First E-Session: Help Please!

Kat18

Hello fellow Photo lovers,

I'm new to this site and relatively new to the photography scene. I've only been seriously shooting for a little over a year. I only have a Canon Powershot SX120 which is just a P&S. It does have a fully manual mode, for which I am very grateful as I bought it when I had no idea what I was looking at. I just thought it looked like a good camera. Oh boy! :rolleyes

Anyways, a family friend who is practically a brother to me recently got engaged.:barb As I'm also friends with his fiance, I offered to do an engagement shoot which excited them. I like the way most of my pictures have been turning out lately, but I'm appropriately nervous.

The bride-to-be wants to do the shoot at the barn where us girls hang out a lot. Unfortunately, the barn itself is not attractive and, save for maybe the hay stack, not a photogenic location. The area around it, which is what she had in mind, is pretty in some places. There's a pond surrounded by cattails and a semi-pretty forest out back. There's a huge fallen tree in the pasture which will work well. Little spots like that.

Pretty much, it's just going to be me, them, my P&S camera, a large reflector/diffuser (43" with a gold, white, silver, and black cover. Diffuser without cover), a late afternoon/evening sun, and (hopefully) some golden/red autumn trees.

PLEASE give me ANY tips for shooting a giddy, slightly bashful couple with what I have available. Thanks!

Moogle Pepper

If they cannot hire someone and you have to do this:

It is possible to shoot this with what you have, but, I would rent out gear from borrowlenses if you need gear.

Work with composition and posing the couple, getting candids might be tough with a pns as moments can happen really fast that a PnS just won't capture it in time. Take your time and make use of the reflector.

Svennie

Kat18 wrote: »

I like the way most of my pictures have been turning out lately, but I'm appropriately nervous.

I would recommend doing several test/trial shoots before doing this e-session. That way you can see if this is for you and your equipment is suitable enough to produce good quality photos. Practice, practice, practice

The bride-to-be wants to do the shoot at the barn where us girls hang out a lot. Unfortunately, the barn itself is not attractive and, save for maybe the hay stack, not a photogenic location. The area around it, which is what she had in mind, is pretty in some places. There's a pond surrounded by cattails and a semi-pretty forest out back. There's a huge fallen tree in the pasture which will work well. Little spots like that.

A barn can be a very photogenic spot!

angevin1

Svennie wrote: »

I would recommend doing several test/trial shoots before doing this e-session. That way you can see if this is for you and your equipment is suitable enough to produce good quality photos. Practice, practice, practice


A barn can be a very photogenic spot!

I second this and will say, the Shoot is about the couple. The environment is to set their mood! But P-N-S? really?If you learn and follow some rules, this could be doable!

Agnieszka

I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings here ... (haven't seen any photos from you, so I hope you don't take it the wrong way), but there goes a lot in an engagement or wedding shoot. I'd stay away from it. If you want to take some photos for fun, do it! I bet you guys will have a lot of fun MINUS any pressure. Go outside with them and explore, try different settings, different locations and have fun, and you know what? If it won't work out, there won't be any bad feelings involved.

Also, just renting a better camera (not having ever played with a larger camera) will not make your images better, in fact, they'll probably be worse as you won't know anything about the settings. Best thing here might be to see if one of your friends has a good camera and see if you could get your hands on it for a couple weeks.

Eeeek. I did not want to scare you away from anything. There is nothing wrong with shooting for fun and hey, learning by doing is the theme of my life.

On an other note. I will move this thread to "weddings" / engagements, hope that's ok with you.

Kat18

Thanks everyone for your tips! Unfortunately, the P&S is all I can afford, but it really is a good camera as far as P&S's go. Here are some of the recent pictures I took with the Canon SX120 at the barn where we will be doing the shoot:








(I didn't have the reflector with me for any of these. It's just my use of the natural light.)

Though I know these pictures aren't "professional" grade, the reasons for my doing this anyways are:

1. The couple won't be paying me. It's strictly volunteer work.
2. They aren't picky. They don't need to look expensive and high end to bring a warm smile to their remembering faces.
3. They fully understand my capabilities and have every confidence in me and
4. They wouldn't be having these pictures taken otherwise.

It's the perfect opportunity for me to get some practice in for my composing, posing, and color balance, exposure, etc. I cannot afford a D-SLR yet and I've never used one before. I truly am fairly new at this. It's not like I'm doing this as a business or anything. I'm just looking for tips to make the most of what I do have so that the pictures will be as good as possible given the conditions.

It's very true that a barn can be photogenic. I'll make the most of it! But, it's a half barn, so there's really not much to work with. You can see a bit of the roof in the picture of the cat. It's just really not a very photogenic "barn".

Thanks again!

-Kat

Kat18

Oh, and I do have a fairly heavy-duty tri-pod. It has limited movement/angles, but it hold the camera steady fairly well, though I usually ditch it after a little while if I'm not going for an "easy to set up" shot considering how long it takes to get the right angle. Again, I did not have the tri-pod for the above pictures.

Just in case it's not clear (I don't want this to seem like a bigger deal than it is), this pretty much is just for fun, like Agnieszka suggested.

rhommel

Hey Kat! awesome photos there. I noticed that there are no 'people' in your examples. I like that silhouette shot (not sure if it's a statue or not). Shooting people is way different than shooting inanimate objects and animals. The key here is to try to capture the 'emotions' in a creative way. What I would suggest is practice shooting people and see how you would like it. the goal is to make the photos NOT to look like a snapshot.

Moogle Pepper

Well if you have to do this. Never forgo the contract! Get some legal documentation for this, even if this is voluntary, for friends, for whatever reason.

martinjp2

Hi Kat, It sometimes feels like the pros don’t think amateurs should be allowed to take pictures and you have to invest $20k in equipment. IHi Kat, It sometimes feels like the pros don’t think amateurs should be allowed to take pictures and you have to invest $20k in equipment. I think they’ve just perfected their craft and know how amazing a high-end SLR is that they just can’t conceive on taking a picture with a P&S.

