and I knew these two were madly in love the second I met them!

As a Photographer, that helps a lot when taking pictures, but it's not everything. You still have to know what your camera is capable of. You also need to know what you are capable of and that only comes with taking chances and trying something different. On your next shoot, get your safe shots, the ones you would normally take, and then go and try something new! If it doesn't work out, don't show your couple ;) At least take it into post and see what you could possibly do with it there.... maybe something cool will happen.

I hope you liked this post! Comment below if you did... I would love to hear from you :)

Joe Hendricks 10/1/14 Joe Hendricks 10/1/14

The First Look - Photographers Perspective

For those of you that don't know, a "first Look" is when the Bride and Groom see each other before the ceremony.

Every couple wants to know if it's better to do a first look or see each other for the first time at the ceremony. I always tell my couples that it doesn't matter to me, because I'm a fast photographer and I'll get you good images either way.... but that's more of a comforting statement to my clients. Secretly, I wish they would all do a first look!

My main reasoning behind doing a first look is, it allows me to photograph you at a slower pace, which in turn allows me to be a lot more creative with your wedding photos! The most interesting thing I have found is that it doesn't effect your reaction at the ceremony at all! Walking down the aisle is a completely different feeling than seeing each other before hand.

Here's a few examples of how emotional a first look can be.

They allow for beautiful pictures before your ceremony

Every Bride loves this reaction from their Groom ;)

First looks also allow you to be alone with your Bride to relax and talk with each other. You can guarantee that this will be your ONLY alone time for the rest of the day. So enjoy it and take it slow.

After the first look, they read bible versus to each other

Before their first look, they read cards from each other

And of course, if you still want to remain traditional, there are always tricks to allow you to see each other before hand without actually seeing each other ;)

I wasn't really sure what to show for examples for this post, because I honestly get good pictures either way. I can just tell you that photographers have to run their butt off after the ceremony to get you great shots before everyone gets bored at the cocktail hour. Doing the first look allows everyone to relax and you will usually get 2-3 times the amount of awesome pictures just from seeing each other before hand.

Today's post was my wife's idea ;) Next time I'll dig back into some cool photography stuff!

Joe Hendricks 9/29/14 Joe Hendricks 9/29/14

How to be creative with iPhones at your wedding

It's 2014 and everyone seems to have an iPhone or some kind of smart phone, so it's no surprise at all to see them popping up at weddings. Being a Professional Photographer, that shoots weddings for a living, I see them all the time. I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with iphones being at weddings! In fact I actually like to use them in my pictures to get some creative shots like this one below.

You have to be quick to get this shot ;)

The problem I've been having lately is hearing all my Photographer friends complain about iPhones at their weddings. So, today I am hoping to give a different perspective that will push you, as a Photographer, to stop complaining about these devices being in all your pictures and start using them to your advantage ;)

First off, have you ever tried to take a picture of someone else taking a picture with an iPhone at a wedding? It's not easy! You have to be really fast! For me, it's a challenge to see if I can refocus, expose, and recompose my shot properly before they put down their phone! Here are some instances at previous weddings where I've done this.

This is probably the most common iphone pic I will capture at a wedding

The iPhone selfie is also pretty tough ;)

None of these pictures were staged. I see someone taking a picture and I get my camera their fast to capture the shot!

Second, unless you have an "Unplugged Wedding" you're going to have to deal with iPhones, so please stop complaining about it. Have fun and get creative with them! The following examples aren't the best shots in the world, but hopefully they give you a good idea of where I'm coming from.

I had the Bridesmaids at this wedding all take a selfie of themselves, since everyone of them had an iPhone, and I had them turn their phone's to my camera to get a shot of all of them together. It was fun and didn't turn out exactly the way I thought it would, but I took a chance at it and tried to be creative with it.

The group shot of the Bride and Bridesmaids together with their iPhones.

I love this next shot.... it was at Scarritt Bennett and I had some time on my hands, so I decided to place their iPhone up against the stain glass window! As you can see, it's on the camera app, so what you see on the iPhone is exactly what's going on outside and that's my favorite thing about it! It really helped to have a talented Groom that could hold the iPhone up and kiss his Bride at the same time ;)

The bride and groom kissing while holding up the iPhone.

My whole point is that we, as Photographers, should stop complaining about the things that are in our way while taking pictures and start using them to our advantage. I know a lot of people might disagree with me, but I would like to think that the whole reason you got into photography in the first place, was to be creative. Here's your chance ;)

I love the technology that we get to play with and I think it's such an amazing time to be a Photographer! I hope this post helps you to bend your thinking a little and do something creative at your next wedding! If you come up with something completely awesome, let me see it! Let's all push each other to be better at what we do. joe@joehendricks.com

Joe Hendricks 9/28/14 Joe Hendricks 9/28/14

Last nights wedding - creative shots

I posted the other day about being creative at your wedding, so yesterday as I was shooting, I realized that I need to step it up if I'm going to be blogging about this stuff! As I was shooting, I saw a little pocket in the trees that allowed for a really cool silhouette. It was pretty far away, but sometimes when you have a vision, you have to go for it! So I had George and Emily make their way up the street and pose. We got this really cool shot of them!

