First Shoot With a Couple. 6 for CC

TylerF · Jul 6, 2011

I need practice for an engagement shoot coming up so I asked a girl from work if her and her boyfriend wanted to do a quick shoot. CC greatly appreciated. I have some really good photo ideas in my head but I didnt want to use them now and the actual couple thats paying me be like "hey, my shots are the same as theirs!" lol

if the pics are too big, i can resize them. i tried a different way of uploading in hopes to keep some IQ

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WesternGuy · Jul 6, 2011

These look good as a place to start, which is obviously what you did. Good idea to practice (my opinion) on friends...have you shown these to the couple in the images, if so, what was their take on them? I like the OOF one in #6, although I always wonder what these sort of images look like in colour when I see B&W. As well, your backgrounds are pretty well out of focus and are simple to the point that they do not conflict with the main subject. The woman in the images always seems to be looking over the tops of her glasses - either she needs them, in which case they should be "on" her eyes, or she doesn't, in which case she should take them off. In #1, the guys glasses cut right through the middle of his eyes - probably not the best thing to have happen. It is details such as these that will make or break the IQ for your clients and you as the photographer are responsible for this type of details being present or not in the image (hopefully not, unless that is what the client wants).

Two suggestions...you might want to Google "engagement pictures" and see if the results can give you any additional images or ideas about aditional images...if it was me doing this, I would write down a list of all the poses that I can think of that I would want to make sure I captured and then ask the couple what they thought - if might stimulate their thinking to suggest things you haven't thought of and when I had this list, I would narrow it down to about 5 to ten different "stock" poses and any others would be variations on these, for instance, I would guess that there are a few dozen different ways to shoot their hands and emphasize her ring...I am not sure you want to get that involved with only one part of the subject....well maybe a third suggestion - I am not sure how many different locations you are going to use, but if you haven't done this already, I would pick at least two or three different locations, that way you have more potential for a variation in locations and backgrounds to shoot against (does the couple have some places that they would like to use?)...when I had done this, I would go and scout each one and look for a few different spots for images, so that I have them already in my mind when I arrive and that way I don't have to go "hunting" for places when I arrrive at the various locations. Maybe take quick images of these places as you go "scouting" and then you will have them ("before the fact, so to speak") and can even plan the type of poses that you would want to try at each spot and maybe, just maybe...a change of clothes might be in order between locations - as well, even if they are all outdoors, and nothing says they need to be, take a flash just in case you want to use some fill-flash...but maybe you already knew this stuff and have it well in hand...good luck.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

scorpion_tyr · Jul 6, 2011

I can see where you edited some flagpoles or something out in #3. Besides that I think it's time for you to start posting in other areas of the forum, but come back here often to give good advise to beginners. I think you did an excellent job of telling their story, very well done!

TylerF · Jul 6, 2011

Thank for for the compliments an advice. Yeah, being Asian, her nose doesn't really hold her glasses up. But that's how she always wears them. I have actually never have had to deal with glasses then I get 2 people who have them. As for posing, like I said I have a few really good ones I want to try but want to use for the actual engagement shoot. I can go through and re-edit number 3 but thanks for pointing that out.

She absolutely loved them when she saw them

noodles · Jul 6, 2011

#1, i'd like to see a bit more exposure on the guys face... it's a bit dark for my liking. Perhaps reflecting some light onto your right side.

#2, i'm assuming the subject is the hands and the details her jewelry, i'd perhaps crop it a bit more to give it a bit more attention.

#3 doesn't really do anything for me, but the girl looks excellent! Some warmth to the guy might make it look better (just my opinion)

#4 love this one... excellent job

#5 I like this one, but i might have lined up the picture a bit.. the fence looks... slanted a bit which is distracting.

#6 beautiful i love it.

i love the story, very good.

OrionsByte · Jul 6, 2011

1. I agree with the above poster that there needs to be more light on his face. A reflector to your right would have helped.
2. Nicely done. Looks like you might have been able to push the focus distance a teensy bit backward to avoid getting so much of his leg in focus, but that's nit-picking.
3. I have two big problems with this one - the lighting on the subjects is quite flat, and it's really obvious to me that you tried to fix the overexposed sky, which is grey now instead of white. Also, as another poster pointed out, it looks like you removed some stuff from behind her head, but the cloning work is a bit sloppy and has an unfinished look to it. Also, this could be my imagination, but it looks like the color temperature of the couple is different than the background... looks almost cut and paste.
4. Cropped too tight for my taste. Is there something that you're trying to say with this composition that couldn't also be said without cutting off her elbow and the top of his head?
5. The heart shape with the hands is kinda cheesy if you ask me, but some people like that stuff. :lol:

There's something about this shot that looks off to me and I can't put my finger on it... I think it's just a general lack of contrast from the lighting being a bit flat again. It bothers me that there seems to be some nice warm light on the fence behind them (in the lower right of the photo), implying some sunlight from high behind them and to the left, but it doesn't look like you tried to use that to light the subjects at all, and instead overpowered them with what seems to be a large softbox to the left of the camera. I can see hints of the warm natural light, mostly on her bum and lower back, but otherwise I think you missed a good opportunity to mix in some really good quality natural light.
6. I like.