Kari Campos Photography | Chicago, IL

While watching the Jasmine Star workshop, I had an Evernote note open on my computer screen to jot down key things, such as phrases she’d say, observations of how she was shooting, quick tips, etc. So, to be completely honest, my notes are a bit of a jumbled mess and sorting through them will take a bit of time. So in this post I’ll just share some of my favorite quotes, tips, and observations…

 Lighting and Exposure:

• J* is a huge fan of the bounce card
• She uses flash most often at receptions and bounces the flash behind her off a wall instead of the flash facing the guests
• When you are confronted with bright, hard light, remove the subject a foot or so from the area with the direct light and you will get a bounce of light on the subject
• Keep away from red brick; pull the subject a foot or two away so their skin won’t look red
• J* doesn’t mind blowing out the skies, as long as the skin on her clients looks good, she doesn’t change her settings
• Don’t reveal your light source (e.g. if ground is bouncing light, don’t shoot the ground)
• Move items so that they are out of hot spots

 Client Relations:

• Under-promise and over-deliver
• Prepare your clients for success (e.g. J* encourages her clients to get their hair and makeup done for engagement photos)
• Be upfront with your clients (e.g. let them know you are a natural light photographer so certain times of the day work better than others; tell clients up front of the importance of being on time and that you won’t extend the session if they’re late)
• Educate your clients about the time you need
• Show your clients how to pose—don’t just tell
• J* sends a list of pictures she wants to take to the bride

 Business and Other:

• Get your bag totally ready the night before a shoot
• J* firmly believes that second shooting is a must before becoming a first shooter at a wedding
• Pre-visualization is important; always have ideas in mind
• Be able to define your style in three words (I’m working on this one)
• “Don’t brand yourself for the person you want to be. Brand for yourself.”
• “Photoshop actions should be salt to a really good meal—not the meal itself.”
• J* never runs actions at 100%

 During the Shoot:

• Stylize, stylize, stylize (especially detail shots); don’t be afraid to move stuff around to get a better shot (just remember to put it back how you found it)
• Never portray how stressed you are
• SMILE
• Do whatever you can to make your clients relaxed
• Get people to laugh
• Tell your clients it’s okay to feel beautiful
• Talk behind the camera, not with the camera pulled away from you; otherwise you chance missing great moments
• Capture natural body action
• Always have your focal point on who is looking at you
• J* focuses (using back button focus) between every frame
• J* shoots 7-8 shots per pose so she can ensure at least one is in focus
• J* shoots formal portraits horizontal at full length and then walks in and gets one just from the waist up
• In group shots, the focal point is always on the bride
• Don’t shoot while people are eating, because their mouths are full of food—take that time to take a break
• Don’t be shy about shooting several angles

These notes are truly just the tip of the iceberg and really do not do justice to capturing all I learned. Obviously, being that Jasmine Star is a wedding photographer, many of these tips are specific to photographing weddings. With no weddings in sight as a second shooter, I still feel like I learned a lot that can be transferred over to portrait sessions. I cannot recommend highly enough purchasing the recordings for yourself if you are a photographer (aspiring like me or a bit more experienced). I promise you’ll learn so much more than you can imagine. I know I did!

Among the things I learned while watching Jasmine Star’s creativeLIVE workshop were techniques for shooting, equipment advice, workflow, editing, photoshoot prep, attracting (and repelling) clients, website development, pricing, second shooting, seeing light, how to interact with clients, how to build a business, and about a billion other things. So, you can see my predicament. It’s hard to know where to start.

I guess I’ll start at the very beginning. Without equipment, there cannot be photographs (or a photographer to take them). So equipment is what I’ll touch upon.

What Jasmine taught me is that, contrary to what others may make you believe, you really don’t need the best equipment out there, every lens, and every accessory. Rent lenses to determine what you’d like and how you can use them before purchasing. Shoot with the camera you have now and push it to its limits. Learn everything there is to know about it and only upgrade when you’ve done all you can do with it. It’s so easy for a new photographer like me to always be wanting new equipment, but I’ve learned that I should work with what I have and use it to its potential.

Jasmine shoots with prime lenses (a.k.a. fixed focal length, not zoom lenses for those of you who aren’t photography inclined). She has her favorite lenses and she sticks to them. She has seven in all, but shoots with probably two or three for the vast majority of any given wedding. She never uses a tripod. She very rarely uses a reflector. She avoids flash (but will use it when needed). She uses what she has and makes the most out of each situation.

I like the fact that she uses 4 GB memory cards. That way, in case something happens to go wrong with a card, she’ll lose a maximum of about 125 pictures instead of many, many more if she were using bigger cards. I use a 4GB card now and have realized I need to order more.

And while we’re on the topic of equipment, let’s talk a little about camera settings. Did you know she never changes her white balance? It’s always on Auto. She says that she trusts her Canon 5DMarkII and that she can always change the balance in Lightroom if necessary.

(On a sidenote, I took her lead and put my setting on AWB for my first session. Granted, I have a Canon Rebel t1i that isn’t really comparable to her camera, but I learned that I don’t trust AWB in my camera. I had to make a lot of adjustments during post-processing. You live and you learn. Something that works for someone and their equipment doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you.)

In addition to AWB, Jasmine uses back button focusing—something I had never heard of before. So, I Googled (and Googled and Googled) and gave it a try. I love it. I’ll have to write a post dedicated to it.

Jasmine shoots solely in Manual. Again, this is something I want to dedicate an entire blog post to. Let’s just say that while I’ve shot in Manual quite a bit, I chickened out with my first session and shot in Aperture Priority.

And this is what blows my mind…Jasmine doesn’t METER. Can I please be her? She literally is able to read the light and know the settings. She takes a test shot, looks at her LCD screen (not the histogram mind you, just the display with the picture), and adjusts from there. No metering! To me this just seems utterly impossible. Am I just out of the loop and extremely light meter challenged, or is she an anomoly?

I’ll stop there for today. More tomorrow. I promise.

Waaaay back in July, I posted about Jasmine Star, one of the most popular wedding photographers in the biz, doing a 5-day online workshop live in August (big shoutout to CreativeLive).  As you can tell from the post, I may have been a wee bit excited.

 Why? Well, I’d been a long-time reader of Jasmine’s blog and felt some type of secret connection with her. Here was a woman, not much older than myself, who left Law School at a highly renowned school and decided to become a photographer after getting married. I feel like we have much in common, though I never went (or dropped out for that matter) of Law School. But I still know how she fills, and so admire that she followed her dreams. And look, four years later she went from knowing very little about photography to developing into one of the top ten wedding photographers out there. Quite the accomplishment I’d say!

 Anyway, back to the story. I knew watching the workshop live wouldn’t be feasible. I do have a full-time, highly unrelated job that I couldn’t skip out on. Bills need to be paid! And even though part of the workshop was over the weekend, it just so happened to be the weekend that R and I moved.

 So, I pre-ordered the recordings.

And the week after I watched them. Best.decision.ever. Okay, maybe not ever. But, in some ways yes—ever. The first week of September, I watched all of those recordings during the evening. R can vouch. I spent waaaay to much time on the couch ignoring him and instead focusing my attention on Jasmine and her every word.

 I took notes, I took lots and lots of notes. And I plan to share some of the biggest things I learned with all of you. And believe me, everything I learned seemed big. So, over the next week or two, I will share some of what I learned.

It will likely take more than one post so be prepared!