Engagement Photo's

[Stoogley]

My youngest daughter recently became engaged.
It's been a number years since I've done portraiture and they have asked me to shoot their engagement pics.

Anyone have suggestions on a resource to get ideas on posing and setups?
We are going to shoot outdoors in a country setting...

Thanks for any input.

Stoog

 

[waynecrider]

Generally a bookstore will carry how-to guides in the photography section. Outside that, there has to be some online stuff, probably with video as well.

 

[MattKing]

Search local photographers' websites. Engagement photos are often shown there. Then examine critically the ones you like, and "reverse-engineer" how they might be done.

See if your daughter and her beau have any preferences.

Good luck, and have fun.

 

[Marcus S]

Soft open shade will provide studio quality light. I never ever use a flash on the camera, in situations where there is no rush and a reflector can be used instead.
This larger light source provides beautiful high lights in the eyes.

Take your time with these photographs and let the young couple enjoy the experience.

 

[2F/2F]

Keep it clean and simple, and pay attention to composition and design. Composition is nearly everything in 2D art – far more important than subject matter. Pay attention to what the frame edges are doing and how the subjects within the frame interact with them, and to the basic design being made my the positive and negative spaces in the composition. Be careful that you don't make the background clash with the human subjects. This can be done by awkward composition, a big difference in brightness between the two, too much depth of field, clashing colors, etc. In other words, open your eyes and pay attention to what is in the viewfinder. Use D of F preview if your camera has it. The rest will just be working with the subjects. This is stuff that is a given for any photo, but I am saying it in regards to this situation because it is really easy to make these types of photos really crummy with confusing/awkward compositions, because you can be concentrated so much on working with the subject.

 

[Stoogley]

Thanks for the great input guys!!

I'm not concerned with the technical aspects. Just having not shot something like this in a while I want the results to appear that they are relaxed and that the posing etc is representative of what is being done today.
I appreciate the guidance.