Engagement Photos - equipment?

pilotgirl2007 · May 25, 2009

Hey my best friend just got engaged and I am excited to take engagement photos of them : ) it will be my first attempt (who better to practice on than friends lol) Does anyone have any tips or suggestions... maybe a few tips on what kind of equipment you like to take with you to do a shoot of this type? Favorite poses I might want to try? Anything you have would be helpful and much appreciated! Even ideas on where to get information would be great! Thanks so much!

bigtwinky · May 25, 2009

Lets start with what type of equipment you already have so we can build from there.

Have you thought about a location?

JerryPH · May 25, 2009

I just did one a couple of nights ago with my friend who is a pro wedding photographer.

Basic concept... anything that you need at a wedding you need at an e-session, at least that is the tools that I use.

This means off camera lighting, fast glass, INTERESTING location and all the rest of the other bells and whistles.

This day I used my D700, with the Nikkor 24-70 F/2.8 and the 85mm F/1.4 lenses. If I had more time, I would have used the 50mm F/1.8 and the 70-200 F/2.8 for more compression.

Off camera lighting with the gels covered with a 1/2 stop of CTO gave me a touch of warming.

pilotgirl2007 · May 25, 2009

I don't have much equipment... so I am hoping to get good results with what I have. Here is a list:

Nikon D-90 camera with a Nikkor 18-105mm F/1.3 lens
circular polarizing filter
I have a portable reflector that I just bought (one of the 5 in one reflectors)
and a tripod

that's it... : ( I can't really spend too much money on photography because I am a newly graduated college student (so I am broke) and what money I do have goes towards photography equipment instead of food lol

As far as location I am in California so the possibilities are endless... I was thinking Tahoe (about 2 hours from me) because that's where he proposed. But I live only 45 min from SF... Santa Cruz is real close so maybe the beach.

RyanLilly · May 25, 2009

Bring some kind of stand for your reflector, or better yet an assistant.

pilotgirl2007 · May 25, 2009

I was going to recruit a friend to help me out with the holding of the reflector : ) probably my mom since she kind of volunteered lol

fast1 · May 25, 2009

wow my friend would never help me out with such a thing.

GeneralBenson · May 25, 2009

If you're creative, you can get by just fine with what you have. Much more important than what equipment you have, is spending time between now and then, really getting solid on basics like shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, and spending a bunch of time learning composition and studying what other people do. Just look at other wedding photographers galleries, to get ideas, then come up with your own pictures. Don't worry about JerryPH. While it would be nice to have all that stuff, you certainly don't need it. Especially if you're just doing a favor for a friend.

JerryPH · May 26, 2009

fast1 said:
wow my friend would never help me out with such a thing.

You need to find better friends. :lol:

BTW I have never heard of a F/1.3 lens... what the heck??? I think the OP meant a 3.5-5.6 which is a lens too slow for most work in lower light places. Basically you are limited to day-lit or flash shots once the light starts to go.

JerryPH · May 26, 2009

An off camera flash is almost mandatory. Once it gets dark a little, this is PRIME time to get incredible shots... but without an off camera light source... forget it.

Without it, you could get a couple of silhouette shots, though, and that is often nice.

zsparks · May 26, 2009

What other people have said, without fast glass you run into pretty big issues in low light. One of the wedding photographer's whose work I like to review the most has a blog of various trips and shoots he's done here.

GeneralBenson · May 26, 2009

I'm not trying to argue that fast glass, lighting, and lotsof other stuff wouldn't make life a lot easier. But if the budget isn't there, it's not there. There are lots of situations where what she has won't work, but there are lots of situations where it will work. how about instead of telling her what she can't do and what she needs, why don't we tell her what she can do with what she has?

WIth that lens an a reflector. You can shoot all day long with available light. You're best off waiting until the sun get lower, like late afternoon. When the sun is a bit higher, try putting it behind and to the side of you subjects, so it rim lights their hair and shoulder, and use the reflector off to one side or the other, on a 45/45 degree agnle, to light up their faces. When the sun gets a little lower, try having it come at their face from the side, and put the reflector on the other side to get a cool cross lighting effect. If you were going to get anything, I would say that an SB-600/800/900 would be your best bet. You could use that for fill flash, or shoot it through the diffusing layer of your reflector, or bounce it off the reflector off camera, or shoot the flash straight up on the camera, and have you assistant hold the reflector over it on an angle to get a sort of glamour lighting thing. Lots of options. Practice is the best thing you can do at this point.

pilotgirl2007 · May 26, 2009

Thanks for all of your help! I still have a little time because my friend wants time to lose weight : ) so I might look into getting a flash.

As far as lenses go... I have to admit I really don't know a whole lot about them (what I do know is very limited) it's something I have been meaning to do some research on but I guess it's not really a priority because I can't afford a new one right now : ( maybe after I get an engineering job lol

Anyhow your responses are going to help me a lot! I appreciate it!

christian2005 · May 27, 2009

I think your equipment may be quite useful for your first people/portrait photoshooting. A tripod could also help.
What I did before my first people photoshooting: I surfed Flickr pages of great portrait photographers and got some inspirations from them: themes, shuter-speeds, aperture, filters,... all aspects that make a great shot.

haggis · May 27, 2009

I agree with the comments about an off camera flash to avoid too much direct harsh light and shadows.
If you can't afford fast glass then you can always compensate to an extent by upping the ISO. Shouldn't be a problem for portrait type shots. The only thing it won't help with is DOF.