Engagement session

jmphotocraft · June 18, 2012

Hi, this was only my second engagement session and I'd appreciate some constructive criticism. The couple wanted outdoor photos here in Portland, and it was a bright sunny day. I ran for the shadows whenever I could, but this produced very flat light. I had a speedlight for fill and catchlights, and also a piece of white foam-core to use as a reflector. I wonder if I should have held the speedlight in my left hand off to the side to create a little more dimension? Also the poses aren't quite as romantic as I would have liked, but the couple was rather shy and the groom was not that into posing. Perhaps a bit of a guy thing going on I think. I had to coach them just to get this much out of them, and I'm not the best at pose coaching. What do you say to people to get more intimacy in the shots? Anyway, here we go. I have not done full retouching yet, waiting to hear back on their favorites. Thanks in advance.

1

2

3 - save the date. They wanted this bg, so I filled with flash.

4 - her request

5 - between shots

6 - getting hitched (get it? get it?)

7 - her idea

8 - she brought the ampersand

9

10 - maybe my fav

jmphotocraft · June 18, 2012

Bueller?

Qarik · June 18, 2012

not really feeling it here. #6 is your best but could've shot that wide open to isolate the couple more. your background needs to be more thought out for one. All your brick/redwall backgrounds have some kind of distrcting element (green metal thing, blue cement thing, etc)

jmphotocraft · June 18, 2012

ok thanks. 6 is at f/4 by the way, on my 24-70L.

laurenornot · June 18, 2012

Good work for only your second try! I like the location and the creative poses that she came up with are cute! I'm sure they're happy with the work.

The two major issues that stand out to me (and maybe only me, who knows):

• Their smiles don't look genuine. Hers are better overall, but his eyes don't say he's enjoying the shoot at all. Not everyone is comfortable having their photo taken so this is very common, but as the photographer it's your job to catch them at their very best. I find that this happens to everyone as a session progresses, smiles just fade naturally. Tell them it's ok to relax their mouths and take a break! Doing that often isn't a bad thing, just keep an eye on them and be ready to snap when a real smile comes out. Make 'em laugh, but if you can't, a good fallback is to talk to them about their wedding (that usually brings out a good grin).

• The vignetting appears to have been done in post and I think it's a little much, particularly in 1 and 6. Looks like it's also in 8, but not as obvious.

That said, 1 and 6 are my favorites and I would love 10 if so much of his face weren't hidden behind hers! Keep at it, you're onto something!

jmphotocraft · June 18, 2012

Thanks Lauren! I agree about his smiles. Two issues there, 1, I think that is just his "camera smile", and 2, I am not much of a comedian, sadly. No wonder sports are my forté, lol. The vignetting was done in post and I can back it off if they don't like it, but I do. They've since told me that they're "thrilled" with the pics, so it's 1 in the win column at the end of the day.

caodoan · June 20, 2012

so cute

smurfy · June 21, 2012

Their moms will like them.

But I think if you just get a longer lens, sit them down in nice light, and back away, you'd get some photos that show how they feel about each other.

To me, e sessions are all about getting them comfortable with the camera and with me as their photographer. The best way to do that is to make sure they have a great time hanging out, snuggling, laughing, and enjoying being in a pretty place with nothing to do but be in love. If he isn't smiling genuinely, it's because he didn't have a reason to. She could have no doubt brought out real smiles from him, but looking straight at you instead of at her didn't really do it for him : )

One comment about number 3: They wanted that background, so you needed to take control and make them do the shoot an hour before sunset. The fill flash wasn't enough for overpowering the sun, and now you have messy shadows. Just shoot e sessions at the magic hour and save yourself unflattering shots like this from becoming save the date cards.

Weisel · June 28, 2012

My measly 2c.
Way too many "smile for the camera" shots. Have them face each other, put their foreheads together, and share a moment of romance. Snap that! etc etc. We want to see emotion, not just people smiling and posing.
Yes, I'm sure their parents will love the shots. Parents love smiling face shots. Generally, those are old school and boring.

I don't always get the emotion I want either. Sometimes I get carried away with a really cool themed shoot or something, and I forget to capture "love" on film. (digital film, sure)
Generally speaking though, your photos look nice, and are of good technical quality, IMO.
Peace.

Jamesbjenkins · July 8, 2012

They're.....ok. But, when you consider that you're shooting $5k worth of gear to produce this result, it feels pretty lacking.

#6 is your best of the set, but the DOF is way too wide. You could easily have thrown the 70-200 on and taken 4 or 5 paces back from them to compress the background and get some really nice separation and shallow DOF.

As you said, your posing really needs work. The most obvious offender is #10. if you'd had the guy stand a little taller position his head to the left a bit more, and had the girl hit him further on his hip, things wouldn't look so forced.

Oh, and number 5 probably belongs in the trash bin. All I see are cars. You need to pay much closer attention to the details in your shots. The details are what separates the great from the mediocre... you've got the gear necessary to be a great as you want to be.

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Engagement session

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