Engagement photos.... Critique request.

03/16/2007 09:14:13 AM · #1

Just to let everyone know, I've not been under a rock (or lost in a desert), I've just been exceptionally busy with personal and professional matters. I'm gearing up for a very involved wedding that involves multiple photoshoots. I'm very fortunate to be working with a fantastic young couple who happen to be wonderful additions to any portfolio. Personally I don't think it's possible to take a bad picture of these guys. Well, we've had our first of 4 formal shoots. This one was for engagement photos and here are the results.

I apologize for the small samples, I was pressed for time and did an adobe auto-generated web dealy which resized to a pretty small format and I don't have access to the originals from this computer. We're doing formal bridal portraits this weekend (samples to follow). I would appreciate any honest opinions on the above photos. I know it's difficult to see the small pictures, but if you could give me input on composition and post-processing, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!
-Lee

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

03/16/2007 11:54:18 AM · #2

anybody?

JenniferDavidGA

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

03/16/2007 12:21:14 PM · #3

I think they came out great. You are right they are a very photogenic couple. The bridge picture would be my favorite. I also love the pose on the photo with the ring in focus.

Great job.

Artifacts

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/16/2007 12:41:53 PM · #4

Overall a very nice variety of creative poses for your outdoor environmental portraitures. Most poses are touching and will be memorable for the couple.

In general, even though you are outdoors and want to highlight the setting, you probably want to crop closer to the couple. The one with them on either side of the big tree and the one of them on the bridge are examples, among others, where you might want to consider a closer crop. After all, they are the main event. The background and setting will still come through. Taking pictures physically close to the couple can generate nice softness as well. In some cases you may want to totally emphasize the background over the couple, but probably not a lot pictures.

The shallow focused image with her hand showing the ring, though a great idea, is probably has to shallow of DOF. It makes the couple look to 'fuzzy'. A little wider DOF would would accomplish the same thing and make them look better.

Lighting is always tricky with outdoor portraits of this type and you want to be sure to use filler flash and/or a reflector where appropriate.

03/16/2007 12:51:21 PM · #5

Thanks for the input guys

Originally posted by stdavidson:

The shallow focused image with her hand showing the ring, though a great idea, is probably has to shallow of DOF. It makes the couple look to 'fuzzy'. A little wider DOF would would accomplish the same thing and make them look better.

Yeah, I felt the same way about that one... I had a few that the DOF wasn't so shallow, but the pose was off/stiff... This was the "look" I was going for, but as you said.... overexaggerated.

Originally posted by stdavidson:

Lighting is always tricky with outdoor portraits of this type and you want to be sure to use filler flash and/or a reflector where appropriate.

Very true!!! We blew through all of these in about 45 minutes, constantly changing locations and poses, I was shooting totally manual RAW and was constantly changing settings to compensate for sunny, partial shade, and deep shade. It was indeed a tricky shoot, but overall I was happy with the outcome.

03/16/2007 03:23:28 PM · #6

Yet another shameless, tasteless post used to temporarily bump this to the top of the list.