How do you keep track of all the enagement poses you want to do?

[liz_albarra]

<p>I am still fairly new to photography and have been practicing taking engagement pics on my engaged friends. My issue is that I print out all these poses that I would love to do, take a look at them before my engagement session but then as the session goes on I forget to do some of the poses I was thinking about.<br />How do you end up keeping track of all the poses you wanted to do? Wouldn't it be a little tacky to bring a book of poses with you when taking pics?<br />What else can I do?<br />Thanks</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Even at weddings, I carry a cheat sheet of specifics, schedule, client names and relationships, etc., as well as 'poses', although I don't need them anymore--I still carry them. No reason you can't write out a list--give the poses names--on a small piece of paper (I use 3x5 card size) and refer to it as you go. The client does not need to know what you are looking at.</p>

[dave_wilson1]

<p>Start with two or three setups that you can work with comfortably, then add one new one each time. Eventually you'll have a dozen or so to pick from and you'll find some will work better with a particular couple. There are so many variables, location, lighting, physical features of the couple and so on, so what works well for on might not be good for another. Also there's nothing wrong with having a little book of clips to refer too at times. You can even tell them that you're going to shoot some of your "regular" stuff and then you want to try a new idea or two out of your notebook so you can share it with them and refine it. Just my point of view, others might differ.</p>

[mark liddell]

You can keep as many as you want on your phone and browse them quickly. A little more difficult to explain mid-shoot with a wedding couple that you are not just more interested in a txt message or something! You could put your phone in your camera bag though.

[paul_serafini1]

<p>I intentionally don't even try to remember. I hate it when my sessions feel like an assembly line. That being said, if you really want to have reminders (1) Never let your clients see you checking your cheat sheet. I think this would be a warning sign of an amateur (2) The best advice I ever heard on this topic was to create a file of jpegs of poses you want to use on your desktop/laptop, and then save them on a memory card. Then use that memory card in-camera during your shoot. You should be able to review and refer to the the images in the folder during your session, and the best part is that your clients will think you're just reviewing their shots.</p>

[senor_crocodrillo]

<p>All sorts of creatives use notes, sketches, etc. on set or location. Why should a wedding photographer be any different? Personally, I like those small Moleskin notebooks. I don't make any effort to hide my notes, nor has anyone thought any less of me for using them.</p>

[art_tatum]

<p>Paul... brilliant idea.</p>

[paul_serafini1]

<p>Thanks art, wish i could take credit for it, but it was just something i picked up on photo.net.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>I also don't make any effort to hide my notes and it has never been a negative thing for me, even after using notes for the 20+ years I've been shooting weddings. You don't have to point it out to your clients, though. I merely pull out my notes, consult them, and put them away. They are normally in the pouch I wear all the time, which also holds my meter, wallet, phone and memory card case. I normally don't pull them out more than 2-3 times during the session, but definitely before I wrap things up.</p>

<p>I try to keep it to one sheet, which is why I 'name' poses, so I don't have to make sketches or carry little pictures. This way I don't have to pull them out completely and thumb through them--I can pull the sheet out halfway, read, and push it back in my pouch. Looking something up on a an i-phone sounds too time consuming and obvious. I also am a planner, so I usually have things set out in sequence sometimes, having visualized the various general locations and lighting anticipated, and the possibilities therein.</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>Agree with Nadine, referring to notes has never been perceived as being negative. Not knowing what your doing and trying to compensate for it with whatever method you might try, can be perceived as a negative. You can also resize several poses and put 8-10 small images on a regular size sheet of copy paper......easy peasy.</p>

<p>After your first couple of hundred weddings many of the poses and combinations become pretty routine but there's no harm in adding new ideas via a cheat sheet and then slowly continue to build your repertoire of poses with each new job.</p>

[William Michael]

<p>For poses (and mostly everything else too which require "people" images), I have stick figure drawings in my note book, also in that note book the time line, key people's names (Weddings), and location reconnoitre notes etc.</p>

<p>Originally the poses were only three or four and what my "teacher" (and owner of the Studio) asked me to complete for the session . . . but that changed quickly adding what I wanted to try . . . and also adding ideas from the couples . . . watching other Photographers . . . etc.</p>

<p>I don’t have stick figure drawings any more for "Poses" for Location Portrait Sittings – as I generally know what I want to do – but IF the client wants a specific shot / scene / group of people in a shot, I will draw a stick figure scene, with names: I don't shoot without initially engaging the Clients at a prior planning meeting, so that stick figure notation, is made then.</p>

<p>I have never been charged with "amatuerism" for consulting my shooting notes throughout a Wedding or Engagement Shoot - quite the opposite in fact, especially when one remembers a specific request which had been overlooked or chanced fallen by the wayside, in the passion and emotion of the day.</p>

<p>Maybe old stuff but a pen and A6 Pocket Notebook is very quick, and the battery doesn't die.</p>

<p>When really rushed on site if there is a change of plan and/or another shot or set is required later I will make a shorthand notation on the back of my left hand - or if in more formal situation on the inside of my left forearm. As a visual reminder that we are one shot/person short; or there is still one series left to shoot, I will immediately lock a cable tie to the camera strap clip - it is only removed after all in that "emergency note" is done with. Cable ties have other uses too, never leave home without and assortment of length and colours, in your camera bag. . . (an elastic band around the little finger works too.)</p>

<p>I am really, really puzzled why consulting detailed notes pursuant to a one off, professional assignment would be seen as the professional lacking in some manner.</p>

<p>WW</p>

<p> </p>

[savagesax]

Naturally you need to have an idea, sometimes a list of the shots you need to take. I have no problems taking out a cheat sheet at weddings, engagements, or for any photo job I'm doing. If fact I often ask the people about a request from the sheet. I don't want to miss anything, and I don't have a great memory. These are simply guidelines - nothing else.

 

Knowing what the guidelines are, give the photographer a chance to create an image with these guidelines and even go beyond the expected, by making a strong statement in which you get that WOW factor from your photo.

[liz_albarra]

<p>Thank you so much for your help. This was great advice! And Paul loved your idea!</p>

 

[frank_skomial]

<p>While this sounds like a great idea, it could raise the unnecessary risk of possibly corrupting the meory card:</p>

<p>"create a file of jpegs of poses you want to use on your desktop/laptop, and then save them on a memory card. Then use that memory card in-camera".</p>

<p>In my humble opinion, this is a risky idea, ... I was trying hard not to say a "bad" idea, since many of you embraced it. </p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>Over last few years, watching complaints about memory card problems and digital cameras, it becomes more evident that writing back to memory card from a computer, and using that card in a camera could cause problems.</p>

<p>The only legitimate case of writing to memory card from a computer and inserting that card into a DSLR is for the purpose to load the new camera firmware from a vendor  like Nikon. A DSLR is not a computer, and one should not fiddle with writing to the memory card in the camera. </p>

[danzel_c]

<p>i have all of mine on an ipod touch that i keep with me and refer to as needed...</p>

[clark_king4]

I agree with Frank and Danzel

 

;-)