Engagement Pictures

DavidTO · January 1, 2007

Somehow, a friend of mine talked me into shooting her engagement and wedding pictures. I have no experience with either.

The most important thing that I learned is that I have a lot to learn.

I also learned how difficult it is to manage the sun on the beach at sunset.

And how trying it can be to have your wife assisting, holding reflectors, translucent shades, and holding stuff.

I shot over 400 frames in about 2.5 hours. After getting them downloaded off the cards I immediately dumped about 150 of them in the trash heap. I processed about 250 in RAW, culled through those and ended up with 83. It probably should be less, but I wanted to make sure they got their money's worth!

(They're paying me nothing...oh, wait, I got dinner!)

Here's a sampling of the shoot, the gallery is here.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

saurora · January 1, 2007

Well, David, I think you could definitely make a go of it as a wedding/portrait/people photographer! You did a great job, I think the couple will be immensely pleased with these. It's hard to pick one, the lighting was so pretty as was the scenery. But as far as a "people" shot goes, I like #5 as they just look so natural and relaxed.

thumb

DavidTO · January 1, 2007

saurora wrote:

Well, David, I think you could definitely make a go of it as a wedding/portrait/people photographer! You did a great job, I think the couple will be immensely pleased with these. It's hard to pick one, the lighting was so pretty as was the scenery. But as far as a "people" shot goes, I like #5 as they just look so natural and relaxed. thumb

I wish I could afford the cut in pay!

Not that you can't make good money doing it, but it'd take a long time and a lot of learning for me to get to that level!

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, that's one of my faves, too.

gus · January 1, 2007

Excellent ...

Seneca · January 1, 2007

David...here are my suggestion....

A. Go make some business cards
and
B. Go Pro...you're work is great...no...wait...it's OUTSTANDING! I would be extremely pleased with these.

P.S. And for your information...I couldn't decide which one I liked the best...it was hard to choose.

urbanaries · January 1, 2007

Seneca wrote:

David...here are my suggestion....

A. Go make some business cards
and
B. Go Pro...you're work is great...no...wait...it's OUTSTANDING! I would be extremely pleased with these.

P.S. And for your information...I couldn't decide which one I liked the best...it was hard to choose.

#2 is my personal fave, but #1 and $5 are REALLY nice, too. You did a stellar job.

Elaine · January 1, 2007

I'm sure they will be thrilled! You did an outstanding job!! I love the framing on #3....2,5,8 are my other faves!

Elaine

DavidTO · January 1, 2007

Thanks, all!

jdryan3 · January 1, 2007

Very nice work David!. My favorites are #4 & #6. On #4 maybe try and clone out that little white dot where the lips come together.

On #6 I like the blown out sun in the corner and your wife did a great job with the reflectors on evenly lighting their faces (or was it your excellent direction?).

If I was being real picky the shine on his forehead could be toned down.

Excellent first try.

DavidTO · January 1, 2007

jdryan3 wrote:

Very nice work David!. My favorites are #4 & #6. On #4 maybe try and clone out that little white dot where the lips come together.

On #6 I like the blown out sun in the corner and your wife did a great job with the reflectors on evenly lighting their faces (or was it your excellent direction?).
If I was being real picky the shine on his forehead could be toned down.

Excellent first try.

Thanks!

#6 was flash

DavidTO · January 1, 2007

Elaine wrote:

I'm sure they will be thrilled! You did an outstanding job!! I love the framing on #3....2,5,8 are my other faves!

Elaine

8 is half the picture I wish it was. My ND filter's just not dark enough, but I wanted the timed exposure to make the water more blurred and dreamy looking. Shoulda popped my polarizer on there, too to get more light loss.

Also, the surf was so very tame. It was like being on a lake, not an ocean.

DavidTO · January 1, 2007

Ooops.

I had to do some editing on my site, and two of my links broke. I can't remember exactly what I posted the first time around, so I guessed.

Hope I got it right.

