I personally didn't want a corny copy-paste video, which is what most wedding filmmakers create. It's a very slow template: some voiceover, then a slow moody song, everything in slow motion. No energy.

And when you're looking at thousands of videos and getting bombarded with Facebook message requests, only a few really speak to you. It came to a point where I unfortunately decided yes or no on a film within its first 15 seconds.

Some of you will like the slow, emotional feel, and that's fine. But for my wedding I had a vision of it being hype AF. My wife and I were in our early 20s, in the rave scene, our friends were all in their 20s, so it was definitely going to be a really hype wedding.

I found a film group who portrayed everything I wanted in our wedding video, but they were way over our budget. So I began to look for that style in others, using every resource available: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, you name it. Eventually I found the one I resonated with the most and inquired.

I know I'm planning to film weddings myself, but I've got to credit my videographer, @exosweddings, for being able to document my wedding the way I envisioned it.

So yeah, I completely understand how tedious this can be. You might not care as much as I did, but the highlight video is a video I often rewatch.

Most graduation photos fail the same way: the grad is standing squarely in front of a campus sign, arms at their sides, waiting to be told what to do. Everything I do on a shoot is aimed at avoiding that frame.

Start with what they wear. I almost never shoot the cap and gown. A dress, or a button-up with slacks, plus the stole is the look that ages well and actually feels like the person. Regalia photographs stiff and dates the image instantly. If they want a couple of cap shots for their family, we get them at the end and move on.

Then time of day. The hour after sunrise or before sunset. Low sun rakes through leaves and flowers and gives you something to work with. Midday puts hard shadows across the face and blows out a white dress or a light stole, and no amount of editing brings that back.

Keep them moving. Standing still is what makes people look nervous. I have them walk toward me, spin, look off to the side, throw a sash in the air, laugh at something. The keeper is almost always the frame between two directions, not the one where they are holding a pose.

Build layers. Shoot through something in the foreground, flowers, tall grass, a branch, and put depth behind them too. A subject sandwiched between a soft foreground and a soft background feels three-dimensional; the same person against a flat wall feels like a school photo.

Around f/2 on a prime gives separation without losing the face, and getting low into the foreground exaggerates the layering. Grab a full-length, a waist-up, and a tight portrait at every spot so there is range without extra setups.

Pick locations that mean something, not just the ones that photograph well. The garden they walked past every day, their department, the beach at the end of it. Two or three good spots beat ten generic ones, and those are the frames families actually order prints of.

A car is essentially a large mirror shaped like a car. Almost every problem in automotive photography comes down to controlling what that mirror is reflecting, which is why location matters more than the camera.

Look for big, clean surfaces to reflect: an open sky, a plain wall, an empty parking structure. Avoid clutter overhead and behind you, because trees, signs, and your own reflection will all end up painted across the bodywork.

Shoot low. Getting the camera near headlight height makes a car look planted and aggressive, while eye level flattens it. Then work the three-quarter front, the profile, and the three-quarter rear, and move around the car rather than zooming.

Shoot at golden hour or after dark. Soft, low light rakes across the panels and shows the body lines. Harsh midday sun creates hot spots that no amount of editing will fully recover.

Details sell the set: badges, wheels, interior stitching, the shifter. A gallery of only wide shots feels incomplete, and detail frames are what make a set look intentional.