Unique engagement shoot...

zoomer

Everything went fine.
I shot them for 30 minutes and I picked the best 10 to give them.
They wanted all closeups, and he had his haircut.
She approved them as we went and when we finished we went through them all on the camera and she said she was satisfied.
It is what it is at this point.
The wedding should be interesting.

elizabeth_Luna wrote:

Zoomer sorry to hear about this - How did the pictures go on the 2nd shoot?

elizabeth_Luna

zoomer wrote:

Everything went fine.
I shot them for 30 minutes and I picked the best 10 to give them.
They wanted all closeups, and he had his haircut.
She approved them as we went and when we finished we went through them all on the camera and she said she was satisfied.
It is what it is at this point.
The wedding should be interesting.

I love them previous shoots ! I can only imagine how good the others look.

ightenhill

Can only add that these are stunning... I would be interested to know what exactly it was they wanted that they felt was missing from the first set, more formality or just a new haircut?

zoomer

It was the haircut.
At the very end of their gallery...the last 10 pictures are the reshoot.
I am afraid this is a couple that is not going to be happy with anything...
After they looked at the new ones their only comment was "they're fine".

ightenhill wrote:

Can only add that these are stunning... I would be interested to know what exactly it was they wanted that they felt was missing from the first set, more formality or just a new haircut?

Mishka

zoomer wrote:

It was the haircut.
At the very end of their gallery...the last 10 pictures are the reshoot.
I am afraid this is a couple that is not going to be happy with anything...
After they looked at the new ones their only comment was "they're fine".

Personally, I think the first ones were the best (and they are really good!)...the last were just your typical (but very nicely done) newspaper announcement shots. What was wrong with the haircut anyway?

zoomer

I agree with you Mishka.
The first set had all their personality and fun in them.
I like his hair better in those as well.

dank-photo

The first set was great!! There was absolutely nothing that was technically wrong with them...and they really showed their personality more...I can't believe they couldn't have chosen some from that set! I don't know if it's because of her insecurities with herself or something, but she looks great! And if it's because of his new haircut, they should be charged for a reshoot...that is something that should have been considered by them before the first shoot. I'd have to agree with others and say that you should try to get out of the wedding...if they don't like your style there, it's not like it's something that can be reshot. Great work, and good luck! Thanks for sharing.

-Dan K

saurora

Amazing set! They look so relaxed and seem to be having so much fun. You did a super job. I'm just speechless at their response. You were a true pro to give them the benefit of the doubt and to do a re-shoot in an attempt to give them what they wanted. The 2nd shoot was nice as well, but more traditional and less unique. Doesn't seem like they are willing to expound upon what they are looking for. I hear warning bells in my head reading this as it just seems like there will be no pleasing them. When is the wedding? I think this is one wedding I would have bowed out of if I were in your place. She looks sweet, but methinks you may have a bridezilla on your hands.

Dooginfif20

zoomer I think you shots are awesome! What did you use to capture these? I am trying to get an idea of how many people shoot ambient and how many shoot using strobes

zoomer

Thanks Dan,
We met with the couple yesterday to go over their photos one by one and then to do their wedding announcements for them.
Turns out the girl loved them it was the guy who didn't like his hair and blamed it on his Mom....it was the Mom that didn't like the kissing shots.

So I have the full story now and will know what kinds of pics to take at the wedding. I think it will be fine, they are an attractive couple and I am sure there will be lots of great photos from their wedding.

dank-photo wrote:

The first set was great!! There was absolutely nothing that was technically wrong with them...and they really showed their personality more...I can't believe they couldn't have chosen some from that set! I don't know if it's because of her insecurities with herself or something, but she looks great! And if it's because of his new haircut, they should be charged for a reshoot...that is something that should have been considered by them before the first shoot. I'd have to agree with others and say that you should try to get out of the wedding...if they don't like your style there, it's not like it's something that can be reshot. Great work, and good luck! Thanks for sharing.

-Dan K

zoomer

Thanks Saurora,
For their announcement they chose one from the new set in color to be the major photo, then they did a film strip of 3 black and whites from the first shoot on the top and another film strip of 3 black and whites fromt he first shoot for the bottom to frame the color shot in the middle.
It came out really nice. They are happy...they pay me to make them happy and we have done that so far....

saurora wrote:

Amazing set! They look so relaxed and seem to be having so much fun. You did a super job. I'm just speechless at their response. You were a true pro to give them the benefit of the doubt and to do a re-shoot in an attempt to give them what they wanted. The 2nd shoot was nice as well, but more traditional and less unique. Doesn't seem like they are willing to expound upon what they are looking for. I hear warning bells in my head reading this as it just seems like there will be no pleasing them. When is the wedding? I think this is one wedding I would have bowed out of if I were in your place. She looks sweet, but methinks you may have a bridezilla on your hands.

zoomer

Hi Doogin,
Well most of these are shot with the d700 and 70-200 lens, those are all natural light.
The flash ones at the end of the first set are with the d3 and 24-70 lens with flash right on the camera.

The second set, the last 10 shots were, with the d700 70-200 lens and an sb800 off camera on a stand with a light box.
99% of my portraits are shot with this setup.