Tommyboy · January 2, 2007

Don't sell yourself short, dude. These shots are M U C H nicer than many I've seen from "pros." Really nice stuff, each and every one.

binghott · January 2, 2007

very well done.

they will be very satisfied with your work. the silhouettes are fantastic! #1 is extremely cute!

DavidTO · January 2, 2007

binghott wrote:

very well done. they will be very satisfied with your work. the silhouettes are fantastic! #1 is extremely cute!

Thanks!

gpphotos · January 2, 2007

jawdrop

very impressive!

PeterGar · January 2, 2007

Great work! Location looks like Leo Carillo SB. Is it?

El Kiwi · January 2, 2007

Fantastic work, David! Some friends of mine have asked me to shoot some of them in February for their second wedding ceremony (one of those complicated international weddings), sounds like it'll be pretty similar circumstances... except I don't have a wife for an assistant, ND filters, or reflectors

I hope I can do half as well as you have.

DavidTO · January 2, 2007

PeterGar wrote:

Great work! Location looks like Leo Carillo SB. Is it?

El Matador.

Did you miss the Map This! button?

DavidTO · January 2, 2007

So I thought I'd post some of what I learned on this shoot.

I really need more experience in gauging the scene. I got really lucky in that I was able to salvage a lot of these shots because I was shooting in RAW. I'm going to continue to shoot in RAW for the shots that matter, but I get that I really need to get out there and shoot some JPEG, so that I'm forced to do better at getting it right in the camera.
I need to check my settings more often. I'd lose track of things, and end up shooting at the wrong ISO, aperture or exposure compensation setting long after I should have adjusted.
I need to think more, shoot less. I need to really connect with what it is that I'm trying to capture in each frame and make sure I'm giving the scene the attention it needs to get there.
I need to shoot more. The couple was very patient, but I missed some shots that I should have gotten, where their expressions were natural, magical, and loving.
I need a real assistant on shoots like this. Working with your wife is not a good idea.
I need to deepen my understanding of balancing flash light with available light, so that the picture is well balanced.
I need to learn better how to deal with high-dynamic range shots. I really wanted to keep the background ocean in range, but that meant, often, that the couple were very dark, and I introduced a lot of noise as I brought them up. Sometimes 2 stops. I covered for it pretty well, but it's there, and it shows.
2.5 hours shooting, 10 hours processing. That's a lot of work. I need to get that down.
I need to find a way for this to pay for my expensive hobby.

DavidS · January 2, 2007

First time. Wow! Those are awesome. If they enjoyed them even half as much as I did they will be thrilled.

Elaine · January 2, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

So I thought I'd post some of what I learned on this shoot.
I really need more experience in gauging the scene. I got really lucky in that I was able to salvage a lot of these shots because I was shooting in RAW. I'm going to continue to shoot in RAW for the shots that matter, but I get that I really need to get out there and shoot some JPEG, so that I'm forced to do better at getting it right in the camera.

I need to check my settings more often. I'd lose track of things, and end up shooting at the wrong ISO, aperture or exposure compensation setting long after I should have adjusted.

I need to think more, shoot less. I need to really connect with what it is that I'm trying to capture in each frame and make sure I'm giving the scene the attention it needs to get there.

I need to shoot more. The couple was very patient, but I missed some shots that I should have gotten, where their expressions were natural, magical, and loving.

I need a real assistant on shoots like this. Working with your wife is not a good idea.

I need to deepen my understanding of balancing flash light with available light, so that the picture is well balanced.

I need to learn better how to deal with high-dynamic range shots. I really wanted to keep the background ocean in range, but that meant, often, that the couple were very dark, and I introduced a lot of noise as I brought them up. Sometimes 2 stops. I covered for it pretty well, but it's there, and it shows.

2.5 hours shooting, 10 hours processing. That's a lot of work. I need to get that down.

I need to find a way for this to pay for my expensive hobby.

Well stated! I can relate to a lot of what you said. I'm so glad you decided to share this list!

