First Engagement Shoot

[crystalb]

These are friends of mine that asked me to do their engagement pics....
Done outside on a bright sunny day, under the shade of a huge pine tree.


All criticism welcome

[Sephibox]

What a lovely couple. I like the general posing, which looks rather natural.
The lighting, probably thanks to the snow, is very even, no deep shadows which is flattering to their faces, good choice there.

Also, judging from their expressions they seem rather comfortable, so good work there not making them feel awkward, which would have been reflected in their smiles.

That being said, since it was a bright sunny day he looks like he is kind of squinting. This might also just be how he looks but taking the pics closer to sundown could have made that go away and also could have made the light nicer.

There are probably a few things I would try to do diffrently. First one is, use your fastest lens and use the most wide open apeture that you can get (around 1.4 -2.0) and focus on their faces. Having the branches and other things in the background and the tree on the side in sharp focus is rather distracting.
A low DoF would make the picture more about them. At least that's how I would do it.

In the first shot the composition with the tree is good, but the tree stump in her back looks a little weird and out of place.

Also if available, try to get a stepladder and shoot from a slightly higher angle. That way you have them look up, making any double chins less pronounced.

The second shot could also have profitted from that for another reason: Since their legs are cut off above the knees her behind looks unnecesarily accentuated (hopefully I'm not stepping on someones toes here ). Having more of their legs in frame or doing a waist up (which looks very nice on the first one) could help here

That's all I can think of right now. Of course that's JMO

[crystalb]

Thanks for commenting, it's nice to have a freash set of eyes looking at these pics. It seems that after spending time doing touch ups, mine grow unaware of some of the distractions....

Now that you said it, the tree stump in the first pic really is an eye sore. I'll take that out.
I am short and was actually planning to take a step ladder and forgot it :(

I was having trouble with the crop on the 2nd pic, I wanted to crop up higher but couldn't find a good place for the photo to end without losing his hand. I should have adjusted his shirt at the back....and the squinty eye are the norm for this guy, I'm surprised that they were as open as they were for these pics

[Marko]

I like these. Nice expression in both shots. Snow is the world's best reflector!

First shot is better than the second for me as it seems less forced and it's sharper (though not tack sharp on the eyes which would make this shot even stronger.). I'm a stickler for things behind people's heads and the branch in shot 2 is slicing the girl's head a bit (less than the branch in shot 1).

Trees are nice in wedding photography but they can be background elements instead of with the couple in the foreground. That's just personal preference though.

Sephibox gives good critique on using the ladder and the bottom crop on shot 2.

Hope it helps - Marko

[crystalb]

Thanks for the comments Marko, I see what you mean about the branch


I am constantly having a problem with the sharpness of pics.... practice practice I guess, but it is discouraging as well.

[AcadieLibre]

Thanks for the comments Marko, I see what you mean about the branch

I am constantly having a problem with the sharpness of pics.... practice practice I guess, but it is discouraging as well.

What lens did you use? What were your settings? The poses are nice but the photos do seem soft.

[crystalb]

18-55mm lens
Top pic was 1/100, F7, ISO 400 @27mm
Bottom pic was 1/80, F7, ISO 400 @ 28mm

[Mad Aussie]

At around 27mm those shutter speeds should have been plenty enough to get sharp shots.

Perhaps your focal point wasn't right? Were you using a single af point or all of them?

[Richard]

Just got to watch out under the trees that you don't get patches on light on their faces...

[crystalb]

Ma- Ya I did. My camera has 9 AF points, you can only select one point at a time or have it on auto and have the camera pick for you.