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First Engagement Session- Please Critique


rm_pierce

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Hey Everyone,

A few months ago I did my very first engagement session. I did not know the

couple until the day of the photo shoot. I'm good friends with the mom. They

are a very sweet, very shy couple. In fact the guy has never

had "professional" pictures taken in his life (only those cheeseball school

pictures). Well, we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the day. Well, after

they got their engagement order the couple loved them and were extremely

pleased and have now asked me to do the wedding. I have agreed to do bridal

portraits in a few weeks but have not agreed about the wedding yet. I'm

seeking some critiques on my pictures and some advice as to what I should do

with the wedding (after seeing my skill level I thought that might help your

advice too) I have been persuing photography for about 6 months and have been

doing all my own studying and training. So in other words I'm self taught. I

do want to do weddings someday but am not sure if I'm ready. However, I love

this couple and they have consistently said they aren't expecting much and know

I'm just starting out. I can't think of a better couple to do a first wedding

on. I know the best route is to intern under another photographer for awhile

but I've had a hard time finding somebody in my area willing to take me on. So

here is my link- Please critique away- I know there are a lot of misses

(especially lighting problems with shadows) but maybe you'll find a few hits

too.

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid19107940

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Well there were so many that I lost count on the ones that I really liked and the ones that I did not, but you did have some really good ones and some that I would cut. You have enough good ones in my opinion to cut down the ones that are not as great. Shadows are hard to avoid when shooting that time of the day. Try to schedule these within a few hours after sunrise or right before sunset and the light is usually much nicer. I think some towards the end were much better because the sun was setting and the light was not as harsh. Overall, i think you did a good job!
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"I'm seeking some critiques on my pictures and some advice as to what I should do with the wedding (after seeing my skill level I thought that might help your advice too)"

 

RM,

 

This is a good first engagement and I am sure your B/G are happy. However, you did post this on a wedding forum so you must hear me out. I only like your color photos. The saturation made your sepia and B/W look pale. Many of your crops are wrong. Read up on the rule of thirds. This is elementary stuff. Is this your first wedding? If so, then you had better regress a little. Before I comment, please post your equipment list and backups. Photographing a couple by the lake is much different then in a church. Make sure you know the rules of the church. I have had to shoot from a balcony without a flash. This is much difference then your engagement session. As a matter of fact, I could have done that engagement session with a point and shoot and get the same results. Your engagement session should not be your spring board to wedding photography.

 

George

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Great first Eng. session! You're really working each pose and now you're evaluating what you did. Some poses look a little forced but that will get better every time you shoot. Amy hit on a good point, the light is killing you. Sadly you can't always schedule morning and evening shoots, but if you will use a faster shutter speed and have enough lighting you can kill shadows and lighten the subject relative to the background.

 

Shoot the wedding. You've been cautious and up front with them about your abilities. It's the perfect situation for you at this point. Get a good shotlist as a starting point. Go to the rehearsal and find out how the ceremony will be structured. This will make you and the client feel a lot more comfortable on the wedding day. Don't use any equipment you're not used to. Decide ahead of time how you can most efficiently manage the group images. Beware of the transition from the group shots at the wedding location to the wedding party being announced at the reception. And internships are sometimes overrated. Don't be afraid to find your own way. If you can find a unique way to work you've done the profession a great service.

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Casey thanks so much for the encouraging words. You are probably one of the nicest encouraging people that I have read on these blogs! I'm leaning towards taking the job even though I know I would be shot in public on these forums! HA HA! Bill, thanks for your comments as well- it just goes to show that photography is all subjective since George did not like the black and white at all! Kind of funny! I really appreciate your time and look forward to hearing more ways I can fine tune my skills and knowledge. Keep up the critiques
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RM,

 

For a first engagement shoot these are ok. As Amy pointed out, the first thing would have been to choose a different time of day. Too late for that.

 

The thing that struck me was how on almost every photo, the couple has the exact same face. It's almost as if they were wearing a mask. There are lots of technical nitpicks I could make but they aren't important compared to the almost plastic plastic appearance of the couple. Maybe it's because they were shy. But it's the photographer's job to get them relaxed (I'm not above bringing some wine), get them to interact with each other, and to capture the spontaneous expression of the emotion that binds them. This is a skill you will develop (hopefully) if you choose to do more shoots of this type. You may need to be more active-suggesting poses or giving verbal cues-or just set them free to roam and capture them from a distance.