I'm getting more opportunities to do some portrait work for friends (or friends of friends) and I would really like to get it right, or nearly right, in the camera and not have to spend so much time in post. I'm not charging anything...the practice is payment enough right now, but I'd like to get good enough where payment would be justified. Taking the time to think about each scene and the camera settings it requires is a biggie for me! I think I get so caught up in trying to be quick for the customer, and not wanting them to think I don't know what I'm doing! But, it would be better to take more time between shots, I guess, so the end results look like I know what I'm doing.

Anyway...I think it's a good idea to sum up your learning experience to be ready to apply it the next time. And sharing it helps folks like me get ready too!

Elaine

TylerW · January 2, 2007

Looking at them strictly as silhouettes, I think you really nailed it in #3 and #8. You definitely don't need to know a thing about these people to know that they're deeply in love. Outstanding work.

pathfinder · January 2, 2007

I liked #1 and #6 the best. I liked the setting in #2 but her facial expression was missed. Was the lighting in #2 reflected or flash?

The black outfits looked very nice on them, but did not make your exposure decisions any easier did it?

A very nice set of shots that you should be proud of. You will learn a lot, fast, shooting this kind of work.

I cannot imagine that most wedding shooters have a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio of processing to shooting time, but that was my experience also.

DavidTO · January 2, 2007

pathfinder wrote:

I liked #1 and #6 the best. I liked the setting in #2 but her facial expression was missed. Was the lighting in #2 reflected or flash?

The black outfits looked very nice on them, but did not make your exposure decisions any easier did it?

A very nice set of shots that you should be proud of. You will learn a lot, fast, shooting this kind of work.

I cannot imagine that most wedding shooters have a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio of processing to shooting time, but that was my experience also.

Thanks, PF!

She wanted to look serious, like looking out to her future in that one. There are others that she smiles in, but the composition is different on those. The lighting was reflected, courtesy of my wife, and manufactured, courtesy of a little Oz work.

I'm sure that with more experience the ratio of shooting to processing will get better. I'll have better images to start with, a keener eye for which ones to not waste time on, and a better workflow.

DoctorIt · January 2, 2007

Just seeing these now. Great shots, and good lessons learned

KAM · January 2, 2007

Lovely....I liked them all.

KAM

saurora · January 2, 2007

Reading your list of "need to's" sure hits home with me, David. There are just so many elements to pull together at one time. I'm sure we could make that list even longer. I guess more than anything it takes getting out there and doing it over and over until it begins to come together. Otherwise one always feels like a total noob when shooting. I have made lists, and even made notes about poses, etc. for my last session, but when it came down to it I pretty much blew my exposures and spent hours and hours processing. Only benefit in that was, it improved some of my CS skills a bit!!! But, like you, I don't want to spend that much time on the computer. I've decided my goal for this year is similar to one you mentioned....stop using RAW to salvage bad exposures all of the time. For my daily shooting and pleasure shooting I plan to shoot JPEG and aim for no photoshop at all. I'm curious to see if I can raise my percentage of good exposures.

DavidTO · January 2, 2007

Doc, KAM, Saurora,

Thanks!

mereimage · January 3, 2007

These were some excellent shots and many of them were in challenging lighting
They will be thrilled. The more I shoot for other people the more I learn their favorites are frequently shots I may have rejected for "artistic or compositional" deficiencies. I really like 1,2,3 and 8- the fill flash in 6 seems a bit overdone (JMO), and 7 might have benefitted from a touch of fill.
I went thru your gallery and esp liked the 1st shot betwen the rocks on page 2, and the profile shot on page 3. I always enjoy your contributions to this forum and look forward to your posts. Mereimage

Deanna Alko · January 3, 2007

Great set of images. 1,2,3,5 & 8 are my favs of the ones posted. But the gallery has many others that are really well done (I agree with Mereimage who stated "esp liked the 1st shot betwen the rocks on page 2, and the profile shot on page 3." and I would also add on page 5 the b&w of feet sinking in the sand. Additionally, thank you for posting your lessons learned

Take care,
- Deanna

Engagement Pictures

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