1st Engagement Shoot - C&C Please

[Scuba]

So people are not really my thing but a friend asked me to give it a shot and shoot their engagement shots for them at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati. This is a first for me. I have only done a handful of people and only one other shoot and that was with a 1 yr old. So these were all taken in the sign museum which was a challenge as the signs were close together and made for some serious color issues hence why many ended up B&W. Please give me your opinions and comments. You are not going to hurt my feelings and I am not going to tell you are wrong. I truly want to hear what I did right and wrong. Thanks in advance.

All taken with 5D, 50mm 1.8, 420ex (on camera when used)

#1 50mm 1/100 f/3.2 ISO 800 OCF

#2 50mm 1/80 f/2.5 ISO 800 No Flash

#3 50mm 1/60 f/4 ISO 1250 No Flash

#4 50mm 1/60 f/2.5 ISO 400 OCF

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

1. Great concept and nice choice of sign! I'm not fond of the tightness of the crop; I would like to see him have a little more room. I also think your monochrome could stand a slight contrast boost and some exposure tweaking.

2. Nice moment captureed here, although she looks a little embarrassed. Again, the crop is rather tight, and fill light was definitely needed in the lower half of the image.

3. Again, nice concept, but, crop, and exposure are hurting the image. I also think a little more DoF wouldn't have been a bad idea; even though the background is busy, it's interesting.

4. Crop, crop, crop!!! You've trimmed off the finger-tips of her left hand. Cropping limbs etc, is okay if you need to, but do it boldly and never trim little bits or at joints. I find the fact that he's looking at something (not her) and she's looking at the camera a bit disconcerting. I can't tell for sure, but the image appears to be slightly off level.

Overall, not a bad set, and with a little more 'tweaking' I think they'll be very happy with them. For future reference, remember the little things, and keep a close eye on your crops. I always compose the image in the viewfinder and then zoom out slightly just to give myself a little wiggle room.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[Scuba]

Thank you very much for the feedback. I will certainly take your input and apply it. I think most of them are not cropped so I can't change them but I think the first one I can uncrop some. When I get a chance I will mess with them some and apply your suggestions and post the changes.

 

[o hey tyler]

While the Sign Museum might be a really cool place to take photographs, the differing light temperatures make it nearly impossible to color balance a photo, unless you have some lighting gear and some gels. For that reason, I would have suggested they choose a different location.

One thing you could have tried was getting them in a darker area away from the lights. Set the shot up so that you flash them, but have the lights and neon out of focus in the background. It might look nice, depending on what you have to work with for space.

 

[Scuba]

While the Sign Museum might be a really cool place to take photographs, the differing light temperatures make it nearly impossible to color balance a photo, unless you have some lighting gear and some gels. For that reason, I would have suggested they choose a different location.

One thing you could have tried was getting them in a darker area away from the lights. Set the shot up so that you flash them, but have the lights and neon out of focus in the background. It might look nice, depending on what you have to work with for space.

100% agree. It was a nightmare and why a bunch ended up as b&w. They picked the location and it started as just me taking shots of signs for invitations and then changed to some engagement shots. I had never been there before and was up for a little bit of a challenge. Boy was it. Did it as a favor for a friend and for some experience.

Thanks for the idea! I tried a little but was very limited by the size of the space and my flash. I don't have a way to fire off camera and the space was very tight. I think I was too concerned that the background would be too distracting. I will see if I have any shots like that. And I will certainly keep it in mind for the future. Not that I expect to ever shoot like this in a sign museum again.

Thanks for the input!

 

[o hey tyler]

I'm glad you went ahead and did it for them, I am sure it means a lot.

You have a very similar kit to what I started with, except I got the 50 f/1.4 over the f/1.8 You should try to get a means to get your flash off camera. I'd suggest Cactus V4's or V5's. That's what I had initially, and they worked great for learning manual flash. They can be had for about 50 bucks or so. Plus, off camera flash is really fun!

 

[CMfromIL]

#2 is my favorite, although either through cropping or accidental framing...it made her boobs look like they are resting on a shelf. Not the most flattering pose. But the smile is genuine, and it doesn't appear staged and that's a hard thing to capture.

I don't mind the B&W, kinda gives a nice feel to the pictures.

 

[DiskoJoe]

i like 3. nice concept. Maybe work on the framing some but good idea. Most of the others have framing issues such as clipping in odd way like 1 and 2 and 4.

1- you clipped his leg
2- you clipped her righ under the breast. typically looks nicer if you pan down more and have their head in the top 1/3. Rules of thirds yo!
4- you clipped her hand. had you not clipped the hand this would be a perfect shot minus the color balance issues. id turn it bw too. Wedding and engagement photography is very nice in bw and will age well.

 

[Scuba]

Here is a slight tweak of the first one. Backed off the crop as much as I could. I know the foot is still cropped but it is what I got. Also boosted the contrast a little.

 

[Scuba]

I'm glad you went ahead and did it for them, I am sure it means a lot.

You have a very similar kit to what I started with, except I got the 50 f/1.4 over the f/1.8 You should try to get a means to get your flash off camera. I'd suggest Cactus V4's or V5's. That's what I had initially, and they worked great for learning manual flash. They can be had for about 50 bucks or so. Plus, off camera flash is really fun!

Thanks for the info. I will take a look at the Cactus. The only thing is I have a 420ex and cant control it manually.... I would very much like to get the 50mm 1.4 and it is likely in the future. Currently I am working on getting a 17-40 f/4 however I have been doing a lot of thinking and not sure if I want that or the 70-200 f/4. I really need to figure out what direction I want to go with my photography.

 

[Scuba]

i like 3. nice concept. Maybe work on the framing some but good idea. Most of the others have framing issues such as clipping in odd way like 1 and 2 and 4.

1- you clipped his leg
2- you clipped her righ under the breast. typically looks nicer if you pan down more and have their head in the top 1/3. Rules of thirds yo!
4- you clipped her hand. had you not clipped the hand this would be a perfect shot minus the color balance issues. id turn it bw too. Wedding and engagement photography is very nice in bw and will age well.

I appreciate the feed back I certainly see that the cropping is my biggest issue at this point. Here is #4 in b&w.