I’ve heard pros say that they’ve seen great pictures shot with an iPhone and the best camera is the one in your hands. So go out and take some great engagement pictures of your friends.

Being an amateur of 30 years who’s never done an e-session and prefers to shoot candid shots I wouldn’t presume to give you advice if the pros had or you were more experienced.

Since they’re friends do the shoot at the barn and if you feel like you haven’t captured them have another session at a location you prefer. Use your friendship to bring out their giddy side and overcome their bashfulness. Shot face shots really tight, but leave room for cropping for popular sized prints (based sensors aspect ratio). Don’t use manual mode for this session unless you know exactly what you’re very experienced with it for this type of session. Check your shots and make sure they’re not under exposed or have blown out highlights. You get better results lowering the exposure in post processing than increasing it. Don’t shoot all of you pictures at odd angles, a few are artistic more are annoying. You obviously know the flash is your P&S’ weakest component since you have a reflector, don’t use it except as a fill flash. Don’t use the gold reflector unless you know what it can be used for, it won’t warm up your pictures. Take another friend along to hold the reflector where you need it (close to the couple just out of the shot). Get there about 2 and a half hours before sunset so you’re ready to shoot as the light gets good. The P&S will limit your time since it won’t perform well in low light. You might be able to use the fill flash to get some sunset shots. Also, take lots of batteries and memory cards. You’ll need to shoot the same shot a few (many, take your pick) times to avoid closed eyes and catch the best expressions. I’m not sure why Moogle is suggesting a contract for this type of shoot, but you might want to get model releases in case you want to use the pictures for your portfolio.

You can pick up a lot of great tips wandering around the forums here and at other websites. Look at the pictures in this forum for ideas for poses and read the C&C’s and check out the Photo Craft forums. Enjoy the session and shoot what looks good to you.
think they’ve just perfected their craft and know how amazing a high-end SLR is that they just can’t conceive on taking a picture with a P&S.

I’ve heard pros say that they’ve seen great pictures shot with an iPhone and the best camera is the one in your hands. So go out and take some great engagement pictures of your friends.

Being an amateur of 30 years who’s never done an e-session and prefers to shoot candid shots I wouldn’t presume to give you advice if the pros had or you were more experienced.[/

Since they’re friends do the shoot at the barn and if you feel like you haven’t captured them have another session at a location you prefer. Use your friendship to bring out their giddy side and overcome their bashfulness. Shot face shots really tight, but leave room for cropping for popular sized prints (based sensors aspect ratio). Don’t use manual mode for this session unless you’re very experienced with it for this type of session. Check your shots and make sure they’re not under exposed or have no blown out highlights. You get better results lowering the exposure in post processing than increasing it. Don’t shoot all of you pictures at odd angles, a few are artistic more are annoying. You obviously know the flash is your P&S’ weakest component since you have a reflector, don’t use it except as a fill flash. Don’t use the gold reflector unless you know what it can be used for, it won’t warm up your pictures. Take another friend along to hold the reflector where you need it (close to the couple just out of the shot). Get there about 2 and a half hours before sunset so you’re ready to shoot as the light gets good. The P&S will limit your time since it won’t perform well in low light. You might be able to use the fill flash to get some sunset shots. Also, take lots of batteries and memory cards. You’ll need to shoot the same shot a few (many, take your pick) times to avoid closed eyes and catch the best expressions. I’m not sure why Moogle is suggesting a contract for this type of shoot, but you might want to get model releases in case you want to use the pictures for your portfolio

You can pick up a lot of great tips wandering around the forums here and at other websites. Look at the pictures in this forum for ideas on posing and read the C&C’s also check out the Photo Craft forums. Enjoy the session and shoot what looks good to you.

Sam

Moogle Pepper wrote: »

Well if you have to do this. Never forgo the contract! Get some legal documentation for this, even if this is voluntary, for friends, for whatever reason.

She is doing this without charge and for her friends. They don't seem to have money for photography. I see no issue here.

She don't need no stinking contract!

Sam

Sam

Kat,

I think you have a good eye. Photo #1 is not doing anything for me. #2 is a good composition and a photo that doesn't need high end gear to look great. I like the cat although to be picky I think it could use a small white balance adjustment.

Go out and practice. Try to find out what your camera can do and not do.

Go have fun with your freinds!!

Sam

Kat18

Thank you Sam and martinjp2! I appreciate your understanding my situation and supporting me. Thanks for the tips martinjp2 and I appreciate the critiquing Sam! Thank you both! I do think I'll get a model release and ask permission to post some on here for more feedback. Hopefully, it will be in a week or so because the trees are starting their Autumn wardrobe change! I'll look forward to any C&C on those too, if I can get them.

Sam, for the cat picture, could you be more specific as to what kind of white balance adjustment it could use? More blue or red? Less Green? I'm still growing my eye for white balance and I'd appreciate the advise!

Thanks again!

sweet caroline

Given that this is not the wedding, and these are friends (and not paying for anything), I see no harm in doing a shoot. It doesn't matter whether you call it an engagement shoot or otherwise. It seems that a reshoot would be an option if they don't turn out well, so it shouldn't be too much pressure. This sounds like a wonderful learning opportunity and the couple has nothing to lose. There is some good advice above. So, have fun, and post your results!

martinjp2

Hi Kat,

You're welcome. The white balance problem was caused by a different temperature light source from the back. There's nothing you could have done when you took the picture. What editing software do you have? Someone can probably tell you how to fix it if they know what you're working with.
Jim