LUX PRODUCTION HOUSE / HARNEY LANE
For Harney Lane’s new website, we needed to come home with both photos and video. That meant showing more than the bottles: the garden, the people, and those little moments of enjoying a glass together. We had a two-person crew and a pretty tight schedule, so every setup had to give us a few different kinds of shots.
I brought in Jose Rosas of Sezen Four Media. Jose is someone I regularly hire to help on shoots, and it was great to have him alongside me for this one. We started with natural light at the winery in Lodi, then headed to a home in Del Rio for four afternoon scenes.
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THE FINISHED FILM
Watch the director’s cut.
Here’s how it all came together. The director’s cut takes you through the garden, the home scenes, and our last shots at sunset.
THE CAMERA APPROACH
One shoot. Two kinds of coverage.
I used the Sony BURANO for video and the Sony α1 II for photos. The client wanted a little movement in the footage, so the Easyrig Vario 6 got a lot of use. We also had a Sachtler tripod for the shots that needed a steadier frame.
The Sony 28–70mm F2 GM and 70–200mm F2.8 GM OSS II covered most of what we needed. On a shoot like this, zooms make it easier to move from a wider group shot to a tighter detail without stopping for a lens change. I stayed with autofocus throughout, which helped when we were moving with the models and switching between people and products.
I shot at 60 fps so I could slow things down in the edit. For shots like a pour or a quick reaction, it’s nice to have that option.
ZGCINE batteries powered the rig. I had a SmallHD Ultra 7 on the camera, and the Hollyland Pyro 7 let the client watch as we worked. Being able to see the frame together makes it easier to talk through what we’re getting while everyone is still in position.
Behind the camera: G Master glass, the on-camera monitor and the BURANO rig.
01 / MORNING AT THE WINERY
The garden: let the location do the work.
We had about an hour in Harney Lane’s garden, and everything here was natural light. With a location like this, there’s already plenty to work with. The job is finding the angles and keeping an eye on how the light falls on the people.
I liked having plants and trees in the foreground, the models in the middle, and the winery behind them. Those layers give the frame depth and help you feel the location. From there, we could move in for the conversation, bottles, glasses, and pours.
If you’re shooting for a website, think about getting a little range from each setup. A wide shot tells people where they are. A closer shot brings them into the moment. Then a bottle or pour gives the edit a detail to cut to. We needed both photos and video in that hour, so getting that variety while everyone was together mattered.
Finished video frames: the winery garden, conversation, and product details.
Behind the scenes in Lodi: the Easyrig-supported camera, tripod coverage and the garden location.
02 / THE COUCH
Soft light on the model. Shape on the floor.
After a break, we headed to the home in Del Rio. We had roughly an hour to get through the couch, kitchen, patio, and sunset walk. That’s a lot to fit in, so I wanted each lighting choice to have a clear purpose.
For the couch, we had a woman reading by the windows with wine on the coffee table. I bounced an Aputure LS 600d Pro into a white V-flat for a soft key from the back side. Bouncing into a larger white surface spreads the light out, which is useful when you want gentle light on someone’s face.
Outside the window on the model’s left, we had a GVM fixture with a reflector. That light helped create the plant shadows across the floor. This is a useful way to think about a scene: one source can light the person, while another adds shape to the room. They don’t have to do the same job.
03 / THE KITCHEN
Close coverage across the island.
In the kitchen, I worked over the model’s shoulder to get close to the wine and the action on the island. We put the white V-flat camera-right, across the island, to give the scene a little extra pop.
These are the kinds of shots that are easy to overlook when you’re busy getting the wider scenes: a hand picking up a glass, the label, the cork and opener, or wine going into a tumbler. They give you something useful to cut to, and they let the product be part of the moment.
We used the Sachtler flowtech75 with the aktiv8 Sideload head here. For close product coverage, a stable frame helps keep the attention on the small movement happening in front of the lens.
04 / THE PATIO
Keep the sun. Control the contrast.
For the patio, we brought the women together to chat and enjoy some wine. The scene needed to feel easy and relaxed, even though we were moving through the afternoon quickly.
The sun was coming from camera-left and behind the group. We used an 8 × 8 diffusion frame to soften it and an Aputure LS 1200d Pro for fill.
The idea was to keep that nice direction from the sun while making the contrast easier to work with. Diffusion softens the sunlight; fill lifts the darker areas. Once we had the group looking good, we could get the wider conversation, tighter reactions, and bottle details from the same setup.
05 / THE LAST LIGHT
The sunset walk: back to natural light.
We finished with two women walking along the sidewalk with wine tumblers. This was back to natural light, with the setting sun behind them on camera-left.
The light was getting low, so I brought the ISO up to keep shooting. I remember being around ISO 3200 on the BURANO. As the light changes, you have to keep adjusting if you want to make the most of those last few minutes. This scene had a different feel from the garden and the house, and it was a nice way to wrap up the day.
THE TAKEAWAY
A familiar kit earns its place on a fast shoot.
What made this shoot challenging was fitting both photos and video into the time we had. An hour in the garden goes quickly, and four afternoon scenes don’t leave much room for a complicated reset.
For me, this is where knowing your kit pays off. I could use natural light in the garden and at sunset, add light where the house scenes needed it, and get different framings with the zooms. Each choice helped us keep moving while still getting the coverage.
If you’re planning a similar shoot, think through what each scene needs to give you before you start. Get the wider shot, the people, and the details while the setup is ready. It’s much easier than realizing in the edit that you’re missing one small piece.
And having Jose there helped us get through it. I regularly hire him to help on shoots, and I was glad to work with him again on this one. You can check out his work at Sezen Four Media.
THE COMPLETE BTS VIDEO LIBRARY
See the setups in motion.
Want a closer look at how we worked? Open a collection below. Tap into any of them to see the camera rig, the lights, and the setups in motion.
Garden & camera rig 19 clips
Couch & window lighting 11 clips
Kitchen & product coverage 6 clips
Patio & sunset walk 5 clips
Locations & setup details 1 clip
EQUIPMENT / WHAT WAS USED
Gear notes from the shoot.
Here’s everything we used on this shoot. The lights on set were the Aputure LS 600d Pro and LS 1200d Pro. If a link goes to a different model you can buy today, I’ve marked it as an alternative.
We also had ZGCINE V-mount batteries, a white V-flat, a GVM fixture with a reflector, and an 8 × 8 diffusion frame.