Help Needed with Engagement shots

BlueHoseJacket

My daughter and her fiancé are wanting to get some engagement pictures made....my wife suggested that we hire one of our long lost college friends who has a photography studio to do these shots. This was fine with my daughter and with me...I do not have the equipment or knowledge to provide what I think are quality shots of this type
.
This past weekend I am told that they want me and her boyfriends Dad to do the pictures. Her boyfriend is a Marine and will be home over the 4th of July to take the pictures. I don't think that his Dad has anymore experience, knowledge or equipment than I do.

If this is what they want....I am willing to give it a shot. It want cost them a dime and I would love to do it (if they will cooperate with me). If they aren't happy with the shots we can then hire someone.

here is what I have...

Canon Rebel XT (with built-in flash only)
Sigma 70-200mm 2.8
Canon 28-105mm 3.5 -4.5
Cannon 50mm 1.8
Canon 18-55mm 3.5 - 5.6

I have no umbrellas, reflectors or mount flashescry

They are wanting to take the shots outside a historic house in the area.

>>>>the more I write...the worse this gets:dunno

Do I have a shot at presentable pictures with what I have...should I rent a different lense and a flash?

Your suggestions are needed. Thanks.

rhondavid

I think you have the equipment you need in terms of camera gear. Since the pictures are to be taken outside, you might want to get a piece of poster board to use as a reflector to direct some light back on the faces. Of course you will need someone to hold that for you which sounds like that could be the future SIL's dad. Watch you lighting and you should be good to go.

You might want to have your daughter look at some of the shots on here to get an idea of some of the poses she would like to have and make a list of the. That will eliminate pressure on you having to think about how to pose them.

I was faced with a similar situation a couple of months ago when a friend asked me to take some pictures of their daughter in her wedding dress. These were to be done a couple of weeks before hand. Was not jumping for joy about the idea but did them and I think they turned out well. Two days before the Big Day I got a call saying Oh Yeah, you are the official photographer. What? At any rate about 250 pictures were taken, some issue with family members trying to take pictures at the same time but other than that, they turned out pretty good.

Good luck. Try to get in some practice shots in the area where you are to make the official pictures before the scheduled day. That will give you a good idea about how the sun hits, available shade, backgrounds etc..

divamum

The 50 1.8 is a great portrait lens (just be very conscientious about your focus points particularly when shooting at wider apertures) and with the fast telephoto you have I should think you have the gear.

I second the suggestion for a reflector - inexpensive and offers wonderful opportunities in outside light. Foamboard is great (dollar stores often have it), and you can also get one of those pop-open car windshield shades (usually 2 to a package) for about $10 at Walmart.

If you decide to purchase a purpose-made reflector, I personally would go with one of the larger 5-in-1 combos - a bit more expensive, but one of the regular posters here demonstrated wonderful results in broad sunlight using the translucent diffuser panel as a scrim over her subjects (thread here). I really want to get one and try this myself!!

AFauska

Just think of it this way. Go and have fun, make memories with your daughter. The pictures can always be done again by someone else if you do not like the outcome.

zoomer

No problem.
Shoot the last 1.5 hours before sunset on a cloudy day and you don't need any lights.
Put on the 70-200 set it at F4 set your iso on 400 and go for it.
Have fun.

Jeff_Milo

I agree with the others, just go have fun with your daughter and her fiance. The equipment should be fine for natural light. They are young and in love you don't need to do a lot of posing, put them in comfortable positions and shoot their interaction. Doing simple things like just telling them to flirt with each other can produce wonderful shots. There are a lot of great ideas in this forum look around, I know this is usually where I come for inspiration.

MA-FOTO

+1 on a reflector .... they go for $10-20 for a fold up thru amazon or other places.
+1 on the 50mm or 70-200 for portrait work.

Thoughts:
-shot in RAW format. if this is new to you (not sure) we are here to help.
-remember to mix up placing subject in center and off center.
-shoot in the later part of the day

Tare it up and have a blast.... even if it rains - go shoot and use the rain as a prop or add in....

We want to see pics......

and have fun!!!

Later,
_Mark

zoomer

I see a lot of people suggesting reflectors..
I have to go -1 on that.
They are a pain in the butt to use correctly and kill spontaneity in the shoot.....of course just my opinion.

