first engagement shoot

paigew

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I am taking a big, deep, nervous breath here!! This was my very first engagement session and I worked so hard at it; so please be gentle and kind with your critique.

1

sarah + luke-5.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

2

sarah + luke-11.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

3

sarah + luke-9.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

4

untitled-2.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

5
I know this one is tight (cropped his hands) but I liked it anyway :p

sarah + luke-2.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

6

sarah + luke-2.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr

I love this one (even though it is a little soft :( )

untitled-1.jpg by paige_w, on Flickr
 
Nothing bad here. You seem to have a half- to full-length vision. I would try to incorporate more of everything, from cropping just on the faces or rings to wider environmental shots and a greater variety of camera angles. I would pay more attention to direction of light and pose the models to work with it. Nice job posing the last three. In No. 4 I would have gone much tighter on the couple. The tree seems like it should be interesting but it isn't; I think it would've been better as an OOF bg. Same with No. 2; the environment there just doesn't tell enough of a story to justify its dominance in the frame. I would have brought more light in on the subjects in pretty much all of the photos, even the silhouette.
 
Nice set! I would concentrate on possibly filling more of the frame with the subjects... rather than background #1, #2, and #4.
 
Agreed with what was said about filling the frame, specially on #1. Then it would have minimized the blown out sky, which is the nitpickiest things I see. That type of sky has been my hard thing to figure out, which is why I see it.

All that said, I really like #6.
 
I think its all been covered.. but just want to say I think you did a really nice job on these Paige and I'm sure the couple is thrilled with them.
 
Very nice...and I do agree with the above posts. The first thing I noticed (for critique) is that several of them have too much dead space above their heads. The ones where you do have 'better' composition, are great.
 
Few crops here and there and your set. Looks great. Way better than my first engagement! :hail:
 
5,6, and 7 are the best IMO.
#1 overexposed in some areas, no light in her eyes, color casts, focus is soft.
#2 underexposed, WB off, dark shadows around her face, color casts
#3 WB is off, but better. Love the connection and composition.
#4 underexposed and a tad cool. WB is a smidge off.
Did you use a reflector? That would have helped a ton to open your shadows and bring more light into their eyes. I would recommend doing a custom WB with the Expodisc or a gray card too. You really did great for your first engagement session. They look so comfortable and the connections are outstanding. This can take some photographers years to get out of their clients! If I was the client I would be pretty happy with these.
 
Are you kidding!?!? I wish my first ones looked this good!
 
Ballin set home girl!
 
Thanks everyone for the encouraging words :heart: . I did leave quite a bit of space above their heads; I wanted to include the landscaping as I thought it was interesting. But since so many pointed that out I will try to crop it down some. I wish I could have gotten more oof foreground in the tree photos but I only have one lens...and its a 50 so I couldn't really pull that off. I have a few moreon my flickr if you care to look :) thanks again for the critiques !
 
Not bad with room to improve #1 &#2 I would crop in closer to focus on the happy couple. Too much contrast in #2,#3,#4 making them look too dark. And the willow branch in 4 slicing her right down the middle is distracting. I see that befoe I see them.I like #5 but think is heavy on the blacks maybe bring the mid tones up a tad. #6 & #7 I really really like.
 
im not really seeing too much in the way of WB issues. more of a contrast issue IMO.
#6 is the winner here.
a few I would have cropped down a bit, as mentioned already.
#4 would have been gold without the branch in the way.

reflectors are ok. you can do a lot with reflectors, and they aren't a bad tool to have around.
however...if you want REAL control over your lighting, get a good hotshoe flash and a small softbox for it.
once you have learned to use a flash, its actually easier to use than a reflector, you have greater control, and you will rarely go back to the reflector.
you can use flash to soften harsh light, get rid of shadows, and better control of exposure for shadowed areas.
 

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