The Camera Toss

ADRIENNE (QUESTION): How do you do this camera toss?! What if you drop your camera?!

PHILLIP VAN NOSTRAND (ANSWER): Adrienne, I never drop my camera. That’s why it’s called the $3000 trick! And to accomplish the camera toss, you need to do a few things:

1) Own a full frame camera with a fisheye lens (you can find them used on Amazon now)

2) Set your lens on manual focus to infinity.

3) Make sure your settings are exposed properly with a FAST shutter speed, like 1/1000 or faster.

4) Set your camera to AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) so it takes three pictures in a row and just do the minimum bracketing.

5) Set your camera to 2-second timer mode

6) Hit the button, wait until you see the numbers count down from 2, 1 and then toss your camera up on 1.

7) Your toss should spin the camera a little bit around the Z-axis, meaning it should always be facing downwards, like a satellite. Give it a slight (SLIGHT!) spin so it keeps the camera flat and facing downwards. That’s about it! If you can catch your camera, you only need to throw it about five to ten feet above you and you’ll get a sweet shot! I throw it about 20 feet and I can usually catch the horizon that way.

[Editor’s Note: I’ve done the camera toss at about 50 weddings. I have the wedding party circle around me and it rocks their world! They love it, they trust me and will do anything I say after that, and people constantly come up to me throughout the wedding reception asking to see those pics because someone told them about what I did. I also started my own instagram dedicated to all the camera tosses I’ve ever done all around the world :)]

Let me know if you had the guts to try this out! I know there is a ball camera out there that someone invented to do this, and there are helicopters or drones that will carry a GoPro overhead. But nothing beats the audible gasp from your participants when they see you toss your camera 20 feet up in the sky.

Feel free to ask followup questions below! I answer everything.

$$$ TIP:

The camera toss is a HUGE winner. I’m pretty sure I’ve been hired for weddings simply because of this one trick. I’m not suggesting you go and throw your camera up in the air, BUT, what are you doing to excite your clients and get them talking about you (and then referring you for more $$$)?

What about same-day slideshows? Surprise client gifts? Mom gifts? How are you going above and beyond your client’s expectations? This is why people will hire you again and again and pass your name along.