For weddings I shoot 80% flash on a bracket and bounced and formals I normally shoot with the off camera flash and lightbox indoors and the flash on a bracket outdoors.
At a wedding maybe 15% are natural light.

Dooginfif20 wrote:

zoomer I think you shots are awesome! What did you use to capture these? I am trying to get an idea of how many people shoot ambient and how many shoot using strobes

lisarhinehart

love your work, any advice for my first shoot?
I love your work!!!! I can't believe how many AMAZING shots you have. most people have 4 or 5 like that and you have like 200. Wow!

I have my first engagement shoot tomorrow and came here for inspiration. I viewed your gallery in critique and noticed that you used f4.0 for the set-- do you use AV or M? I'm assuming M, but ya never know. I have never seen my camera choose such fast shut speeds, but it might be that you have a much nicer camera???

I also really like the lighting, when did you shoot?

Any further tips or advice?

sweet caroline

When you first posted this, I was in the midst of end of school year chaos and didn't have a chance to look. WOW. Gorgeous photos. You captured so much personality and incredible light. The couple looks great and the colors are delicious. You're now on my list of photographers I want to be when I grow up:)

Caroline

zoomer

Hi Lisa,
Thanks so much for the nice comment. Appreciate your endurance for looking through them all, lol.

I normally shoot f2.8 or f4. I shoot A outside and M inside. When shooting A just remember that when you lock the focus and recompose the exposure is still changing when you move your focus point, so better to switch focus points as required.
I may be using higher ISO than you normally do to get the faster shutter speeds. I have it on auto ISO and sometimes I might be shooting at ISO 1600 to keep the shutter speed up.

I always shoot the last two hours of the day and normally use a combination of flash and natural light.

Take your time to let the couple relax and have fun, if they are having fun the photos will naturally come. Good luck!

lisarhinehart wrote:

I love your work!!!! I can't believe how many AMAZING shots you have. most people have 4 or 5 like that and you have like 200. Wow!

I have my first engagement shoot tomorrow and came here for inspiration. I viewed your gallery in critique and noticed that you used f4.0 for the set-- do you use AV or M? I'm assuming M, but ya never know. I have never seen my camera choose such fast shut speeds, but it might be that you have a much nicer camera???

I also really like the lighting, when did you shoot?

Any further tips or advice?

zoomer

Thanks Caroline,
Glad you enjoyed the photos.
I appreciate you taking the time to look and leave such a nice comment.
Hope school went well for you.

sweet caroline wrote:

When you first posted this, I was in the midst of end of school year chaos and didn't have a chance to look. WOW. Gorgeous photos. You captured so much personality and incredible light. The couple looks great and the colors are delicious. You're now on my list of photographers I want to be when I grow up:)

Caroline

lisarhinehart

tomorrow night

zoomer wrote:

Hi Lisa,
Thanks so much for the nice comment. Appreciate your endurance for looking through them all, lol.

I normally shoot f2.8 or f4. I shoot A outside and M inside. When shooting A just remember that when you lock the focus and recompose the exposure is still changing when you move your focus point, so better to switch focus points as required.
I may be using higher ISO than you normally do to get the faster shutter speeds. I have it on auto ISO and sometimes I might be shooting at ISO 1600 to keep the shutter speed up.

I always shoot the last two hours of the day and normally use a combination of flash and natural light.

Take your time to let the couple relax and have fun, if they are having fun the photos will naturally come. Good luck!

Thanks for your quick responce to both my posts. i am really excited and ready to have fun! They don't seem like a big PDA couple, so I'm not sure how that part will go, but I think once they are comfortable and in a romantic, private setting they'll be up for some dips, hand holding and almost kisses at least: . They are gorgeous and happy together, so that shoudl be good.

I should be good with the last 2 hours of the day, and as far as ISO, i think I can do that with my camera, but won't that get all pixelated and noisy? Most people have been saying don't go above ISO 200, but maybe that's b/c your camera is so much better that you can pull off those fast speeds?

I noticed in one of your shots that had a really whimsical feel (one in particular with a dark haired male carrying the blonde female- it was in black and white) that your ISO was at 1600 and it was smooth, but I'm sure you use a ps tool or two to smooth it out.

zoomer

Hi Lisa,
No matter what you are shooting you should be fine to iso 400 and maybe up to iso 800 if you expose properly, if you shoot it dark and then have to bring it up in processing it can get REAL noisy fast.

Tell em to act like they like each other and see what develops lol.

Yes I have some Photoshop actions that I use for blurring that I really like.

lisarhinehart wrote:

Thanks for your quick responce to both my posts. i am really excited and ready to have fun! They don't seem like a big PDA couple, so I'm not sure how that part will go, but I think once they are comfortable and in a romantic, private setting they'll be up for some dips, hand holding and almost kisses at least: . They are gorgeous and happy together, so that shoudl be good.

I should be good with the last 2 hours of the day, and as far as ISO, i think I can do that with my camera, but won't that get all pixelated and noisy? Most people have been saying don't go above ISO 200, but maybe that's b/c your camera is so much better that you can pull off those fast speeds?

I noticed in one of your shots that had a really whimsical feel (one in particular with a dark haired male carrying the blonde female- it was in black and white) that your ISO was at 1600 and it was smooth, but I'm sure you use a ps tool or two to smooth it out.