Engagement Shots

Universal Polymath · Oct 31, 2007

This couple came in and seemed totally apathetic the entire time (which was all of about fifteen minutes). I'm pretty sure neither one of them even wanted their picture taken, and this was more to appease family. Whenever I got them posed like I wanted, they'd move apart before I could even snap off a few pictures. The guy asked his fiancé if she wanted a few of them kissing or looking romantic, and she replied, "No! That's stupid". Here's two of them; I think they look okay. Nothing special, though (I spent more time setting up my equipment than I did actually taking pictures!)

They loosened up a bit towards the end. She's on his back in this one, and he's standing up. This guy was huge - She needed a step ladder just to get up there. And once she was up there, she was really afraid that he would drop her (which I think sorta shows through on her face, maybe?).

The Phototron · Oct 31, 2007

How many lights did you used?

A background light, main light to their right, and fill to their left?

Universal Polymath · Oct 31, 2007

The Phototron said:
A background light, main light to their right, and fill to their left?

Correctamundo!

elsaspet · Oct 31, 2007

I like the light. I think you did a good job. If they seemed bored, they don't look like it here.
They look really happy and like they are having fun.
Great Job!

NJMAN · Oct 31, 2007

Thats really unfortunate that she had to be so difficult. It can make for a very uncomfortable session for everyone. It makes me think they dont like each other very much if they couldnt wait to be separated physically.

These 2 shots are very good. I hope your future sessions go better. Relating with customers always takes a bit of practice and experience so that they loosen up a bit even if they are not in the best of moods. Im still learning that myself.

Universal Polymath · Nov 1, 2007

elsaspet said:
Post

Well, you have to keep in mind that these are only two out of ...a lot. I haven't even tried editing the couple dozen in which they're not smiling at all.

Thanks though - and glad you like the lighting, too!

NJMAN said:
It makes me think they dont like each other very much if they couldnt wait to be separated physically.

Yeah, I just realized that I forgot to mention the big cheat in the first one - I actually ended up Photoshopping them closer together; they are considerably further apart from each other in the original version.

elsaspet · Nov 1, 2007

Wow, I would have never known you had PSed them closer. Could you show us how you did that? Something like that could come in handy!

acaldwell · Nov 1, 2007

interesting. i can't believe she didn't want any of them kissing or anything. some are just very different from others i guess. i think you did great, especially considering the unwillingness of your clients.

Universal Polymath · Nov 1, 2007

elsaspet said:
Wow, I would have never known you had PSed them closer. Could you show us how you did that? Something like that could come in handy!

Yeah, no problem! Bringing them closer on this particular photo was really easy, since his shirt was dark and the background was so simple. Trying this on a more detailed pic would have been much, much harder (if not impossible).

Here's the original photo:

Then, I made a very rough selection around her, using the lasso tool. I didn't worry about being to precise or anything, knowing I'd clean that up in a minute.

After I saved that selection as a layer, I inched her a bit closer to him, until I was pleased. But now, part of my new layer was overlapping and cutting off the side of his face, sooo ...

... I made the background invisible, to get a better view of my new layer, and only that layer. Used a soft eraser to erase as close to her as possible. Like I said, it was really easy on this photo, because of his shirt and the background. I just had to be especially careful around her hair and shoulder on the left side, and that was about it.

Voila! This is what I got when I made the background visible again. So I flatterned the image Cropped in closer, did some other adjustments, touch-ups, etc. and that was that!

Pretty simple method - There are probably better ways to do this, but I usually manage to figure out some way to make things work for me.

wildmaven · Nov 1, 2007

Absolutely amazing job on that! I'm going to bookmark this page for future reference!

Marian

Universal Polymath · Nov 1, 2007

wildmaven said:
Absolutely amazing job on that! I'm going to bookmark this page for future reference!

Marian

Sweet! Glad I could help. :thumbup:

bellacat · Nov 2, 2007

the photo edit is awesome....the only thing i would do is fill in the area by her elbow and tummy in black to match his shirt so that it doesn't make him look like he is sitting funny.

great job on the photos!