VayCayMom

You can do this!
I highly suggest you go to the location ASAP and get some practice. Hopefully they are available whenever the light is best. Also have some backup location. Read up about posing people and I think you will be good to go and feel ready!!!!

pwp

Everyone has given you some fantastic advise, including the reflector. I would say go on and invest a little money in the 5-in-1, and use it when you can for the posey shots, then fold it away for the spontaneous/fun shots. You should be just fine with that set up....I shot my first formal engagement session about 4 years ago with a very similar setup. I am *still* booking wedding clients off that very first set "professional" engagement portraits. (Friends and acquaintances saw the photos and word is still trickling down from there.)

Scout the location at different times of day if you can, see where the light and shadows fall, and have fun with it! At the very least it will be a learning experience for you, and I'm sure you will get some adorable photos out of it! (And as a Marine Wife myself, tell your daughter that she's made an excellent choice! )

BlueHoseJacket

Thank you all for your suggestions...like I mentioned, I am suppose to take these shots during the 4th of July holiday period. I will start looking for a reflector in the next couple of days.

Here are some shots I took back around Thanksgiving a couple of days after they got engaged. Again...these were taken without a flash and no reflector. I was not very thrilled with the outcome of about 90% of the shots I took mostly due to the harsh light. As you can see...I am a newbie at this type photography (give me a football game, baseball game or lacrosse).

AFauska

I love the candidness of #1 even though you are getting shadowing, the background is great with the coloring. #4 is a very nice posed shot, you are on the right track as far as the natural light with out shadowing on them. I think you will have a great time and just remember if you take a bunch of shots something is bound to be useable.

AFauska

MA-FOTO

like #1....
but looking at the last one can give you an edge.
when the shadow is complete and you meter more of a center preference you can see his face under the bus driver hat..... okay 'cover ' for you military types.

The tough part will be straight sun or hard shadows casted on the couple.

as the date gets closer - check the weather. if sunny skies - try to shoot in late afternoon and in complete shade.

One last thought - the last one - swing over to your left just enought to remove the white frame out of the view.

go getem'!!!!!

Later,
_Mark

Art Scott

BlueHoseJacket wrote:

My daughter and her fiancé are wanting to get some engagement pictures made....my wife suggested that we hire one of our long lost college friends who has a photography studio to do these shots. This was fine with my daughter and with me...I do not have the equipment or knowledge to provide what I think are quality shots of this type
.
This past weekend I am told that they want me and her boyfriends Dad to do the pictures. Her boyfriend is a Marine and will be home over the 4th of July to take the pictures. I don't think that his Dad has anymore experience, knowledge or equipment than I do.

If this is what they want....I am willing to give it a shot. It want cost them a dime and I would love to do it (if they will cooperate with me). If they aren't happy with the shots we can then hire someone.

here is what I have...

Canon Rebel XT (with built-in flash only)
Sigma 70-200mm 2.8
Canon 28-105mm 3.5 -4.5
Cannon 50mm 1.8
Canon 18-55mm 3.5 - 5.6

I have no umbrellas, reflectors or mount flashescry

They are wanting to take the shots outside a historic house in the area.

>>>>the more I write...the worse this gets

Do I have a shot at presentable pictures with what I have...should I rent a different lense and a flash?

Your suggestions are needed. Thanks.

With your gear....you have plenty especially for outdoors shooting.......my preference with your gear would be the 28-105 and 70-200 and since I have shot many years using a 70-210 for everything that is what I would use, but for a very long time that is the only lens I had and learned it very well.


Yes you should rent a flash or at least buy some white heavy poster board or foam core to use as a reflector and use his dad as your assistant and maybe your wife and his.......
The flash really needs to be at the very least on a flash bracket to get it off the camera a bit and also you would need a diffuser of some sort (even if it is a white kleenex rubber banded to the flash head to soften the flash)

next I would search this forum for engagement pics and see what others have done in the way of posing and such....also search google for the same print of the 20 - 50 examples you like most and then learn how to pose them........

Take your time out shooting and have fun......

OOOOps did not read whole thread..... lol lol