My FIRST engagement shoot!

mandrew · Oct 3, 2010

I approached this with NO EXPERIENCE whats so ever with people photography. So bear with me. Please feel free to critique and comment. It took me 5 hours to do most of the shooting. I had a lot of trouble with communicating with them. If you're pro at this how do you talk to them into making them look cheesy or romantic? Do you just tell them what to do or do you say act like you're not there? Any feedback or tips would be helpful too!
Thanks!
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

feel free to see the rest here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandrewson/sets/72157624979987422/with/5000221465/

Thanks for looking!

RauschPhotography · Oct 3, 2010

Nice work! #3 looks a little overexposed, but otherwise I can't say much! Definitely liking the sunburst pic

bobnr32 · Oct 3, 2010

Good pics with great variety. It sums up how much in love they are.
It will help if you number or name your next posts.

mandrew · Oct 3, 2010

Thank you guys! I have another one coming up on the 15th and researching as much as I can. I still cant find the communication question I dont want it to seem awkward haha

RauschPhotography · Oct 3, 2010

Best thing you can do is by warming up with them, joking around to make them feel comfortable throughout the shoot.

N E Williams · Oct 3, 2010

Nice shoot, #2 is my favourite here. Good job :thumbup:

mandrew · Oct 3, 2010

Thanks! Im surprised you guys like them especially for my first engagement

Very pleasing

Inst!nct · Oct 3, 2010

Yea good pics in here, some cheesy but its ok

RL. · Oct 4, 2010

you did a great job considering....the lighting and poses work very well!

DC-Photog · Oct 4, 2010

Those look great for your very first shoot. I've helped photographers with several sessions under their belt, and your work is indeed far more polished.

Keep doing what you're doing.

As far as communicating, let them interact and get some distance between you and them. Shoot with a long zoom (70-200), and focus on the moments that happen between them. When you see them do something and a posing idea pops into your head, then get in there and set them up. Allow their interactions to unfold, but never be afraid to set up a wonderful idea.

mandrew · Oct 4, 2010

DC-Photog said:
Those look great for your very first shoot. I've helped photographers with several sessions under their belt, and your work is indeed far more polished.

Keep doing what you're doing.

As far as communicating, let them interact and get some distance between you and them. Shoot with a long zoom (70-200), and focus on the moments that happen between them. When you see them do something and a posing idea pops into your head, then get in there and set them up. Allow their interactions to unfold, but never be afraid to set up a wonderful idea.

Thanks for the comment and tips!

Unfortunately, Im trying to go for using a 85mm lens for telephoto... I can't really afford a fast 70-200. As for the moments between them. Am I supposed to set up the camera ahead of time every time the lighting changes? Thanks a lot for your feedback

Derrel · Oct 4, 2010

There are some serious problems with composition on some of these, like on shots 1,3,4,and 6; on those shots, it looks like you are photographing the walls or architecture, and have no clue on how to compose. Those are horrible compositions, with amputations on feet and legs, and huge expanses of background wall or buildings dominating the compositions. Shot #6 is egregiously poor...what's with the cut-off hands and all that dead space on top in #6? Same with #4....what is the thought process behind the camera framing this shot as a horizontal, with all that dead,dark space on the left? And in #1...it's like the subject is the red aluminum door...they are shown standing there, leaning on the door, so show their FEET! And on shot #3--why are they touching the left hand side of the frame, with that huge,dark,looming empty space in the right hand side of the frame? That is poor camera handling. At the very least, crop out that ugly,dark hole in the URC. It's terribly off-balance as shown, but a crop could help it somewhat.

However, on images 2,5, and 9 you look like an accomplished,creative professional, with lovely,clever, beautiful compositions, with #9 being a creative and very "now" bokeh-style shot of them kissing shown in the out of focus background area. The sunburst in shot #5 is also very clever and artistic. #2 is cute, and traditional. And then you have shots 7 and 8, which are workmanlike and reasonably competent, albeit a bit overly-saturated and high-contrast.

Derrel · Oct 4, 2010

I went to Flickr and saw the rest of the set; much of your best stuff is over there, not in this post.

Bonzai · Oct 4, 2010

I think that #2 and #9 are the nice ones!

mandrew · Oct 4, 2010

Derrel said:
There are some serious problems with composition on some of these, like on shots 1,3,4,and 6; on those shots, it looks like you are photographing the walls or architecture, and have no clue on how to compose. Those are horrible compositions, with amputations on feet and legs, and huge expanses of background wall or buildings dominating the compositions. Shot #6 is egregiously poor...what's with the cut-off hands and all that dead space on top in #6? Same with #4....what is the thought process behind the camera framing this shot as a horizontal, with all that dead,dark space on the left? And in #1...it's like the subject is the red aluminum door...they are shown standing there, leaning on the door, so show their FEET! And on shot #3--why are they touching the left hand side of the frame, with that huge,dark,looming empty space in the right hand side of the frame? That is poor camera handling. At the very least, crop out that ugly,dark hole in the URC. It's terribly off-balance as shown, but a crop could help it somewhat.

However, on images 2,5, and 9 you look like an accomplished,creative professional, with lovely,clever, beautiful compositions, with #9 being a creative and very "now" bokeh-style shot of them kissing shown in the out of focus background area. The sunburst in shot #5 is also very clever and artistic. #2 is cute, and traditional. And then you have shots 7 and 8, which are workmanlike and reasonably competent, albeit a bit overly-saturated and high-contrast.

THANK YOU FOR THIS!

You made GREAT points on the shots.

I do have a few questions considering your comments.

1) Obviously I have bad composition. In some cases does bad composition make a good picture? And what is good composition? Any tips will be appreciated.

2)Does good composition always need the subjects up close and personal?

3)Do you have any examples of perfect composition? Including some of the flickr ones you said were okay.

Thanks in advance!