First Engagement Shoot

[justjenny]

Hi everyone,

Last August, my friends asked me to photograph their wedding (which was in 2 weeks). I'd never done anything like this, but I tried my best. For right now, I'm just going to put up a few of the engagement pictures, and I'll come back with some wedding later.

I would like to learn from these photos, so please give them your best shot.

I used my Canon Rebel XSi and a 50mm for all of these.

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6.

7.

Thank you!!

[mchong75]

Do you have a speedlite?

Some of them could use a fill flash.

[justjenny]

Originally Posted by mchong75

Do you have a speedlite?

I do, although I'm not very good with it. I guess that's the next thing that I need to get comfortable with.

[lhdvies]

Love the "empty pockets" shot!!
I'm not expert at these things, but I agree with the "fill light " comment especially on her face in the first photo.

[mchong75]

Even a reflector would help a lot.

[justjenny]

Thank you guys for the input! I messed around with my speedlite this afternoon, but I didn't make much headway. I need to find a book or a good article on how to do it. I can use it indoors just fine by bouncing it off the ceiling. Outside, I can't figure out how to get it to just "fill" and not blast out the whole scene.

I'm getting a reflector for my birthday (I hope) this week, so I will also focus on learning how to properly use that. I asked for one of those 5-in-1's, so hopefully that will be ok.

Lighting is tricky!!

[Tom]

Strobist will help a lot. Go through the Lighting 101 and Lighting 102 tutorials and you will be an expert with your speedlight!

[mchong75]

Strobist forum/flickr is a great resource when you want to get that flash off camera but she needs to start and understand the basics of flash photography.

Neil is an excellent photographer and a flash camera teacher.
Go through all of his articles and online guides. It should be a good starting point.

http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-pho...hy-techniques/

[WarrenG]

Hi Jenny,

Start doing a lot of reading on lighting, and practice a lot. Outside of the lighting issue I see a few other areas to focus on, some of which may be nit-pick, but should help you never-the-less. Bear in mind that I am not saying what you did is wrong, rather I am trying to give you some input as to how someone else see's the images.

1. I would have reversed the positioning, so the BTB was looking up at the HTB as it would have narrowed her profile, perhaps HTB leaning against the fence? In addition, I would have had them looking slightly toward the camera

2. Having them look slightly up, and toward the camera (E.g. - you shooting slightly down toward them) would have alleviated the chin issue. Also watch his arm where it covers the BTB's head... perhaps on her waist, or at a different position on the wall?

3. Here you may have considered stepping to camera right or left to bring in just a little bit of the couples faces.

4. Here you could have repositioned to block the PVC pipe, and more importantly, I would say to watch how the BTB is positioned. As she is now, the rail causes her belly to look larger than it needs to.

5. This is a cute picture, my only thought would be to have positioned his hand over more of the bannister end cap so it did not compete with the ring as much, as it seems to be the focal point of this shot?

7. Again, on this one I may have reversed the positioning to have him on the car so she looked slimmer. Also, you may want to remove all the distracting wires and poles from the background. A slight adjustment by you to camera left would have made this a lot easier, but no biggie.

It seems like so much stuff to keep in mind on top of taking the photo's, and the reality is you probably won't get everything right with every photo, but these are items that you can now be cognizant of the next time your looking through the viewfinder. I still kick myself when I miss something that should have been so obvious, but with so much going on we often miss things. The biggest key is to work on the lighting, and practice, practice, practice!

Cheers,

W

[justjenny]

Tom & Michael-- Thanks so much for the suggestions. I will do some reading up this weekend and maybe conquer the beast.

Warren-- Wow-- thank you so much for the critiques. I hadn't noticed many of the things you said and really appreciate your suggestions. Thank you for taking the time to help me out. Posing people to look their best is really an art. At the time, I thought I did really great on their photos, but looking back now, I see so many mistakes. I guess that means I'm learning!

[WarrenG]

Originally Posted by justjenny

Tom & Michael-- Thanks so much for the suggestions. I will do some reading up this weekend and maybe conquer the beast.

Warren-- Wow-- thank you so much for the critiques. I hadn't noticed many of the things you said and really appreciate your suggestions. Thank you for taking the time to help me out. Posing people to look their best is really an art. At the time, I thought I did really great on their photos, but looking back now, I see so many mistakes. I guess that means I'm learning!

No worries, that is how you learn. I see lot's and lot's of mistakes in my stuff too, so the evolution is constant. One of the hardest things for me is to really "see" the image through the viewfinder. I find my mind is sometimes so caught up in how I want the final image to look, that I forget the obvious issues that can be fixed while shooting.

Good Luck,

W