Practising at couples' (engagement) photography

[Jaybird30761]

Hey everyone! First time poster here.

I'm into photography as a hobby and now a good friend of mine asked him to be the photographer at their wedding coming next year as well as their engagement photoshoot in a couple of weeks.

I just finished practising it with my best friend and his wife and I was wondering if some of you could critique my work or let me know what's good, what mistakes I made, and give me any tips on improving my shots. They were taken on a late night in a lake side town. I'm knowing about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. However, a friend suggested since I am a beginner to use auto settings, but for a lot, I used manual and adjusted the shutter speed, aperture, and kept the ISO at 200. Some of them, though I used auto settings and the ISO came out way too high, probably because the sun had gone down. I also edited some of them with Photoshop.

Anyways, have a look!

Thanks, everyone, appreciate it! Trying to improve myself and get better as a photographer!

 

[sscarmack]

The only one I like is the silhouette of them kissing with the sunset.

The rest are just 'snapshots' and all have issues.

1. They both are underexposed and in dark shadows.

2. Same thing, can't see any details in them, and the background full of weeds are distracting.

3. Eh, the pole sticking out of her head, no background separation, harsh light.

You get the idea...Maybe someone else will have more to add.


Keep on practicing and start reading up on how to light your subjects and pose them.

It seems you want to use natural light, so look up natural light portraits, etc.

 

[sscarmack]

 

[Stradawhovious]

Be mindful of your background. Things like cars, houses and trees sprouting from your subject's head are really distracting.

 

[tirediron]

^^What they said!

Because it's that important, I'm going to reiterate: Be mindful of your composition and your backgrounds.

 

[Jaybird30761]

Thanks, guys, I realized that AFTER I took the pics, major mistake of the cars there and the houses, plus it wasn't probably the best environment for this. I'll be trying it again this week, hopefully in a place with a lot less distractions.

 

[MichaelHenson]

I'm going on my first engagement shoot this Saturday for a friend of mine. I know all of these things...Watch the background, separate background from the subject, nothing growing out of their heads/bodies, don't unintionally amputate anything, no shadows on faces (you know what I mean), focus on the eyes, etc. but I'm getting panicky that I'm going to forget something/not notice it until I'm sitting at home working through the photos.

Kinda makes me want to have a checklist that I go through after each photo I snap (on a clipboard...with a pencil) to ensure I don't make these mistakes...but that would just annoy the subjects.

Practice makes perfect I guess...I'm sure I'll have some shots for C&C early next week!

 

[Derrel]

I'm not willing to transfer 40 megabytes' worth of full-sized images to offer detailed C&C, but I see an issue with background vehicles interfering with the subjects in the foreground. And I DO SEE at least six solid images here; there are however some that look shapshotesque. Your color appears consistent though, and exposures appear consistent also.

 

[Jaybird30761]

I'm going on my first engagement shoot this Saturday for a friend of mine. I know all of these things...Watch the background, separate background from the subject, nothing growing out of their heads/bodies, don't unintionally amputate anything, no shadows on faces (you know what I mean), focus on the eyes, etc. but I'm getting panicky that I'm going to forget something/not notice it until I'm sitting at home working through the photos.

Kinda makes me want to have a checklist that I go through after each photo I snap (on a clipboard...with a pencil) to ensure I don't make these mistakes...but that would just annoy the subjects.

Practice makes perfect I guess...I'm sure I'll have some shots for C&C early next week!

That's the way I'm feeling, too, Michael. I'm glad at least my photos will hopefully remind you to keep an eye on those things. I'll be doing another practice photoshoot later this week, hopefully with better results.

Darrel, yes, I realize the vehicle was in the way (my bad), thanks! The first shot, though, maybe too shadowy and underexposed.

Again, everyone, thanks for the constructive criticism. While my friends very much liked the pictures, there's lots of room for improvement. This should help me!

I'll be doing another practice photoshoot this week, so hopefully with better results!

 

[mcap1972]

The best advise I can give you is to tell them if they care about pictures hire an experienced wedding photographer.

 

[Jaybird30761]

Darrel, when you say "snapshotesque", can you tell me exactly what that means? I think I know, but please refresh my mind. Thanks!

 

[Derrel]

Darrel, when you say "snapshotesque", can you tell me exactly what that means? I think I know, but please refresh my mind. Thanks!

The shot of them on the swings, with the red pickup sprouting out of her head, and horrible back-focus, with the couple most decidedly OUT of focus, but the background sharp...that's haphazard camera work. The shot with the chain-and-post fencing...not posed, them on a bench, and a bad background. A snapshot is a memory-jogger shot,a simple record of what was in front of the lens, and is usually a photo shot without a lot of planning, and often, with only loose attention to technical or artistic details and nuance. The shot of them with the white station wagon in the background: is that your shadow falling on them?

 

[Jaybird30761]

Darrel, when you say "snapshotesque", can you tell me exactly what that means? I think I know, but please refresh my mind. Thanks!

The shot of them on the swings, with the red pickup sprouting out of her head, and horrible back-focus, with the couple most decidedly OUT of focus, but the background sharp...that's haphazard camera work. The shot with the chain-and-post fencing...not posed, them on a bench, and a bad background. A snapshot is a memory-jogger shot,a simple record of what was in front of the lens, and is usually a photo shot without a lot of planning, and often, with only loose attention to technical or artistic details and nuance. The shot of them with the white station wagon in the background: is that your shadow falling on them?

Thank you... and yes.