 

As far as judging your ability to shoot a wedding, these images can't really help in that regard since a wedding shoot is so different. Kind of like asking if the ability to do a appendectomy is qualification to remove a cataract.

 

If you have a passion for photography and want to be a wedding photographer have at it. But please don't begin to think that just owning a DSLR can make it happen for you. Wedding photography not only requires artistic skills but technical, people and business skills too.

 

Paul

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<p>I agree with Paul. There is little variation on that shoot, especially your client's faces. Every shot, they're smiling ... in the exact ... same ... way.<br>It is a little spooky.<br>It is the photographer's job to notice if their subject as a pre-programmed facial expression for photographs and get their subject not to do that.</p>

<p>Also, adding a vignette to <strong>every</strong> got boring after a few. Only vignette where it will enhance the image. Only of few of these shots benefit from the vignette.</p>

<p>Additionally, some of the photos heavily Photoshopped. It appears that you applied a blur to their skin to smooth out the imperfections. Whenever you try and smooth out skin, and yet make it look real, or "untouched" you have to make a compromise.<br>Add a little noise to the skin after your digital airbrushing and adjust the opacity until you get a realistic skin appearance.</p>

<p>IMO, your best shots are the close-ups of the hands and the silhouettes. Your black and whites fair better than your color shots.</p>

<h6>Keep shooting, a lot. Photograph sports and in churches to get experience shooting fast action as well as low-light.</h6>

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Thanks so much on your feedback. I totally agree about the facial expressions all looking the same- they were extremely shy and I had a very hard time getting them to relax and have fun. I worked with them for about 2 hours and towards the end they finally started having fun. I went away thinking that they didn't respond well to me and then I get a phone call from the mom telling me that the girl had never produced such genuine smiles for a photographer before- hence the reason she wanted me to do the wedding. I had to laugh since I kind of thought the opposite but hey, I didn't know the couple and the mom does. Anyhoo, I appreciate the tips on the photoshop- I had never thought about adding noise back and in and tried it to a few- it did make a difference- the opacity in the layer helped a lot too- great tip- I'll keep that one in the hat. As far as the time of day- I started taking pictures just a little over an hour before sunset. In my past photoshoots that worked out great but it seemed to be one of those harsh west Texas sunsets that day. I'm still learning on all of that- I'll keep practicing- each time I do a shoot I learn something knew and I really do appreciate the feedback!
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Hello RM,

 

For being self taught and your first engagement session, you did a pretty good job. I am also self taught and have been doing photography for about a year. I did my first wedding in November of 2007 and have three booked weddings so far for 2008. I was so scared and so nervous when I did my first wedding and I'll tell you one thing, I know it seems sometimes like some of the photographers are a bit harsh, but they are like that for a reason. There are many aspects of photography that need to be learned and take years to master. I never knew how hard shooting a wedding was until I went through my first wedding. The good thing is that I have a second photographer (a friend of my husband's that does photography as a hobby) to help me out as a backup. And I'm so glad he was there! Everything was going fine until the ceremony was about to start. My flash stopped working!! And I didn't have a second flash! So he was able to move in and help me out. Then, when it came time for the group pictures, the sun was already going down and personally, I hated my pictures. There were really bad shadows on one side of the faces and sun shining on the other side. (Later I realized I positioned them completely wrong! And could've found a better shaded place to place them without the sun hitting the side of their faces or head on) I paid no attention to composition. AND THEN...the wedding was outdoors and it was lit by only a couple lights and candles! I couldn't get the camera to focus and completely didn't think of setting my camera on manual instead of letting it focus automatically. So a lot of my pics were blurry, I missed a lot of good shots (but like I said, luckily the other photographer was there and was able to get some stuff I missed). And I spent HOURS AND HOURS on Photoshop trying to make a lot of the pictures look at least decent. So when the photographers seem to be a little mean, I'm sure all they want is for you to be prepared. Don't underestimate photography. Photography is an art. So my advice to you is BE PREPARED...DO A LOT OF READING, RESEARCH, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Especially with LIGHTING. But yourself a Wedding book. They help. For my next wedding I'll be prepared with a second flash, second camera body, second everything! Hope this helped. =)

This is my website should you want to check it out...the only wedding posted on there was my first...hopefully the second one will be better. You can compare my two engagement sessions too, I personally think you can see a little bit of an improvement on the second engagement session.

 

www.virnezphotography.com

 

If you need any help whatsoever (though I don't know nearly as much as the majority of the photographers here), you can e-mail me at virnezphotograph@aol.com

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