This next shot, was kind of like what I did in my last post, but when you do light painting outside, it can be a little tricky. You always have to worry about ambient light in front and behind your couple. If I would have done this shot an hour earlier, it would have been all stars behind them, but the clouds rolled in and made a pretty cool effect in the sky!

If you're a photographer and following my blog, I would love to see what you came up with yesterday at your wedding! Send me a link in the comment section below.

Joe Hendricks 9/27/14 Joe Hendricks 9/27/14

Being creative at your wedding

I love shooting weddings, because they always allow me to be as creative as I want to be! I get bored pretty easy with regular shots, so today I'm going to tell you a few things that I do to make my images look a little nicer!

1. I love to shoot through things! A couple standing in front of a window is nice, but sometimes it can be kind of boring, so I like to shoot throughs something like flowers or glasses. You can really use anything, but the key it to get your camera close to whatever you're shooting through. The closer you are, the more blurred and cool it will look.

I'm shooting through some glasses that were set up for the reception.

2. If it has just recently rained, look around for puddles. It can even be the smallest dirty puddle, but with the right angle, you can get a real cool reflection. Try to keep your couple from being directly in front of a tree or building so they stand out more ;)

I turned this picture upside down, just because it looked better that way

3. Did you learn about leading lines in your photography class? Use them! Leading lines are just any kind of line that leads to your subject. It can be a stream of water, railroad tracks, or a park bench like you see below. Sometime you have to get into some crazy positions to make a leading line work for you. All I did was sit down and put my lens on the bench... make your couple feel comfortable and you have a great shot!

I love using leading lines in my pictures!

4. For the sake of not giving away all my wedding tips in one post, I'll end with some light painting. A reception can get boring after you've been shooting it for a couple hours, so step away and set up something cool for your bride and groom. If you've never done light painting, off camera flash, or shooting in complete darkness, try it! Brides and Grooms are usually willing to take a break from the dancing to relax a little and you can take a chance at being creative. If it doesn't work out, no big deal... they will appreciate the break either way ;) Below is an example of some light painting I like to do when my receptions allow it. You need a tripod, a flashlight and an off camera flash for this particular shot. Go with a low ISO, about an 8 second long exposure and an aperture around f5.6. It takes a little bit of running around like a mad man to make this particular shot, but give it a shot and see what you can come up with!

the red lighting is all ambient, with a flash to the side and me running around with a flash light.

I would love to hear if any of these tips helped you out or motivated you to do something creative at your wedding! Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think. Now go to your wedding and get some awesome shots today!!! Good luck

Joe Hendricks

Joe Hendricks 9/26/14 Joe Hendricks 9/26/14

Shooting into the light

The other day I tweeted "I take a lot of chances on my photo shoots" and I really do! I love trying to find a different angle, shooting through something to give depth to my pictures and shooting directly into the sun. That last one can be kind of tricky and that's what I'm going to talk about today.

When you are shooting into the sun, you have to get good exposure and you also need to know how to edit it in post. Most of the time, I can put my camera in aperture priority (nikon) and it nails the shots every time when shooting into the sun. Unfortunately, photographers have a tendency to look at the back of the camera (in the sun light) and think they underexposed the shot, so they dial up manual mode and end up overexposing it to much. The thing to remember about shooting into the sun, is to not spend to much time on it and consider it a fun "taking a chance" shot. If it doesn't work, who cares... you have plenty of other shots to pick from ;)

The fun part is editing this shot! The very first place I start in Lightroom is my black levels. I bring them down a lot to add some richness to the picture, then I adjust my white balance. I was taught a long time ago (in the Navy) to always get the exposure correct first and the white balance will be so much easier. Then I go to my tone curve and click the little box in the bottom right hand corner that says "click to edit point curve" when you hover over it. I bring the shadows and darks down. This will give you a rich photo full of contrast and color!

the original shot straight out of camera

This style is not for everyone, but I love it! It's easy to get your safe shots, so go ahead and take those and then have fun experimenting. You don't even have to tell the couple that you're taking a chance on something new... just try it and you will look awesome when it turns out great!

If you try this, email me the shot you come up with! I would love to see it!! joe@joehendricks.com

Leave me a comment if you like this post... I'm thinking of doing more.

Joe

Joe Hendricks 9/23/14 Joe Hendricks 9/23/14

What kind of camera do I use to shoot wedding

I use a Nikon D4. This is one of the toughest camera's I have ever used and it always comes through for me in the toughest situations! I've had wedding ceremonies that dimmed the lights at the last second and I was able to take this camera from 2000 ISO to 12,800 ISO without hesitation, knowing it could handle the extreme low light of the ceremony! Here is a picture of the camera below... it's also the reason that I don't have to go to the gym! Lifting this all day during a wedding is like doing bicep curls for 9 hours with one hand ;)

My Nikon D4 is one of the best camera's I've ever used and one of the main reasons I'm able to shoot your ceremony in extreme low light situations ;)

Here are a few pictures I recently took with this camera. Keep in mind, that it takes more than just a good camera to get awesome pictures, but there aren't many cameras that give you the opportunity to get some of these shots.